Needing Recommendations on a Entry Level Gaming Build for my 10 year old son, who is interested in building a PC.

[crimsoncodr]

Hi Everyone:

 

My 10 year old son has really been getting into computers and wants to learn how to build a PC.  It has been a long time since I have built a PC and I am hoping to get some advice.  I think this will be a great opportunity for him to learn more about how computers work, to feel some real accomplishment, and for us to have fun working together.  I am hoping to spend between $500 and $700 on the PC.  I will need to pick up a Windows license.  I already have an extra monitor and a peripherals.  I have no preference as far as brand or affiliation.  He does like the look of the Cooler Master cases and would very much like to do something RGB related (although I understand if that might have to come later to keep the budget).  

 

He is into games like Rocket League, Star Wars Battlefront, Minecraft, and he loves racing games.  I also hope this can be a platform for him to upgrade over time as he gets older.  

 

Thank you in advance for the advice!

[Himommies]

What currency

[crimsoncodr]

My apologies.  US Dollars, and based in North Carolina.

[DutchTexan]

1 minute ago, crimsoncodr said:

Hi Everyone:

 

My 10 year old son has really been getting into computers and wants to learn how to build a PC.  It has been a long time since I have built a PC and I am hoping to get some advice.  I think this will be a great opportunity for him to learn more about how computers work, to feel some real accomplishment, and for us to have fun working together.  I am hoping to spend between $500 and $700 on the PC.  I will need to pick up a Windows license.  I already have an extra monitor and a peripherals.  I have no preference as far as brand or affiliation.  He does like the look of the Cooler Master cases and would very much like to do something RGB related (although I understand if that might have to come later to keep the budget).  

 

He is into games like Rocket League, Star Wars Battlefront, Minecraft, and he loves racing games.  I also hope this can be a platform for him to upgrade over time as he gets older.  

 

Thank you in advance for the advice!

Spend some time on pcpartpicker.com and look at what other people have built.

 

I think I would go for a 6bg GTX 1060 and then try building around that. Also, I would go straight to a smaller capacity SSD for storage and then maybe adding a HDD later if you can squeeze it into the budget. Finally, concerning where to buy rather than what to buy for now, if you are in the United States I suggest first looking for a Micro Center store near you. They can have the best deals if you know what you are looking for. Then, if ordering online, get all your parts from newegg.com and then amazon. (Newegg doesn't tax)

 

I'll have a parts list in a moment.

[Thermosman]

2 minutes ago, DutchTexan said:

Spend some time on pcpartpicker.com and look at what other people have built.

 

I think I would go for a 6bg GTX 1060 and then try building around that. Also, I would go straight to a smaller capacity SSD for storage and then maybe adding a HDD later if you can squeeze it into the budget. Finally, concerning where to buy rather than what to buy for now, if you are in the United States I suggest first looking for a Micro Center store near you. They can have the best deals if you know what you are looking for. Then, if ordering online, get all your parts from newegg.com and then amazon. (Newegg doesn't tax)

 

I'll have a parts list in a moment.

there is a micro center in fairfax, virginia just north of north carolina

[ArduinoBen]

I'd go for Ryzen 1600 and a 1060 6GB with 12 GB 2400Mhz RAM

[mech]

Mabey try this

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HT2WVY

[Herman Mcpootis]

try something like this, you can get windows from reddit for $25.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($189.98 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill - Aegis 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($92.88 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Toshiba - P300 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($39.88 @ Other World Computing) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 3GB 3GB GAMING Video Card  ($204.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: Cooler Master - MasterBox Lite 3.1 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($35.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM (2015) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($24.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $648.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-03 20:24 EST-0500

[crimsoncodr]

Thanks so much!  Fairfax is about 6 hours from us (we are close to Charlotte), but that might be a fun weekend trip for he and I.  Always looking for opportunities to connect with the kid and increase his interest.

[mech]

1 minute ago, crimsoncodr said:

Thanks so much!  Fairfax is about 6 hours from us (we are close to Charlotte), but that might be a fun weekend trip for he and I.  Always looking for opportunities to connect with the kid and increase his interest.

Hope it goes well!

[Thermosman]

Just now, crimsoncodr said:

Thanks so much!  Fairfax is about 6 hours from us (we are close to Charlotte), but that might be a fun weekend trip for he and I.  Always looking for opportunities to connect with the kid and increase his interest.

when you reply to somebody, quote them using the arrow button on their post, or tag them like @Thermosman so they get notified of your reply  

[Thermosman]

5 minutes ago, crimsoncodr said:

Thanks so much!  Fairfax is about 6 hours from us (we are close to Charlotte), but that might be a fun weekend trip for he and I.  Always looking for opportunities to connect with the kid and increase his interest.

microcenter usually has good prices, but I recommend using their website microcenter.com and the website pcpartpicker.com to make sure you are not overpaying for an item

[DutchTexan]

2 minutes ago, herman mcpootis said:

try something like this, you can get windows from reddit for $25.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($189.98 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill - Aegis 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($92.88 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Toshiba - P300 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($39.88 @ Other World Computing) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 3GB 3GB GAMING Video Card  ($204.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: Cooler Master - MasterBox Lite 3.1 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($35.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM (2015) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($24.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $648.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-03 20:24 EST-0500

This is a really good build. If you can get everything for those prices then I don't think you can beat it.

 

This is what I came up with:

 

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/VWxRLD
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/VWxRLD/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 1300X 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($119.99 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($74.33 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: Crucial - 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($82.88 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($41.89 @ SuperBiiz) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GAMING Video Card  ($259.99 @ B&H) 
Case: Cooler Master - MasterBox Lite 5 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($44.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic - 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($49.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Total: $674.06
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-03 20:32 EST-0500

[Herman Mcpootis]

Just now, DutchTexan said:

Power Supply: SeaSonic - 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($49.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
 

the M12ii is old+missing protections, so i'd skip it for a corsair CX instead.

[DutchTexan]

1 minute ago, herman mcpootis said:

the M12ii is old+missing protections, so i'd skip it for a corsair CX instead.

Sounds good to me. I just picked it because it was the well reviewed and cheapest. Don't know much of it

[crimsoncodr]

11 minutes ago, Thermosman said:

when you reply to somebody, quote them using the arrow button on their post, or tag them like @Thermosman so they get notified of your reply  

@Thermosman My bad, painfully obvious I am new to the forum   Thanks again for all the help, awesome recommendations and definitely excited about getting started.

[DutchTexan]

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/3yvd3F
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/3yvd3F/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 1300X 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($119.99 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($74.33 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: Crucial - 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($82.88 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($84.99 @ B&H) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GAMING Video Card  ($259.99 @ B&H) 
Case: Cooler Master - MasterBox Lite 5 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($44.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: EVGA - 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($38.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $706.15
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-03 20:39 EST-0500

 

That's what I would really do and then add a 1TB HDD later on for more storage. If you get an SSD right off the bat there will be no headache of reinstalling windows and it will also teach him how to manage storage, becasue of how much faster and better games run generally on a SSD vs a HDD. I think the 6gb 1060 is the best card for 1080p gaming, but you can get away with a 3gb version or a 1050ti no problem. Also, CPU wise I think a higher clocked quadcore is much more worth it than a lower clocked 6 core cpu, even more so because the 1300X is cheaper. 

 

Also, it might be worth it to spend a little extra on the case just so it looks cool and is easier to build in. Maybe even get a full ATX motherboard for the looks too. Like the stick of memory I have selected is very ugly to save a few bucks, you can change and spend a lot in the name of aesthetics. Other than that, https://pcpartpicker.com/builds/ have a look at all the crazy things people are building everyday and I hope y'all don't get too a addicted to doing research  

[Thermosman]

28 minutes ago, DutchTexan said:

This is a really good build. If you can get everything for those prices then I don't think you can beat it.

the 1060 6gb is within budget, I wouldnt reccoment the 3gb version, imo its not good value

[Thermosman]

here is that with the 1060 6gb and a better hdd

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/PjYm4C

[mech]

2 minutes ago, Thermosman said:

here is that with the 1060 6gb and a better hdd

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/PjYm4C

He said he needed a windows key. And why no case rgb!?!?!

[Thermosman]

Just now, ScrappyZeDog said:

He said he needed a windows key. And why no case rgb!?!?!

a oem windows key can be got on ebay for only a few dollars, and at this pricepoint, rgb is basically out of the question  unless you really cheap out on other things

[mech]

Just now, Thermosman said:

a oem windows key can be got on ebay for only a few dollars, and at this pricepoint, rgb is basically out of the question  unless you really cheap out on other things

you could get the cooler master masterbox lite 5 rgb for $15 more.

[Thermosman]

 

4 minutes ago, ScrappyZeDog said:

you could get the cooler master masterbox lite 5 rgb for $15 more.

oh well then do that  didnt really explore many case options

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/rTwm4C

[SliceT]

27 minutes ago, Thermosman said:

 

oh well then do that  didnt really explore many case options

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/rTwm4C

Add a SSD and then its perfect.

[Thermosman]

Just now, SliceT said:

Add a SSD and then its perfect.

that would be suitable as an upgrade, but its not within budget unless you sacrifice performance