Building my little sister her first PC, Suggestions Wanted!

[SaintERosa]

Hey guys so I have a younger sister whom has recently got into PC gaming (poor soul), she likes the PC more than playing on my Xbox One and prefers the keyboard and mouse setup (I'm aware of the key and mouse support for XB1). She also loves watching youtube and eventually I imagine as she gets older she will be using a PC at home to do homework (in like 4 years lol but still I'm kinda doing this for me (for fun) and her (because because)). So far I went a bought her a GTX 1050ti and a Fractal Design Node 202 (don't judge me).

 

So I was thinking between an 8th gen i3 or i5 vs the Ryzen 3 or 5 (including the 2200G and 2400G). To save me some money I was just going to give her my SFX 650watt modular PSU that is pretty small (smaller than a standard sized PSU square), I also currently have an Noctua NH-L9x65 (LGA1151 socket and AM3+ socket), I have two 8gb 2133mhz DDR4 RAM sticks and a 500GB SSD (she won't need much memory initially anyway).

I need a mini-ITX with built in Wi-Fi. I checked pricing and basically I'm looking to be spending around $300 if needed (though savings are great).

 

I also considered getting older gens of Intel if it would save money, I would even sacrifice my i5 sense it seems to run fine with it's 4 cores and 2.7ghz speed.

 

Games: Overwatch 1440p at 60fps or greater (I'm probably giving her my 1440p 60hz screen.

 

This all is for when I move out. I'm itching to build a PC for no reason so this kinda gives me a reason.

 

Also I want to give her my GTX 1080 mini after I replace it with something better.

[Dorinfilip]

get a ryzen 5 2600

[GoldenLag]

R3 2200G is enough for now.

 

In 4 years time you can add a 2 year old CPU into the same socket for a small penny.

 

Recommend doing some simple Ram overclocking by setting voltage on the ram to 1,4 and 2933mhz. You dont have to touch the timings.

 

If you can return the gtx 1050ti i would do so immediatly and pick up an rx 570. It should cost the same and be significantly faster (like by quite a bit). Especially considering you want to play at 1440p where the rx 570 gives a much more playable experience.

 

Edit: you can pick up a cheap B450m PRO4 board from Asrock (the mATX board). Its a solid board for the money.

[SaintERosa]

1 minute ago, Dorinfilip said:

get a ryzen 5 2600

This was going to be my idea, I was looking at this motherboard: https://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-B450-AORUS-PRO-Motherboard/dp/B07GPDJ9R6/ref=sr_1_10?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1547419704&sr=1-10&keywords=ryzen+mini+itx\

[TheRandomness]

I'd recommend using http://pcpartpicker.com/ for making a parts list, it checks compatibility between everything.

 

Honestly? With any Ryzen CPU that you aren't going to overclock on, 90% of all B350/450 boards will be fine for your needs.

 

[SaintERosa]

4 minutes ago, GoldenLag said:

R3 2200G is enough for now.

 

In 4 years time you can add a 2 year old CPU into the same socket for a small penny.

 

Recommend doing some simple Ram overclocking by setting voltage on the ram to 1,4 and 2933mhz. You dont have to touch the timings.

 

If you can return the gtx 1050ti i would do so immediatly and pick up an rx 570. It should cost the same and be significantly faster (like by quite a bit). Especially considering you want to play at 1440p where the rx 570 gives a much more playable experience.

 

Edit: you can pick up a cheap B450m PRO4 board from Asrock (the mATX board). Its a solid board for the money.

Great idea on the 1050, I got it recently to use in my older PC with a 240watt PSU, I think I might just switch it out then to save a bit more cash. Also the 3 2200G was on my list, that MB is super cheap and I could just get an m.2 wifi card anyway which should fix my wifi need issue

[GoldenLag]

1 hour ago, SaintERosa said:

Great idea on the 1050, I got it recently to use in my older PC with a 240watt PSU, I think I might just switch it out then to save a bit more cash. Also the 3 2200G was on my list, that MB is super cheap and I could just get an m.2 wifi card anyway which should fix my wifi need issue

Remember to get a 5ghz capable wificard as 2,4ghz can and will add some latency to the experience. Wired is usually recommended. (You can use solutions like powerline, but they can give mixed results)

Oh sorry. I just noticed you needed an ITX board. The Aourus board will then do the trick. Sorry to bother yiu with that.

[SaintERosa]

1 hour ago, GoldenLag said:

Remember to get a 5ghz capable wificard as 2,4ghz can and will add some latency to the experience. Wired is usually recommended. (You can use solutions like powerline, but they can give mixed results)

Well I just notice it was micro ATX, I need a mini ITX for this case. So I will be able to get wifi anyway for the cheapest boards.

 

1 hour ago, GoldenLag said:

Oh sorry. I just noticed you needed an ITX board. The Aourus board will then do the trick. Sorry to bother yiu with that.

Lol just replied to you before I seen your correction.

[GoldenLag]

1 minute ago, SaintERosa said:

Lol just replied to you before I seen your correction.

No problem. I should have noticed to begin with.

 

Though ive given the input i can.

 

The r3 2200G will work rather well for the time being and due to the cheap upgrade path in 4 year on the used market, it should be a winner.

 

But yes either get an rx 570 or (maybe) an rx 580 instead of the gtx 1050ti. (If you can offcourse, but i highly suggest avoiding the gtx 1050ti eith todays pricing and market)

[SaintERosa]

So I just ordered all the parts I needed. Here is what I went with (don't judge me):

 

Case: Fractal Design Node 202

CPU: Ryzen 5 2600 with Wraith Stealth Cooler (cooler will fit inside supposedly)

GPU: Radeon RX 580 8gb blower style ($140 used) - returning my GTX 1050ti (thanks for mentioning the RX 570! I'm totally an Intel and Nvidia shrill :p)

MB: GIGABYTE B450 I AORUS PRO WiFi

DRIVE: Samsung 970 EVO 250GB M.2 NVME (for boot and storage) - got it for $78 new (it was comparably priced to SATA m.2's of the same size on Amazon give or take $5 USD) - she won't be installing programs and will only be playing 1 game for now

PSU: Enermax Revolution SFX Modular 650watt (I use to use it for my prebuild)

RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x8Gb DDR4 2133mhz sticks

Thermal: Innovation Cooling Graphite Thermal Pad (I use this for my personal rig.)

Fans: Probably my fans that came with my Corsair H100 240mm AIO (I switched them for Chromas, idk why but it's too late for me)

 

Also I will eventually get her, her own RGB keyboard and mouse. (She will be using my cheapo ones for now).

 

I appreciate all the help and suggestions. Also I am going to record us building it together (if she's even interested lol) and I'll post it on my YouTube channel. One day she will be able to appreciate this PC which I admit will run pretty well from my comprehension (I hate slow computers!). I may also need to find her some Overwatch stickers to deck her PC out, overall not too bad of a price point. I spent a lot more on my own build.

[Taf the Ghost]

Since you're dealing with a low-techie user, build in some budget for Automatic Backups (you don't realize how important this *will* be) and audio solution. She likely won't care about sound quality that much, but the aesthetics and utility of the sound will matter.

[SaintERosa]

5 hours ago, Taf the Ghost said:

Since you're dealing with a low-techie user, build in some budget for Automatic Backups (you don't realize how important this *will* be) and audio solution. She likely won't care about sound quality that much, but the aesthetics and utility of the sound will matter.

My thought process for now sense she will only be gaming on it is that I don't need to have a storage backup. Although in the event I change my mind I could always add in another SSD I have lying around. She also will have a headset to go along which I hadn't mentioned. 

[Taf the Ghost]

7 minutes ago, SaintERosa said:

My thought process for now sense she will only be gaming on it is that I don't need to have a storage backup. Although in the event I change my mind I could always add in another SSD I have lying around.

Doesn't have to be big, but a monthly backup of the OS (the Windows Automated one) would suit your situations fine.

 

As for the headphones bit, she will want both the utility and visual appeal of them. Hit up the Audio chunk of the forum for the Cost Effective buys. You could also get a good but cheap pair of cans and then put some different colored earpads on them.

[SaintERosa]

On 1/14/2019 at 2:13 AM, Taf the Ghost said:

Doesn't have to be big, but a monthly backup of the OS (the Windows Automated one) would suit your situations fine.

 

As for the headphones bit, she will want both the utility and visual appeal of them. Hit up the Audio chunk of the forum for the Cost Effective buys. You could also get a good but cheap pair of cans and then put some different colored earpads on them.

I have a pair of $60 Razors she uses so I figured she'd like it. 

 

I finished the build today, it has the 1050ti until I get the RX 580 in the mail and confirm it works (used off eBay). Otherwise it's gaming well so far, in fact I'm on it right now, testing it on Overwatch and seeing any issues. So far nothing noteworthy. The build was surprisingly easy in fact it was a lot less hassle than when I made my full ATX tower in my Obsidian 750D. I am going to upload a video of it but my sister wasn't too thrilled after the unboxing of the parts lol

[SaintERosa]

So I tried out the RX 580, it works fine technically but it runs super hot and is very loud inside the Node 202, so I decided to keep the 1050ti and call it a day with this build. They both perform adequately for the use case and I don't think my sister wants her PC is be a heater and ambient noise maker. The RX however will be getting tested in my personal build to see how it performs in an appropriate setting though it won't obviously replace my 1080.