Dream Computer for My Son

[SarahJCA]

My son is going to be 18 in June

 

I want him to pick out parts to build a dream one for himself.  The problem is that he's not understanding that I am willing to invest money in it to last for years so he's being very conservative with his picks, thinking of spending $800 on everything when I am thinking more like $2000.

 

Times change and, for me, $2000 for a desktop was not unreasonable but he's saying that's WAY too much.... I need guidance for both of us.

 

He does play games but he's mostly a console gamer... but I know he wouldn't be against a nice gaming system.  He does coding and tablet drawing on his laptop now plus sometimes videos for YouTube.

[Statik]

What country are you in?

 

And where were you when I was 17? Lord have mercy.

 

As well what does your son all need? Just the PC itself? Or does he also need monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset, etc? If it's of any  concern to you, you can easily build a great PC for under $2,000. But if you really are interested in spending that much you can get a real solid rig for that.

[Grabhanem]

I'll take the $1200 >.>

 

He's right that $800 is around peak value for money. However, if you need to convince him, buying a more expensive machine will mean that the hardware will stay relevant for longer- if you look at 5+-year-old hardware, an i5 4570 and GTX 760 build would be showing its age now, but a 4790k and 780Ti could still run modern games at near max settings.

[mr moose]

I have the opposite problem, I offered my son $200 to upgrade his PC (he already has $250), only proviso was he came to the bank with me and watched his little sister for 15 minutes while I sort out our banking situation and deposit the money into his account.  he said no, it was too much effort.  WTF is wrong with kids these days turning down offers of more money?

[Sharif]

Plus from my own experience back in school, people who straight up make a dream pc, compared to upgrading it there from interest and homework are more likely to get more out of it.

[WkdPaul]

* thread cleaned *

 

OP isn't asking for life choices criticism, so keep it on-topic and try to help.

[Cyberspirit]

Maybe you should let them go with the cheaper option and invest in something else for them? 

If they are into drawing and their current tablet isn't all too good, you could get them a nicer tablet or something. 

[Blue4130]

47 minutes ago, SarahJCA said:

 I am willing to invest money in it

Investing money in hardware is a fools errand. Think of it as paying for premium entertainment. 

[Lorant]

1 minute ago, Cyberspirit said:

Maybe you should let them go with the cheaper option and invest in something else for them? 

If they are into drawing and their current tablet isn't all too good, you could get them a nicer tablet or something. 

Or a digital tablet, there are some seriously nice ones out there.

 

When the OP gives a location, the builds will commence!

[Statik]

1 hour ago, Caroline said:

Unless you spend a grand on a RTX card for a feature no games use and the remaining on a 9900K and RGB crap there's no way you can spend that much in a machine that's solely for games, 2k+ is already workstation level: Threadrippers, Xeons, 64GB memory, Quadro or multi-GPU configs, etc

 

It depends on what she all needs. If you need peripherals then you can sauce 2k like it's no tomorrow.  All in all I sauced like $3.5-4k on my setup. And that's not including shit I already owned.

[Statik]

2 hours ago, SarahJCA said:

-snip-

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$324.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	Corsair H100i RGB PLATINUM 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler	$139.99 @ Best Buy
Motherboard	Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard	$164.99 @ B&H
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$98.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$99.99 @ B&H
Video Card	EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB BLACK GAMING Video Card	$699.98 @ Amazon
Case	Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case	$98.99 @ Walmart
Power Supply	Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$109.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1737.91
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-20 19:08 EST-0500

This will give him everything he needs, and then some. You could easily put a HDD in for more storage for dirt cheap, and we can easily shuffle some components around if you need peripherals (i.e. cut back on a few things to save money for monitor, etc.)

[Ashiella]

2 minutes ago, Statik said:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$324.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	Corsair H100i RGB PLATINUM 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler	$139.99 @ Best Buy
Motherboard	Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard	$164.99 @ B&H
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$98.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$99.99 @ B&H
Video Card	EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB BLACK GAMING Video Card	$699.98 @ Amazon
Case	Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case	$98.99 @ Walmart
Power Supply	Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$109.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1737.91
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-20 19:08 EST-0500

This will give him everything he needs, and then some. You could easily put a HDD in for more storage for dirt cheap, and we can easily shuffle some components around if you need peripherals (i.e. cut back on a few things to save money for monitor, etc.)

I would've probably gone with air coolers if were going for longevity. I've owned 2 corsair AIO's and both broke within 1-2 years.

[Statik]

1 hour ago, Ashiella said:

I would've probably gone with air coolers if were going for longevity. I've owned 2 corsair AIO's and both broke within 1-2 years.

It's possible. I was thinking of something a 17 year old would like, and lots of people have AIOs. I had a Corsair H80i that's been going strong for 7+ years in my old rig.

[Ashiella]

8 minutes ago, Statik said:

It's possible. I was thinking of something a 17 year old would like, and lots of people have AIOs. I had a Corsair H80i that's been going strong for 7+ years in my old rig.

I'm a 17 year old  I like AIO's but after bad experiences with them, the NH-D15/Darkrock pro 4 is more my jam. My AIOs both got dead pumps

[Statik]

1 hour ago, Ashiella said:

I'm a 17 year old  I like AIO's but after bad experiences with them, the NH-D15/Darkrock pro 4 is more my jam. My AIOs both got dead pumps

Sounds like you got some lemons. I love the silence, cooling capability, and look of AIOs. But to each their own.

[Ashiella]

Just now, Statik said:

Sounds like you got some lemons. I love the silence, cooling capability, and look of AIOs. But to each their own.

My NH-D14 was running 2 noctua(obviously) fans at 1000rpm and was pretty close to my H100i v2 when I had it. But it was a bitch to install and unless you get a coverplate its gonna look ugly.

[wasab]

Custom: pick one

https://pcpartpicker.com/guide/

 

Prebuilt: pick one 

https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?N=100019096 601321636 601341618 4814 601341602 601341620 601190701&LeftPriceRange=1000 2000&Order=PRICE

 

[Letgomyleghoe]

8 minutes ago, Caroline said:

 

2.5" drives to avoid overheating

 

if you buy an m.2 heatsink its not much of an issue

[Crunchy Dragon]

-Moved to New Builds and Planning-

[AngryBeaver]

2 hours ago, SarahJCA said:

My son is going to be 18 in June

 

I want him to pick out parts to build a dream one for himself.  The problem is that he's not understanding that I am willing to invest money in it to last for years so he's being very conservative with his picks, thinking of spending $800 on everything when I am thinking more like $2000.

 

Times change and, for me, $2000 for a desktop was not unreasonable but he's saying that's WAY too much.... I need guidance for both of us.

 

He does play games but he's mostly a console gamer... but I know he wouldn't be against a nice gaming system.  He does coding and tablet drawing on his laptop now plus sometimes video

A lot of these builds in here are in the right ball park. I think the bigger question is how will your kid use it? Does he have any particular career path he is interested in? 

 

I ask because at this price point we can build him something that can help him professionally while also giving him his game fix.

 

Also to the 2080s there is little to no reason to buy it over a 2070s. The fps difference is like 3-8% depending on the game and for 200 more I would just pickup a 3900x which gives him more workstation power or the ability to stream games with cores to spare.

 

Also if he isn't going to game at high res the 2070s or 5700xt are pretty much overkill as is. Yes, I know in the future it changes, but gpus are meant to be changed every 3-4 years and that cpu will still be very relevant for that. So no point in over spending on a gpu unless he actually needs it for 1440p at 144+ fps or a 4k setup.

[Statik]

1 hour ago, Caroline said:

What about

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$324.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-D15 SE-AM4 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler	$89.90 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard	$165.99 @ Amazon
Memory	Patriot Viper Steel 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3733 Memory	$94.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Crucial MX500 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$106.75 @ Amazon
Storage	Crucial MX500 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$106.75 @ Amazon
Video Card	XFX Radeon VII 16 GB Video Card	$549.99 @ Amazon
Case	Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case	$84.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$109.99 @ Amazon
Monitor	Dell S2716DGR 27.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor	$329.99 @ Best Buy
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1964.33
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-20 20:38 EST-0500

Air coolers are silent if you know how to configure the fans

2.5" drives to avoid overheating

 

I would recommend against that board, it's pretty dogshit if I understand correctly. As well I would get an NVME + an SSD, since the NVME is cheaper and faster. Or a NVME + HDD Combo. And I would recommend a 5700XT over the VII.

[SarahJCA]

5 hours ago, NZgamer said:

Nice! What country are you in so that I can help you pick out your parts?

We are in the US

[SarahJCA]

5 hours ago, Statik said:

What country are you in?

 

And where were you when I was 17? Lord have mercy.

 

As well what does your son all need? Just the PC itself? Or does he also need monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset, etc? If it's of any  concern to you, you can easily build a great PC for under $2,000. But if you really are interested in spending that much you can get a real solid rig for that.

We are in the US.  He needs everything, totally starting from scratch.

[SarahJCA]

5 hours ago, Grabhanem said:

I'll take the $1200 >.>

 

He's right that $800 is around peak value for money. However, if you need to convince him, buying a more expensive machine will mean that the hardware will stay relevant for longer- if you look at 5+-year-old hardware, an i5 4570 and GTX 760 build would be showing its age now, but a 4790k and 780Ti could still run modern games at near max settings.

I want it to last.  My dad's philosophy was to plan for what you can afford and then one step up so I'm thinking that way.

[SarahJCA]

5 hours ago, mr moose said:

I have the opposite problem, I offered my son $200 to upgrade his PC (he already has $250), only proviso was he came to the bank with me and watched his little sister for 15 minutes while I sort out our banking situation and deposit the money into his account.  he said no, it was too much effort.  WTF is wrong with kids these days turning down offers of more money?

My son has been like that before: if it's too much effort, I'm not interested.