Need advice on first gaming PC build for teenager

[headstrongworks]

Hello. My son is building his first gaming PC. I just bought him the components listed below. He feels that he needs to upgrade the processor to an i7 and needs to upgrade the graphics video card as well in order to run games better. He's a typical 14 year old teen who games, so I'm just not sure this is necessary. I'm also worried that upgrades won't be compatible with the other components. Any advice would be appreciated as my understanding is limited. Thank you all! Staci

Intel Core i3 8th Gen
Radeon RX570 Gaming 4G
Patriot Memory Burst SSD 240 GB Sata III Internal SSD 2.5 "
MSI B360M Pro-VDH Desktop Motherboard Intel Chipset Socket H4 LGA-1151
HGST Deskstar 3.5 inch 2 TB 7200 RPM SATA II 32MB Cache internal hard dr
CoolerMaster Masterwatt 550 80plus bronze certified
Ryzen Evospear 4GB PC4 (2 of these)

 

[jankerson]

Depends on the games he is playing.

I would say at least an i5 CPU like a i5 8600, but an i7 would be better like a i7 8700, I am sure he is playing at 1080P so a faster CPU would really help.

The RX 570 is on the weaker side of mid range so a more powerful GPU would be better, I would say an RTX 2070 would be good.

How much ram does he have?

 

[punkncat]

I would take an alternate path to say that your son should be grateful for the gift you have given. That system should game well on most titles at 1080p, medium settings, and still make good frames.
I would suggest to teenager to save up some cash, do some side work, etc. and earn those upgrades rather than expecting you to come out of pocket more. This was no small gift.

 

[headstrongworks]

We got 2 TB of RAM

Depends on the games he is playing.

I would say at least an i5 CPU like a i5 8600, but an i7 would be better like a i7 8700, I am sure he is playing at 1080P so a faster CPU would really help.

The RX 570 is on the weaker side of mid range so a more powerful GPU would be better, I would say an RTX 2070 would be good.

How much ram does he have?

I would take an alternate path to say that your son should be grateful for the gift you have given. That system should game well on most titles at 1080p, medium settings, and still make good frames.
I would suggest to teenager to save up some cash, do some side work, etc. and earn those upgrades rather than expecting you to come out of pocket more. This was no small gift.

 

[headstrongworks]

I definitely agree and he has some cash saved and summer work lined up to save more. He also has a birthday in January so I was just wondering if those two upgrades (I help with one, he pays for one) would be useful/necessary. Thank you. S

I would take an alternate path to say that your son should be grateful for the gift you have given. That system should game well on most titles at 1080p, medium settings, and still make good frames.
I would suggest to teenager to save up some cash, do some side work, etc. and earn those upgrades rather than expecting you to come out of pocket more. This was no small gift.

 

[WildCard999]

I would take an alternate path to say that your son should be grateful for the gift you have given. That system should game well on most titles at 1080p, medium settings, and still make good frames.
I would suggest to teenager to save up some cash, do some side work, etc. and earn those upgrades rather than expecting you to come out of pocket more. This was no small gift.

+1.

The build, as is, is a good 1080P build.


@Jankerson, it appears to be 2x4gb of memory.

 

[headstrongworks]

Right on the memory 8GB total

Would he be able to upgrade the CPU and gaming card and still be within compatibility with the other components in the future? Thanks so much, S

I would take an alternate path to say that your son should be grateful for the gift you have given. That system should game well on most titles at 1080p, medium settings, and still make good frames.
I would suggest to teenager to save up some cash, do some side work, etc. and earn those upgrades rather than expecting you to come out of pocket more. This was no small gift.

+1.

The build, as is, is a good 1080P build.


@Jankerson, it appears to be 2x4gb of memory.

 

[punkncat]

TBH, I don't think the 8th gen i3 is a BAD processor for gaming in itself.
If I were going to upgrade that system I would look to double your ram from 8gb to 16gb. There are tons of game reviews and video that suggest 16 is the sweet spot for gaming as well as general use on Win10 now.
Beyond that, when considering a new graphics card there is a hierarchy list that suggests you only consider models tiered so far above current to see best results and not be wasteful of money already spent. If you do a quick search Tom's has a pretty good listing as described. That would likely put in in a cost point around a 1070 or better, quite a considerable part of what you spent on this whole system IMO.

 

[WildCard999]

For a upgrade I'd look at the i5-8400 which is a great gaming CPU. Next upgrade I would look at is the monitor, since he's gaming on a RX 570 then I would look at a 1080P or 2560x1080P Freesync monitor.

Upgrading memory is a good idea but you will want to sell the current kit and buy a 2x8gb @2666 kit as mixing kits or even getting a identical one may not be stable.

 

[headstrongworks]

He said that he plays a lot of physics based games like Stormworks. Just wanted to throw that out there. Thanks guys, this is so valuable. Staci

For a upgrade I'd look at the i5-8400 which is a great gaming CPU. Next upgrade I would look at is the monitor, since he's gaming on a RX 570 then I would look at a 1080P or 2560x1080P Freesync monitor.

Upgrading memory is a good idea but you will want to sell the current kit and buy a 2x8gb @2666 kit as mixing kits or even getting a identical one may not be stable.

 

[WildCard999]

He said that he plays a lot of physics based games like Stormworks. Just wanted to throw that out there. Thanks guys, this is so valuable. Staci

For a upgrade I'd look at the i5-8400 which is a great gaming CPU. Next upgrade I would look at is the monitor, since he's gaming on a RX 570 then I would look at a 1080P or 2560x1080P Freesync monitor.

Upgrading memory is a good idea but you will want to sell the current kit and buy a 2x8gb @2666 kit as mixing kits or even getting a identical one may not be stable.

Per the recommended requirements the only thing he needs to get to make it run smoother would be that CPU upgrade as the 8th gen i5's are better then the 6th gen i7's (Cores>threads).
https://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/requirements/stormworks-build-and-rescue/16432