$1k Gaming PC Build for Son

ByronCleary · May 6, 2021

Budget (including currency): $1,000-1,200

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Minecraft, Fortnite, Valorant, Rocket League, Rust. Record gaming sessions for uploading to Youtube later. Ability to edit captured video. No plans on streaming currently.

Other details: Current peripherals - Keyboard, SteelSeries Apex Pro Wired TKL OmniPoint Switch RGB. Monitor, Dell 27' LED Curved FHD FreeSync and G-SYNC Monitor (Model S2721HGF). Mouse, Logitech G502 HERO Wired Optical Gaming Mouse.

He currently uses a gaming laptop paired with the second monitor. Acer - Nitro 5 15.6" Gaming Laptop - Intel Core i5 - 8GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti - 256GB Solid State Drive - Black

Aim - He is looking for a desktop that will increase his fps and ability to multitask. Ie run discord or other programs while he games. Currently his games drop a bit when he has a few items open.

Monitors - We will add a second monitor similar to the current Dell specs. 2 monitors max.

Why are you upgrading? He wants to move from a laptop to a desktop so he has something he can add to and upgrade in the years to come.

While I am confident in our ability to build this PC, I am not as confident in picking out the components and them meshing together well, getting the best bang for our buck. Any help is appreciated.

Thank you!

dizmo · May 6, 2021

It's really not a good time to try and buy, you won't be able to find a graphics card for a reasonable price.

I'd suggest he just uses his laptop for another year until prices normalize. Or, you can try and buy a prebuilt that already has a decent graphics card in it. Dell hasn't been overcharging too much for theirs.

Chris Pratt · May 6, 2021

You didn't specify exactly what CPU the laptop has (i5 is pretty meaningless overall), so it's possible you might be able to get an upgrade there. However, for your budget, you're not actually going to probably do any better than the 1050 Ti in that laptop. @dizmois right. If you can get a prebuilt, it may be worthwhile, but otherwise, just hold out with what your kid currently has.