gaming PC.

My niece have messaged me about a gaming machine for her son for christmas, he is only 13, and she doesn't want to spend a load just in case he loses interest, around the £400 to £500 mark, the lower end if possible. I am not a gamer and since I have had the Mac I have really lost track of what is available, prices and that sort of thing.
What video card should they be looking at minimum?

i know £400 is not a lot for a gaming machine these days, but as I said he is only 13.

she did find the one in the link below, but I have never heard of Bedrock computers, and it don't look good value for money. The 1050TI is an old card and was mid-range then.,

https://bedrock-computers.co.uk/product/ddr4-i7-gami...

Grateful for any advice. I suppose i could make one, but is it really any cheaper these days, taking in the cost of buying windows as well?

I suppose i could make one, but is it really any cheaper these days, taking in the cost of buying windows as well?

Unless you are building a bespoke, high end, system its usually cheaper to buy pre-built - or grab an old gamer box from someone who has to have the latest and best.
Your biggest ssue, in any case, will be manging expectations.

Of course, if he is just gaming then an XBox or PS5 would be a better bet for the money.

Cost of buying windows? not much at all, if you know where to look. The souks of Tortuga have what you need for the asking

Edited by Sponge35 (Wed 04-Oct-23 09:47:03)

In reply to a post by Sponge35:

I suppose i could make one, but is it really any cheaper these days, taking in the cost of buying windows as well?

Unless you are building a bespoke, high end, system its usually cheaper to buy pre-built - or grab an old gamer box from someone who has to have the latest and best.
Your biggest ssue, in any case, will be manging expectations.

Of course, if he is just gaming then an XBox or PS5 would be a better bet for the money.

Cost of buying windows? not much at all, if you know where to look. The souks of Tortuga have what you need for the asking

thanks for the reply, I did think there would be more replies, maybe not so many games players on here.

He has a switch, but wants a gaming PC for some reason. I know there are ways of getting Windows cheaply, I done it for my brother.

As I said above, I am out of touch, my PC is ok for the games I play, but it would struggle on some of the newer ones. I had a look at some of the computer retailers I use and the prices are stupid for gaming machines, way above what my Neice wants to pay, Maybe get something with a mid range GPU and then if he wants something better later on, it can be upgraded.
I will have a look around again later.

thanks again.

Worth considering which games are most likely to be played and their checking their recommended specs. Current AAA titles are going to require a much better GPU if they want decent frame rates. I don't play that many games and tend to use laptops so afraid I am not much help in specifics these days.

In reply to a post by ian72:

Worth considering which games are most likely to be played and their checking their recommended specs. Current AAA titles are going to require a much better GPU if they want decent frame rates. I don't play that many games and tend to use laptops so afraid I am not much help in specifics these days.

That is the point, I will have to ask my niece. you are the same as me, I don't many games, the most I play is left for dead and worms i do play few others but not many, that is why i am not updating my PC unless i really have to.


Thanks

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

That is the point, I will have to ask my niece. you are the same as me, I don't many games, the most I play is left for dead and worms i do play few others but not many, that is why i am not updating my PC unless i really have to.

PCPro magazine generally has both PC Specialist and Chillblast in their list of gaming/custom PC providers. Worth a look at the websites, but I think prices are higher than your budget.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

I think prices are higher than your budget.

When I saw the budget I thought the same, although its a lot of money it isn't for a gaming PC as a half decent general use PC is likely to cost more than the current budget.

I did similar for my ten year old granddaughter back in May. I picked up a used i7 which had 8gb ram and W10 pro for £140, new case £45, 1TB SSD £45 and a used GTX 660 for £25.

To her it looked brand new and is a nippy machine which will handle all her online home work, most games although you may need to drop the graphics setting to medium for new games and social media.

In reply to a post by neo_wales:

I picked up a used i7 which had 8gb ram and W10 pro for £140, new case £45, 1TB SSD £45 and a used GTX 660 for £25.

Nice

In reply to a post by jchamier:

PCPro magazine generally has both PC Specialist and Chillblast in their list of gaming/custom PC providers. Worth a look at the websites, but I think prices are higher than your budget.

I can understand why she doesn't want to go crazy on price as it will be a lot of money if he gets bored with it. Not my budget, my nieces budget. That one I linked too looks a bit old graphic card wise.

Prices have certainly gone up.

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

In reply to a post by jchamier:

I think prices are higher than your budget.

When I saw the budget I thought the same, although its a lot of money it isn't for a gaming PC as a half decent general use PC is likely to cost more than the current budget.

I saw this one on Ebuyer.

https://www.ebuyer.com/1896872-alphasync-ryzen-5-8gb...

I know it is pretty basic and have a APU and not a GPU, but i think this would be a better buy than the other one I linked to. For a start I have dealt with ebuyer before and the motherboard in here is a well-known one and can have a video card fitted later on if need be. All sorts of upgradability in the future.

What do people think?

I thought gaming PCs were suppose to be fast with good graphics cards but seems all you need is a case with garish lights.

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

I thought gaming PCs were suppose to be fast with good graphics cards but seems all you need is a case with garish lights.

not bothered about the case, this is not for me, this is for a 13-year-old child who don't have a huge attention span and can lose interest pretty quick. I am sure his parents would spend more on a computer if they knew he would keep interested.
The machine i saw seemd a pretty good machine for expanding.

My niece have got some info from some gamers for some parts. I would go down that route myself of building a machine, but I did not know if she wanted to go down that route. She just sent me a message saying she would as long as I helped her.

The parts that these people have picked out for her are.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/rZkmrv#compatibilit...

and
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/WhRyKX#compatibilit...

They both looks ok to me, but again I am not a gamer, the games he will be playing are Fortnite and Minecraft and no doubt more. I did say to get a more powerful PSU for future updates.,

the thing is if, he loses interest, then the machine can be used for everyday use, but if he wants something better, then it can be updated.

I thought gamers liked all the flashy lights, Not my sort of thing, I have a fan that lights up blue and another one that is green and the RGB fan on the heat sink, but I can't really see them, unless I look through the top of the case.

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

I thought gaming PCs were suppose to be fast with good graphics cards but seems all you need is a case with garish lights.

The serious gamers go for overclocking with water cooling... and the pretty lights

For those games, and that budget, an XBox Series S would be a far more sensible solution.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

I thought gamers liked all the flashy lights, Not my sort of thing, I have a fan that lights up blue and another one that is green and the RGB fan on the heat sink, but I can't really see them, unless I look through the top of the case.

Its hard to get a desktop/tower machine these days without them, at least most are software configurable to OFF.

In reply to a post by TinyMongomery:

For those games, and that budget, an XBox Series S would be a far more sensible solution.

I think he already has a Xbox, he for some reason want a computer for games for Christmas.

In reply to a post by billford:

The serious gamers go for overclocking with water cooling... and the pretty lights

Also, they spend more on their graphics cards than what I would spend on a whole computer . when he is old enough to work and have his own money, he can spend it on what ever he likes. But at the moment he is not.

I thought it would be an easy thing asking for help here, but it seems like it is not. I know the budget is low, but I doubt all gamers can afford to buy a machine that cost a grand or so.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Its hard to get a desktop/tower machine these days without them, at least most are software configurable to OFF.

one of the reasons I build my own or did before i changed to Mac. My Ryzen 7 1700 will play a few games, the video card is around 4 years old, but was pretty poky and cost me nearly £300 then, it is a RX 5700. no doubt out of date now, but it is not being renewed, if I do update my old PC, I may be able to use the video card full potential as if it is PCIe 4.

Maybe if I could get one second hand, it will do a better job than some of the newer, lower priced ones. The only problem is a lot of video cards have been used for bitcoin and that sort of thing.

Without wanting to divert traffic from the TBB forum, try the Overclockers forum. They have quite an active forum with regards to proposing builds from the lower end that your nephew is after to the ultra high end where money is no object.

You can submit your budget, games to play and resolution and someone will quickly give you a decent build. Bare in mind they don't allow posting of links to competitors so all components are from Overclockers, and can sometimes be had cheaper elsewhere. It's orth a try.

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/

That price point is a bit of a push unless you buy 2nd hand and replace the GPU.
A recommended base GPU such as the 6650xt is around £250 so a PC with a recentish CPU is doable.

Sorry for the delay, it is all done now thanks, he is only 12 so it will do, the video card is a Asrock AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT, if it needs updating at some point it can be, the ram is 16GB, but can be expanded, and the CPU is an AMD 5, 5500 I think.

it is ok, he can expand as he gets older if he decides it is for him. But thanks anyway peeps.