[SOLVED] Advice needed

chibby

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Sep 11, 2011
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18,510
Hi All,

Looking for some advice on a system for my nephew who is turning 11. He would like to play Minecraft, The sims and watches a lot of Youtube.
My budget is max £400 no monitor required, i have an old system lying around and was wondering if this would do the job with some upgrades or would we be better buying a new one.

Specs of the old machine
CaseCOOLERMASTER CM STORM ENFORCER - GAMING ENTHUSIAST CASE
Processor (CPU)Intel® Core™i5-2500k Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
MotherboardASUS® P8Z68-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card1.25GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 570 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
2nd Graphics CardNONE
3rd Graphics CardNONE
1st Storage Drive500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5002AALX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Storage DriveNONE
1st M.2 SSD DriveNONE
RAIDNONE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY DriveNONE
External Hard DriveNONE
Memory Card ReaderINTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power SupplyCORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£72)
Processor CoolingSUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound CardONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired NetworkingONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB/Thunderbolt Options6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

Thank you for taking the time to read and all suggestions are much appreciated
 
Solution
Give that system a clean up and stick a new GPU in there and it will be job done for your nephews expected uses in my opinion.

Hell if he wants it to look like a new system then stick it in a new case for him even for about £50.

PCPartPicker Part List

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4 GB TUF Gaming OC Video Card (£149.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: MSI MAG FORGE 100R ATX Mid Tower Case (£56.04 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £206.03
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-26 12:49 BST+0100
Hi All,

Looking for some advice on a system for my nephew who is turning 11. He would like to play Minecraft, The sims and watches a lot of Youtube.
My budget is max £400 no monitor required, i have an old system lying around and was wondering if this would do the job with some upgrades or would we be better buying a new one.

Specs of the old machine
CaseCOOLERMASTER CM STORM ENFORCER - GAMING ENTHUSIAST CASE
Processor (CPU)Intel® Core™i5-2500k Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
MotherboardASUS® P8Z68-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card1.25GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 570 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
2nd Graphics CardNONE
3rd Graphics CardNONE
1st Storage Drive500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5002AALX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Storage DriveNONE
1st M.2 SSD DriveNONE
RAIDNONE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY DriveNONE
External Hard DriveNONE
Memory Card ReaderINTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power SupplyCORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£72)
Processor CoolingSUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound CardONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired NetworkingONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB/Thunderbolt Options6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

Thank you for taking the time to read and all suggestions are much appreciated
Something like this list could breathe new life into that system. It will require a fresh windows install. I'm assuming you have a 1080p 60hz. monitor. If you decide to build a new system in a few years the new parts can be moved over to it. I included a new CPU cooler since I don't know about the one you have. If it works you can skip the new cooler.
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/CcZpx6
 
Give that system a clean up and stick a new GPU in there and it will be job done for your nephews expected uses in my opinion.

Hell if he wants it to look like a new system then stick it in a new case for him even for about £50.

PCPartPicker Part List

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4 GB TUF Gaming OC Video Card (£149.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: MSI MAG FORGE 100R ATX Mid Tower Case (£56.04 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £206.03
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-26 12:49 BST+0100
 
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Solution

alexbirdie

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"Looking for some advice on a system for my nephew who is turning 11. He would like to play Minecraft, The sims and watches a lot of Youtube. ".

For these games system will be enough,especially with new GPU. But many years ago my son started with some little games as yours, which did not need much power, too, but after short time he discovered other games and so on.

I am afraid, this will be only the starting point, if lasting for 1 year, you can be happy ;).