First time building.... need help!

[Twoseam36]

I am wanting to build a computer with my son, he’s 11 years old and we are going to do this together for the first time each. Basically he only plays fortnight and occasionally Minecraft, I already have the case, what is a good CPU and motherboard combo that I can get as a beginner for us that will give us good frame rates. I am a disabled vet, I need to keep this at low cost as possible, I just want to get my son into the computer building and something that we can bond over. He really wants to learn as well. Thank you. This is the case I have, this is the only thing I have for our build. We want it to perform better then his Xbox 1, (it’s not the X model) 

[NinJake]

What case do you have? That's the first step in deciding what motherboard will fit, and what CPU is designed for such motherboard.

[TheGlenlivet]

1 minute ago, Twoseam36 said:

I am wanting to build a computer with my son, he’s 11 years old and we are going to do this together for the first time each. Basically he only plays fortnight and occasionally Minecraft, I already have the case, what is a good CPU and motherboard combo that I can get as a beginner for us that will give us good frame rates. I am a disabled vet, I need to keep this at low cost as possible, I just want to get my son into the computer building and something that we can bond over. He really wants to learn as well. Thank you. 

Check out pcpartpicker.com

This site will let you enter the gear you already have as well as what you want to get and tell you if there are any incompatibilities.

If you give us a budget of some kind, and what equipment you already have, we can help put something together on paper for you.

[HanZie82]

I think you can have a gaming ready set for about 500 bucks if you go with AMD.
There are lots of posts on this forum describing them.

[Tristerin]

ASRock B450 Pro4 in either ATX or mATX (whatever fits your case)

Ryzen 3 APU

Corsair CX450 PSU realm

2x4 (or 2x8 if in budget) DDR4 3200mhz ram (easily drop in compatible) - but must be 2 sticks, Ryzen requires dual channel memory to breathe

 

Would be my recommendation on parts for a cheap gaming first rig.  No GPU to mess with, with a decent APU to produce graphics.  

 

 

[HanZie82]

4 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

ASRock B450 Pro4 in either ATX or mATX (whatever fits your case)

Ryzen 3 APU

Corsair CX450 PSU realm

2x4 (or 2x8 if in budget) DDR4 3200mhz ram (easily drop in compatible) - but must be 2 sticks, Ryzen requires dual channel memory to breathe

 

Would be my recommendation on parts for a cheap gaming first rig.  No GPU to mess with, with a decent APU to produce graphics.  

 

 

Exactly what i meant.
And the build in GPU should be able to run Fortnite with no problem. And Minecraft can even run on a calculator almost (afaik) so that will be good as well.

 

Thank for putting in the effort. (unlike me).

[Twoseam36]

14 minutes ago, TheGlenlivet said:

Check out pcpartpicker.com

This site will let you enter the gear you already have as well as what you want to get and tell you if there are any incompatibilities.

If you give us a budget of some kind, and what equipment you already have, we can help put something together on paper for you.

Trying to stay under $600 that’s just for the pc, I have only a case, he plays fortnight on the Xbox 1 and wants to Transition over to PC. Obviously we want to go as low money as possible as this will be our first PC building together, and then later on we will build something way more intense. The case I bought is DIYpc D480-W

[Twoseam36]

13 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

ASRock B450 Pro4 in either ATX or mATX (whatever fits your case)

Ryzen 3 APU

Corsair CX450 PSU realm

2x4 (or 2x8 if in budget) DDR4 3200mhz ram (easily drop in compatible) - but must be 2 sticks, Ryzen requires dual channel memory to breathe

 

Would be my recommendation on parts for a cheap gaming first rig.  No GPU to mess with, with a decent APU to produce graphics.  

 

 

This is what I have 

[TheGlenlivet]

Monitor?  Keyboard and mouse?  WIndows?

You will be a touch over $600 for everything, but it's close.

[Twoseam36]

9 minutes ago, TheGlenlivet said:

Monitor?  Keyboard and mouse?  WIndows?

You will be a touch over $600 for everything, but it's close.

The budget is just for the pc it’s self. The rest he’s getting for his bday from his grandparents 

[TheGlenlivet]

1 minute ago, Twoseam36 said:

The budget is just for the pc it’s self. The rest he’s getting for his bday from his grandparents 

Lucky kid!

[Twoseam36]

What about a AMD Ryzen 3 1200? It’s $57.98 and all the reviews are saying it’s great for starting 

[Tristerin]

1 minute ago, Twoseam36 said:

The budget is just for the pc it’s self. The rest he’s getting for his bday from his grandparents 

Well Minecraft isn't what it was before, from what I understand (I.E. it can utilize quite a bit of resources) - if you wanted a GPU in the mix and not an APU as the CPU I would get:

 

Ryzen 5 2600 ($120 shipped recently, even less at Microcenter with another $30 off a mobo in store and I think that's for the 2700X variant) or something along those lines

GTX 1660 Super/RX 590/RX 580/RX 570 

[Twoseam36]

2 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

Well Minecraft isn't what it was before, from what I understand (I.E. it can utilize quite a bit of resources) - if you wanted a GPU in the mix and not an APU as the CPU I would get:

 

Ryzen 5 2600 ($120 shipped recently, even less at Microcenter with another $30 off a mobo in store and I think that's for the 2700X variant) or something along those lines

GTX 1660 Super/RX 590/RX 580/RX 570 

That's what I want to do, a CPU and a graphics card. The case I have is DIYPC D480. 

[Twoseam36]

whats the difference between the 2600 and 2600x

[Grabhanem]

16 minutes ago, Twoseam36 said:

whats the difference between the 2600 and 2600x

The 2600X has slightly higher clocks and theoretically overclocks a little better.

 

Honestly at  $500 budget you could probably drop down to a 1600 and spend the extra money on other parts:

(rough guess at prices)

R5 1600 ~$100

B450 board ~$70

RX 580 ~$150

500GB SSD ~$50

16GB RAM ~$70

Decent 500W power supply ~$50

 

With a few bucks to spare

[Twoseam36]

2 minutes ago, Grabhanem said:

The 2600X has slightly higher clocks and theoretically overclocks a little better.

 

Honestly at  $500 budget you could probably drop down to a 1600 and spend the extra money on other parts:

(rough guess at prices)

R5 1600 ~$100

B450 board ~$70

RX 580 ~$150

500GB SSD ~$50

16GB RAM ~$70

Decent 500W power supply ~$50

 

With a few bucks to spare

that's not bad, I been on Pcpartpicker, looking at my options and there are so many, its overwhelming.

[RodrigoRS]

Hi, man!

 

I'll give you two option from my own perspective.

 

1) Without discrect gpu but with an APU (will be cheaper, enough for what you need but you'll be able to buy a GPU in the future for better performance if you want).

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3400G 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$139.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI B450M PRO-M2 MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$74.99 @ B&H
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$79.99 @ Best Buy
Storage	Crucial BX500 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$31.99 @ Adorama
Storage	Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$43.99 @ Best Buy
Power Supply	Corsair CXM 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$69.98 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$440.93
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-04 14:23 EST-0500

 

2) A little bit more expensive but overall better. You can upgrade in the future if you like. Buy a new Ryzen cpu with a new gpu in a couple of years without changing motherboard, ram, psu, etc.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor	$119.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	ASRock B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$59.99 @ Newegg
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$79.99 @ Best Buy
Storage	Crucial BX500 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$31.99 @ Adorama
Storage	Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$43.99 @ Best Buy
Video Card	MSI Radeon RX 580 8 GB ARMOR OC Video Card	$144.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair CXM 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$69.98 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$580.92
	Mail-in rebates	-$30.00
	Total	$550.92
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-04 14:24 EST-0500

 

Good luck with everything.

 

[Twoseam36]

2 minutes ago, RodrigoRS said:

Hi, man!

 

I'll give you two option from my own perspective.

 

1) Without discrect gpu but with an APU (will be cheaper, enough for what you need but you'll be able to buy a GPU in the future for better performance if you want).

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3400G 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$139.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI B450M PRO-M2 MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$74.99 @ B&H
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$79.99 @ Best Buy
Storage	Crucial BX500 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$31.99 @ Adorama
Storage	Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$43.99 @ Best Buy
Power Supply	Corsair CXM 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$69.98 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$440.93
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-04 14:23 EST-0500

 

2) A little bit more expensive but overall better. You can upgrade in the future if you like. Buy a new Ryzen cpu with a new gpu in a couple of years with changing motherboard, ram, pau, etc.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor	$119.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	ASRock B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$59.99 @ Newegg
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$79.99 @ Best Buy
Storage	Crucial BX500 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$31.99 @ Adorama
Storage	Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$43.99 @ Best Buy
Video Card	MSI Radeon RX 580 8 GB ARMOR OC Video Card	$144.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair CXM 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$69.98 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$580.92
	Mail-in rebates	-$30.00
	Total	$550.92
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-04 14:24 EST-0500

 

Good luck with everything.

 

Thank you for this

[RodrigoRS]

If you are getting the 3400g, be sure to buy a "MAX" motherboard. If not, you'll have to update the bios before being able to use it 

 

If you want to save a few bucks, forget about the Corsair BX500 and the WD 1TB and get 1 SSD of 500GB for 55~60 U$D (Samsung 860 Evo 500gb, Corsair BX500 of 500gb, etc). There are plenty of options around that budget. Same with other parts. If you can't find the same ram, look for a 2x8gb 3200MHz Cl16 kit of almost any brand. The HDD can be Western Digital, Seagate, etc.

 

If you need something else, let us know.

[IkeaGnome]

I had some parts with less than a year's use on them. With my rotation work, they spend 2 weeks off for every 2 weeks that I'm around, so it's really closer to 6 months use. Going to send them off to him once I get back in town, but here's the list of what he's got so far. They're still relevant parts and will at least get him and his son going and be able to spend more on GPU/Storage/RAM. I'm still learning PCs, but did mention to him that I ran this set up with 16 gigs of Corsair Vengance at 3200mhz and never had issues with it.

Spoiler

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$209.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	Cooler Master Hyper 212 LED 66.3 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler	$32.99 @ B&H
Motherboard	Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$402.12 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Thermaltake Smart 700 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply	$44.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$705.08
	Mail-in rebates	-$15.00
	Total	$690.08
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-04 19:13 EST-0500

 

Feel free to give ideas on the stuff that's still needed! These parts wont hit his budget at all.