Question My 10yr old son wants a gaming computer for Christmas, and I'm lost!

[Justin512]

Hello,

My son has been asking for a gaming computer for a couple years now, but I cannot justify spending thousands of dollars on a computer for a 10 year old.

So the last couple of nights after he has gone to bed, I have sat up and researched how to build an entry level gaming PC. I've found everything is cheaper to build, rather than buy it. But, every video I watch and every website I go to they promise one price but when I go and price it, I'm right back at around a thousand dollars.

With 2020 being such a... "great" year, I would like to get him what he is asking for but I can't break the bank. I am just looking for something that we can build together, and will let him play his Minecraft and Fortnite. It doesn't have to have the best graphics, or the most memory. I just want to be able to upgrade it as time goes on. I understand that gaming PC's by nature are expensive, but I would like to stay around $500 or lower if possible.

I am not too worried about the peripherals, as he already has a monitor, and being a 10 yr old boy he will most likely destroy any keyboard and mouse I buy.
Sceptre 30-inch Curved Gaming Monitor 21:9 2560x1080 Ultra Wide Ultra Slim HDMI DisplayPort up to 200Hz Build-in Speakers, Metal Black (C305B-200UN)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TXM7K4T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Can someone point me in the right direction?

Any and all advise will be much appreciated!

Justin

 

[USAFRet]

Consoles are stable and Just work

Degree of difficulty - Homework.

 

[USAFRet]

/2

Man that CPU is 4 cores 8 threads , dont go near it . also it works at very low clocks , and lacks 16 lanes PCIe , only 8 lanes , no NVME as well.

Dont get older Gen stuff , if you must wait untill 2021 and get the newer AMD chips..

DONT Touch any CPU less than 6 Cores /12 threads today

This is for a 10 year old.

And again - Homework.

 

[Rookie_MIB]

I would agree with the suggestion on the Ryzen APU build for 450ish$. The big thing to remember is that yes, while it is 4c/8t only, and uses integrated graphics, it gives you a definite starting point and you can ADD to it if you need it. A single upgrade down the road to a good GPU makes it a much more potent gaming machine, and a bit down the road again an upgrade to a dedicated CPU (6c or 8c Ryzen) is a snap...

 

[USAFRet]

If I was able to scrape up some more money, what part should be the first thing I should replace on the build lists in these threads. I have pasted one here as an example.

Add a dedicated GPU.

 

[Zerk2012]

Honestly? He has an Xbox, get him a PlayStation or Nintendo switch if you really think that’s the way to go.
Gaming pcs look better with their flashing lights and all, so you could get him some led strips to stick on the console.
I get the same thing from my two ‘so and so has got this or that‘. I have learned to say ‘no’. They have learned that when I say ‘no’ I mean it
Good luck my friend. Parenting ain’t what we thought it was gonna be!
Stay safe.

Can't really do school work on a Xbox.

 

[punkncat]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3400G 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($140.99 @ Best Buy)
Motherboard: ASRock B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Viper 4 Blackout 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory ($37.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX500 480 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($42.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Rosewill RANGER-M MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($64.94 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($108.78 @ Other World Computing)
Total: $485.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-19 12:33 EST-0500

Well done trimming to allow for that OS license of Home.

 

[punkncat]

If you insist on a PC , Get i3 10100F (4 cores 8 threads) with entry level GPU like GTX 1050 ti/1650 , alot better than older gen 4 cores AMD chip with built in GPU ..

The 10100 is an impressive chip to price. IF you opted to go unlicensed for a bit either of the above GPU could fit within budget along the pricing of the above recommend. I agree that it would likely perform better for the games than the Ryzen G. My only concern in this instance would be future upgradability considering Intel's pricing structure/history.

 

[Justin512]

Most schools provide laptops now, atleast in the US, no?

Would you trust a bunch of 10 yr olds with laptops? walking to and from school? They would become frisbees before the first week is out. The school has desktops in the school that all kids share.

 

[Hallahawk665]

This is for a 10 year old.

I mean, even if he is 10 he may still want to play GPU/CPU intensive games...

 

[USAFRet]

Would you trust a bunch of 10 yr olds with laptops? walking to and from school? They would become frisbees before the first week is out. The school has desktops in the school that all kids share.

These school provided systems are due to kids being home, and teleschool.
Normally, no, they do NOT have individual laptops.

 

[USAFRet]

I mean, even if he is 10 he may still want to play GPU/CPU intensive games...

Maybe so.
But that is no reason to break the budget of $500.

"Sorry son, you're not getting a $2000 uber system".

Tempering expectations.

At least this is a new system.
Most kids get whatever mom/dad is no longer using, at best.

 

[Justin512]

/2

Man that CPU is 4 cores 8 threads , dont go near it . also it works at very low clocks , and lacks 16 lanes PCIe , only 8 lanes , no NVME as well.

Dont get older Gen stuff , if you must wait untill 2021 and get the newer AMD chips..

DONT Touch any CPU less than 6 Cores /12 threads today

Please keep in mind that this is for a 10 year old boy that spends most of his time playing minecraft and watching "MEMES" on youtube. He has a console that he plays most of his other games on, but he "Can't get the cool mods on the console for minecraft". So he has been asking for a "Gaming PC". He thinks hes going to be a "YouTube Star", which I have told him, No way in #$##, at least not at 10.

If I were to build a gaming PC for myself, I most definitely would wait until the new AMD chips came out and the market has settled down a little bit.

 

[g-unit1111]

Most, not all.
And when this pandemic is "over", they may want them back.

I'd also be willing to bet they have things like keyloggers, trackers, and tracers installed to prevent hacking or the machines being used for non-school related purposes. No such thing as a "free lunch".

 

[USAFRet]

I'd also be willing to bet they have things like keyloggers, trackers, and tracers installed to prevent hacking or the machines being used for non-school related purposes. No such thing as a "free lunch".

And the ones my grandkids got a Chromebooks. Not exactly a "game system".

 

[g-unit1111]

And the ones my grandkids got a Chromebooks. Not exactly a "game system".

Yeah the most you could play on a Chromebook is something like Words With Friends.

 

[King_V]

I would suggest going with a somewhat higher PSU, and a discrete video card. Don't get me wrong, I have respect for the 3400G, but it requires turning down settings at 1920x1080, so I suspect it'll struggle with 2560x1080 resolution. A quick lookup shows your monitor has FreeSync, and goes up to 200Hz refresh, though, frankly, I'd say don't really expect on modern games to go that high (my son's monitor does 144Hz, but we typically cap it at 60 or 75, depending on the game).

Power Supply:
The Seasonic Focus Gold semi-modular at 550W can be had for $89.99:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Km...ified-semi-modular-atx-power-supply-ssr-550fm

Moving up to $99.99, you can get the 550W fully modular:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/bk...fied-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-ssr-550fx

or the 650W semi-modular:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/qn...ified-semi-modular-atx-power-supply-ssr-650fm


The 3400G is nothing to sneeze at just as a CPU in its own right. If the 3300X were readily available, though, I would probably have gone for that.

Finally, video card. This is where it gets a bit hairy. I would frankly recommend the AMD RX 5600 XT, though right now there don't appear to be any noteworthy sales on it. Today. We are approaching Black Friday, though.

The 1660Super and 1660Ti both perform very close to each other, though less than the RX5600XT. Their prices can be a bit lower at times. I usually find the RX5600XT beats them both in terms of price/performance ratio, and is pretty ideal for the resolution your monitor is running. Still, with upcoming sales, the 1660Super or Ti might dip low enough to make it worthwhile. The RTX 2060 thus far performs equal to the 5600 XT, maybe a hair less, but tends to always cost more. The 2060 Super outdoes it, but is priced higher still.

The 1660 (not super and not ti) can be considered, and, while priced lower still, generally isn't worth the savings, price/performance wise, over the Super or Ti version.

Here's my quick and dirty search: GTX 1660 Super, GTX 1660 Ti, and RX 5600 XT, sorted by price. You can always tweak the search options.
https://pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#c=450,438,484&sort=price

These are all based on prices TODAY. Tomorrow, next week, December, etc., can change things, sometimes drastically. One example, for a few days, about a month ago, an RX 5600 XT was available for $219.99 (after discount code and mail-in rebate, though).


Now, the beefier PSU adds about $50-$60 to the total cost. The video card will add about $220 to $280. This, uh, blows well past the $500 limit.

It might not hurt to start with the 3400G CPU, using the integrated graphics, and just turn down settings, etc, for games. BUT, start with the beefier PSU. Then, later on, a video card could be added in, and there would be no concerns about pushing the limits of the CX450.

EDIT: in retrospect, the CX450 could well be up to the task, even with any of the models of video cards I've mentioned. I tend to be a bit more conservative when recommending to other people... for my own use, I might be slightly more willing to push the limits, because I'm the one who has to live with my decision, vs someone else taking my advice.

back of the napkin math: 65W CPU will never push past 100W, the 150W or less graphics cards in the future will never push past 220W spikes, and the rest of the system takes maybe 60W max. That would be 380W if EVERYTHING was running at max capacity/spiking simultaneously.

 

[FarmingTNT]

I haven't seen anyone suggest it, but for me if your budget is under or close to 500 I would go with used parts. Also don't understand the people saying to not buy anything that didn't come out like this year. He's 10! He doesn't need it! Just because some new more powerful stuff exists doesn't suddenly make the other cheaper stuff garbage.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($118.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: ASRock A520M-HDV Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($60.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Silicon Power XPOWER Turbine 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Team T-Force Vulcan G 512 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4 GB AERO ITX OC Video Card ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Case: DIYPC Solo-T2-R Black USB 3.0 ATX Mid Tower Case ($25.20 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($48.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $524.14
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-19 16:17 EST-0500

this will run everything you need at medium to high settings for 1080p, even ultra on older games,, which is fine for a 10 year old.
yes it only a 4 core/8 threasd, but it'll run everything anyway for a year or two

 

[USAFRet]

I3 10100 is faster than your Gen 4 Optiplex , also no NVME support. this is a very bad advice you re giving,

If you take a $500 system, with a standard SATA III SSD. 860 EVO, for instance.
1,000 ten year old minecraft kids.

Let them play for a few weeks.
One night, the little elves sneak in and swap in a Samsung 970 EVO.
999 of them wouldn't notice the difference. The 1 remaining kid just got lucky and guessed.

480GB SSD running out of TBW? In 2 years?
Please...tell us exactly how many SSDs you've personally seen that have both exceeded the manufacturers warranty TBW, AND have actually died because of that.
Personal experience, please.

 

[USAFRet]

read again , that PC is 7 years old . I did not say the ssd will die in 2 years , I said never buy SSD that is used more than 2 years, big difference . You need to have some TBW left for you .

I don't buy used drives either.
But...at 1/2 the overall budget, including a Windows OS....thinking about sporting up another $50 for a replacement SSD is not that big a deal.

 

[USAFRet]

Calm down a bit.

The goal here is to buy/build a system:
$500
games (minecraft) and homework
10 year old user


A playstation is not it
NVMe drive not needed
Doesn't need a zillion cores/threads
Waiting until Spring 2021 is not an option.

Investigationg ALL the options is not a bad thing. A $250 older system is not the end of the world.
It is merely one of the many options.

 

[Floef]

I never had any supervision either, so.. I mean, content wise I'm in a different boat. I was exposed to A LOT. Maybe it made me a bit jaded but I feel like I'm more grounded in reality because of it.

No supervision and freedom of my own PC as an 8th grader taught me more than any computer class!
To each their own though, I mean no offense 🆒

It needs to be noted that kids today are growing up with a very different internet environment than previous generations did...

And honestly, I don't think it's a better one.
They will definitely have different experiences than we did.

Just something to keep in mind.

 

[Justin512]

Wow. I didnt expect this to turn into such a controversial post lol

I really appreciate everyone that has taken the time to offer their advise, comments, and build recommendations. You all have given me A LOT to think about.

I like the idea of mixing some old with new to save some money and possibly get a better system at a lower price, but I honestly dont think I know enough about computers to know if I am getting ripped off or not.
I will more than likely buy all new.

I do have one more question, if you all would be so kind.

If I was able to scrape up some more money, what part should be the first thing I should replace on the build lists in these threads. I have pasted one here as an example.

From Flayed's post
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3400G 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($140.99 @ Best Buy)
Motherboard: ASRock B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Viper 4 Blackout 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory ($37.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX500 480 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($42.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Rosewill RANGER-M MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($64.94 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($108.78 @ Other World Computing)
Total: $485.67

 

[Justin512]

It needs to be noted that kids today are growing up with a very different internet environment than previous generations did...

And honestly, I don't think it's a better one.
They will definitely have different experiences than we did.

Just something to keep in mind.

That is very true! I never had to worry about "Internet Predators" when I was a kid.

 

[Justin512]

Add a dedicated GPU.

Not looking to open a can of worms here, but what should I look for in the spec sheet or on the box that will let me know what GPU will be compatible with my setup?