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PC For a Friend

_DX
By _DX
in New Builds and Planning
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One of my good friends wants to get into some mild gaming; however, I know and he knows that he has no funds to do so. So, I'm going to try to surprise him with a PC, but I need some suggestions. All he would use it for is a few steam games, roblox, and obs for his youtube channel. If anybody could think of a budget build (with a monitor), that would be awesome. Thanks!

 

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use preexisting lists on PC parts picker. you'll be able to match stuff in your region much easier than use throwing what we see in our area.

Primary System

  • CPU
    Ryzen R6 5700X
  • Motherboard
    MSI B350M mortar arctic
  • RAM
    32GB Corsair RGB 3600MT/s CAS18
  • GPU
    Zotac RTX 3070 OC
  • Case
    kind of a mess
  • Storage
    WD black NVMe SSD 500GB & 1TB samsung Sata ssd & x 1TB WD blue & x 3TB Seagate
  • PSU
    corsair RM750X white
  • Display(s)
    1440p 21:9 100Hz
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4 minutes ago, _DX said:

One of my good friends wants to get into some mild gaming; however, I know and he knows that he has no funds to do so. So, I'm going to try to surprise him with a PC, but I need some suggestions. All he would use it for is a few steam games, roblox, and obs for his youtube channel. If anybody could think of a budget build (with a monitor), that would be awesome. Thanks!

 

what region are you buying in?

I might be experienced, but I'm human and I do make mistakes. Trust but Verify! I edit my messages after sending them alot, please refresh before posting your reply. Please try to be clear and specific, you'll get a better answer. Please remember to mark solutions once you have the information you need. Expand this signature for common PC building advice, a short bio and a list of my components.

 

Common build advice:

1) Buy the cheapest (well reviewed) motherboard that has the features you need. Paying more typically only gets you features you won’t use. 2) only get as much RAM as you need, getting more won’t (typically) make your PC faster. 3) While I recommend getting an NVMe drive, you don’t need to splurge for an expensive drive with DRam cache, DRamless drives are fine for gamers. 4) paying for looks is fine, just don’t break the bank. 5) Tower coolers are usually good enough, unless you go top tier Intel or plan on OCing. 6) OCing is a dead meme, you probably shouldn’t bother. 7) "Bottlenecks" rarely matter and "Future-proofing" is a myth. 8) AIOs don't noticeably improve performance past 240mm and don't improve at all past 360mm. 9) RTFM.

 

Useful Websites:

https://www.productchart.com - helps compare monitors, https://uk.pcpartpicker.com - makes designing a PC easier.

 

Bio:

He/Him - I'm a PhD student working in the fields of reinforcement learning and traffic control. PCs are one of my hobbies and I've built many PCs and performed upgrades on a few laptops (for myself, friends and family). My personal computers include 4 windows (10/11) machines and a TrueNAS server (and I'm looking to move to dual booting Linux Mint on my main machine in future). Aside from computers, I also dabble in modding/homebrew retro consoles, support Southampton FC, and enjoy Scuba Diving and Skiing.

Fun Facts

1) When I was 3 years old my favourite toy was a scientific calculator. 2) My father is a British Champion ploughman in the Vintage Hydraulic Class. 3) On Speedrun.com, I'm the world record holder for the Dream Bobsleigh event on Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games 2010.

 

My Favourite Games: World of Tanks, Runescape, Subnautica, Metroid (Fusion and Dread), Spyro: Year of the Dragon (Original and Reignited Trilogy), Crash Bash, Mario Kart Wii, Balatro

 

My Computers: Primary: My main gaming rig - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/will0hlep/saved/NByp3C Second: Hosts Discord bots as well as a Minecraft and Ark server, and also serves as a reinforcement learning sand box - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/will0hlep/saved/cc9K7P NAS: TrueNAS Scale NAS hosting SMB shares, DDNS updater, pi-hole, and a Jellyfin server - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/will0hlep/saved/m37w3C Foldatron: My folding@home and BOINC rig (partially donated to me by Folding Team Leader GOTSpectrum) - Mobile: Mini-ITX gaming rig for when I'm away from home -

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What sort of budget are you working with, what country are you in, and are you okay with going for used parts?

 

If you keep your expectations in check, and you're in the US, you can probably do this for under $450 with all new parts (using a Ryzen APU build paired with a cheap 1080p 75Hz monitor), but you could get an even better bang-for-the-buck with used if you're comfortable with that route.

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Here is a build set in the UK: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/WwPPC6 for £583.82
 

AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor
ASRock A520M-HVS Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard 
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory
Kingston NV2 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive
ASRock Challenger D Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card   
CiT Home RGB MicroATX Mid Tower Case 
Corsair TX550M 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply

IMO, If your going cheaper than this, used parts start to look more interesting then new ones.

I might be experienced, but I'm human and I do make mistakes. Trust but Verify! I edit my messages after sending them alot, please refresh before posting your reply. Please try to be clear and specific, you'll get a better answer. Please remember to mark solutions once you have the information you need. Expand this signature for common PC building advice, a short bio and a list of my components.

 

Common build advice:

1) Buy the cheapest (well reviewed) motherboard that has the features you need. Paying more typically only gets you features you won’t use. 2) only get as much RAM as you need, getting more won’t (typically) make your PC faster. 3) While I recommend getting an NVMe drive, you don’t need to splurge for an expensive drive with DRam cache, DRamless drives are fine for gamers. 4) paying for looks is fine, just don’t break the bank. 5) Tower coolers are usually good enough, unless you go top tier Intel or plan on OCing. 6) OCing is a dead meme, you probably shouldn’t bother. 7) "Bottlenecks" rarely matter and "Future-proofing" is a myth. 8) AIOs don't noticeably improve performance past 240mm and don't improve at all past 360mm. 9) RTFM.

 

Useful Websites:

https://www.productchart.com - helps compare monitors, https://uk.pcpartpicker.com - makes designing a PC easier.

 

Bio:

He/Him - I'm a PhD student working in the fields of reinforcement learning and traffic control. PCs are one of my hobbies and I've built many PCs and performed upgrades on a few laptops (for myself, friends and family). My personal computers include 4 windows (10/11) machines and a TrueNAS server (and I'm looking to move to dual booting Linux Mint on my main machine in future). Aside from computers, I also dabble in modding/homebrew retro consoles, support Southampton FC, and enjoy Scuba Diving and Skiing.

Fun Facts

1) When I was 3 years old my favourite toy was a scientific calculator. 2) My father is a British Champion ploughman in the Vintage Hydraulic Class. 3) On Speedrun.com, I'm the world record holder for the Dream Bobsleigh event on Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games 2010.

 

My Favourite Games: World of Tanks, Runescape, Subnautica, Metroid (Fusion and Dread), Spyro: Year of the Dragon (Original and Reignited Trilogy), Crash Bash, Mario Kart Wii, Balatro

 

My Computers: Primary: My main gaming rig - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/will0hlep/saved/NByp3C Second: Hosts Discord bots as well as a Minecraft and Ark server, and also serves as a reinforcement learning sand box - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/will0hlep/saved/cc9K7P NAS: TrueNAS Scale NAS hosting SMB shares, DDNS updater, pi-hole, and a Jellyfin server - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/will0hlep/saved/m37w3C Foldatron: My folding@home and BOINC rig (partially donated to me by Folding Team Leader GOTSpectrum) - Mobile: Mini-ITX gaming rig for when I'm away from home -

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