• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

First PC for 15 year old son - im clueless :)

Hello Gaf ..... i need your help.

My son wants to buy his first gaming pc. He previously only had a playstation console. Im a lowly console gamer all my life ;) and dont have the first clue about gaming pcs.
He asked me about a specific pc he wants to buy - and i dont know if it is a good offer or not. Which leads me to this thread. Gafers, what do think about this pc - is it good vaalue for my sons money?


AMD Ryzen 5 5500 (6x 3.6GHz / 4.2GHz Turbo)
Gigabyte B450 GAMING X
12GB NVIDIA RTX3060
16GB (2x8GB) G.Skill RipJaws V DDR4 3200MHz
500GB MSI M390 Spatium M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVME (L 2300MB/s ; S 3300MB/s)
600W be quiet! System Power 9

949,00€

If it is not a good offer - do you have a better pc setup in the same price range?

Thanks in advance
 

amigastar

Member
I've seen worse, but i would recommend an RTX3060Ti. Oh and the PSU is on the weaker side but all in all not that bad.
I just don't know if the CPU is good or not since i'm more of an Intel guy.
 
Last edited:
  • Increase M.2 storage space. At least 1TB is needed for todays games imho
  • Why does the 3060 has 12GB VRAM? At what resolution will your son play his games? To me it seems you could either save some money on the VRAM here (and put that towards a bigger NVMe) OR upgrade the GPU and buy him a 3060 Ti or 6600 XT (assuming his monitor is 1080p)



Another config that might fit the budget:
  • Intel i5 12400F
  • 8GB RX 6650XT
  • 16GB RAM DDR4
  • 1TB NVMe-SSD
  • Gigabyte B660 GAMING X DDR4
 
Last edited:
Got any info on what he wants to play? The requirements for playing half a dozen new AAA games at the same time are very different vs just playing League of Legends and Minecraft.

But for what you get here the price is fair.
 

anthony2690

Banned
Can't go wrong with the Vtech!
vhu87ZD.png
 
Pure out of curiousity: what game or games does he wants so bad that are only on PC? Not judging, just actual curiousity.

Too be honest. His friend just got a gaming pc and somehow both got into their minds that "true gamer play on a pc". Donst ask me. Teenage crap like that.

I know that he wants to play valorant pretty bad. In general he plays online competetive shooter. Raindbow 6, Overwatch, stuff like that.
 
Last edited:

Gaelyon

Gold Member
Pure out of curiousity: what game or games does he wants so bad that are only on PC? Not judging, just actual curiousity.
Porn.

Joke aside this config seem ok for 1080p/1440p. I have a 2070s and it work fine at 1440p with 144hz freesync at home so.
 

STARSBarry

Gold Member
It's not very upgradable... I mean in terms of just getting new parts thanks to its limited PSU, it also as others have pointed out has limited storage.

But for the price I can't really complain, it's a good "first time" PC build for sure, to dip there feet in with, I would have felt more comfortable with a 5600x 1TB m.2 850W PSU and a 3070 for headroom on what he can play for years to come.

Do not buy a 4k monitor through, 2k is the sweet spot for PC given there size.


But that's throwing anouther 400 euros on top of what you looking at from the same supplier a 40% increase in cost... but ironically even with my build I would be happy to give that a thumbs up for several years when tied to a solid 120 2k monitor.

There are also rumors that the 4000 series is due later this year... meaning you will see much more powerful cards entering the same price space (if they do indeed release) soon.

The only thing I'm worried about is they say "Alternativer AMD/INTEL CPU Kühler" for the cooler, is there anyway you can get a model name out of them? While it can be easily and inexpensively fixed later by picking up a decent air cooler it's always nice to you know.... just get one that does the job anyway.
 
Last edited:

Tams

Gold Member
Too be honest. His friend just got a gaming pc and somehow both got into their minds that "true gamer play on a pc". Donst ask me. Teenage crap like that.

I know that he wants to play valorant pretty bad. In general he plays online competetive shooter. Raindbow 6, Overwatch, stuff like that.
Then a 3060 will be fine, but I wouldn't go with that one if you can as there's no way he needs 12GB of VRAM. A 3060Ti or 6600XT would be nice if you're prepared to shell out a bit more.

500GB of storage will just end up with him complaining about not having enough in short order though.
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
don't buy a prebuilt. buy him the parts and let him build it himself.

the specs look good mostly. i'd go with a 1TB ssd (nvme) and maybe a 750-800W psu.
Don't buy him another NVMe-SSD. Buy a cheap regular HHD for a fraction of the price for regular storage.
at this point you shouldn't be running games off HDDs anymore.

500GB will fit a good few games on it but if you want more storage for games then definitely get another NVMe.

you should only buy a HDD if you're storing photos/videos/documents.
 
Last edited:

Graciaus

Member
don't buy a prebuilt. buy him the parts and let him build it himself.

the specs look good mostly. i'd go with a 1TB ssd (nvme) and maybe a 750-800W psu.

at this point you shouldn't be running games off HDDs anymore.

500GB will fit a good few games on it but if you want more storage for games then definitely get another NVMe.
500 is plenty of space for games. I said regular storage.

This is a first PC that may or may not even be used for anything other than Fortnite. Unless OP is rich there is no need to spend big.
 

scraz

Member
Looks 100% fine. Will need a extra Hard rive but $80 and a 5 min video on the youtube is all you need there. Yes there are better parts to be had if you build it your self but if you don't have someone in your life that can be free IT if something goes wrong it's alot simpler to have something with a warranty.
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
500 is plenty of space for games. I said regular storage.

This is a first PC that may or may not even be used for anything other than Fortnite. Unless OP is rich there is no need to spend big.
if it may or may not be used then what's the point in regular storage?

like i said, i know 500GB will fit plenty of games but it depends on the game. a 500GB SSD is only going to be about 460GB. Windows is going to take ~30GB and then you've got virtual memory/cache/temp files etc so you'll be lucky if you have 400GB free space. my Windows install and programs takes 60GB.

there are a lot of games at 100GB. if OP's son likes CoD Warzone then that's ~180GB gone straight away.

best just get a 1TB drive. you don't need to be rich or spend big for one.
 
Last edited:

MikeM

Member
I didn’t see a games list. What does he want to play? This is important as that can let you know whether to spend a bit more on the gpu or not.

Whatever he doesn’t like can be upgraded later down the road. The only thing I don’t like about this build out of the box is the cpu but that can be upgraded later as well.
 

supernova8

Banned
In terms of CPU, personally I would wait until Zen 4 comes out (in a few months time) because that setup you have described is AM4.
AM4 is literally about to come to an end. Sure there is plenty of room for upgrade (e.g. all the way up to a Ryzen 5950X etc.) if you went for a beefier PSU but....

I would wait for AM5 (Zen 4; which would also require a newer motherboard) since it's likely to be kept going for a while (one of the advantages AMD can tout over Intel, they aren't going throw it away) so there will be waaaaay more upgradeability (compared to being stuck on AM4 at least).

As for the GPU, similarly the new generations are about to come out so you can see where pricing lands (ie you may be able to get something way better for what a 3060 costs now, or you can potentially still get a 3060 but for a lower price) or maybe the AMD Radeon option may be good (wait and see).

If you just want to buy a prebuilt right now
then sure it's not a terrible set of parts. I was going to say go for a 5600X at least but I checked some benchmarks and it doesn't look like there's a massive difference between 5500 and 5600x. Only thing I could say is to get a higher rated PSU to give yourself some room to potentially upgrade the CPU and/or GPU later on.

Plus, given that your son is 15, you never know he might decide in 6 months that he's sick of PC gaming and wants to game on a console, so perhaps you want to limit your spending initially and then maybe spend more in 12-18 months when (1) he's demonstrated he actually likes PC gaming and (2) he's done something to earn it (like doing well at school or something like that).
 
Last edited:
AMD Ryzen 5 5500 (6x 3.6GHz / 4.2GHz Turbo)
Gigabyte B450 GAMING X
12GB NVIDIA RTX3060
16GB (2x8GB) G.Skill RipJaws V DDR4 3200MHz
500GB MSI M390 Spatium M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVME (L 2300MB/s ; S 3300MB/s)
600W be quiet! System Power 9
I would change a few things.

CPU, go 8 core if you can. the new 5700X is your jam.
RAM is expandable, so you can knock it down to 8 GB for most games and the GPU you currently have lined down.

Hard drive, for gaming I'd go 1 TB.
In terms of CPU, personally I would wait until Zen 4 comes out (in a few months time) because that setup you have described is AM4.
AM4 is literally about to come to an end. Sure there is plenty of room for upgrade (e.g. all the way up to a Ryzen 5950X etc.) if you went for a beefier PSU but....
Well, yes. But AM5 is going to be more expensive. DDR5 being mandatory and all. Shortage of components might happen as well. I wouldn't be surprised if boards are sold out for months.

There are actually solid rumors that AMD is looking into adapting some zen4 cpus onto the AM4 socket:

-> https://wccftech.com/amd-might-be-c...-compatibility-for-existing-am4-motherboards/

This actually makes sense because with AMD what dictates the memory support is the chipset, and these chips were designed with quite a bit of time before production. They didn't antecipate DDR5 price and slow adoption and doing a new chip with DDR4 support probably seems stupid now.

Meanwhile Intel is doing a second gen with chipset dual support for DDR5 and DDR4 and AMD wants to keep the price advantage. Mandatory DDR5 is a rock in the shoe.
As for the GPU, similarly the new generations are about to come out so you can see where pricing lands (ie you may be able to get something way better for what a 3060 costs now, or you can potentially still get a 3060 but for a lower price) or maybe the AMD Radeon option may be good (wait and see).
I would buy a worse GPU and look to upgrade, sure depending on how much money I was saving. But waiting for new GPU's to release and then buy one is not a very good idea, unless OP jumps into the 5700G bandwagon, which is 8 core with a 2 Tflop GPU and forego the GPU altogether until next generation GPU's ship. That's only as powerful as a PS4, but it can play most games in low settings.

With that in mind the succeeding Zen 4 with G terminology will behave better with the RDNA2 architecture.
 
Last edited:

Mister Wolf

Member
I would suggest you and him building the PC. There are plenty of people on here and videos on YouTube to help you two through the process. Would be a great educational and bonding experience.
 
Last edited:

BlackTron

Member
Too be honest. His friend just got a gaming pc and somehow both got into their minds that "true gamer play on a pc". Donst ask me. Teenage crap like that.

I know that he wants to play valorant pretty bad. In general he plays online competetive shooter. Raindbow 6, Overwatch, stuff like that.

If he's into competitive shooters like Overwatch, then yeah he pretty much needs to be on PC. Playing a console version of Overwatch is like playing the Switch version of Witcher 3. No one should do it unless they really have to.
 

Wildebeest

Member
Like others have said, the PSU is a really important component. It is often the first component to fail, limit upgrades, or protect you against really annoying system instability or shutdowns. Go for big numbers and go for a reputable brand like Corsair if possible.
 

01011001

Banned
the price is good for the parts used, the case isn't the best but this isn't the most high end PC so airflow is less of an issue.

a 3060ti would be a bit more future proof I would say but the 3060 is alright as well.


edit: if you wanna go with a 3060ti Agando currently has one at a decent price

and Agando make pretty good PCs from my experience. very good cable management and packaging
but as I said a 3060 is also absolutely fine for his first PC
 
Last edited:

anthony2690

Banned
If he's into competitive shooters like Overwatch, then yeah he pretty much needs to be on PC. Playing a console version of Overwatch is like playing the Switch version of Witcher 3. No one should do it unless they really have to.
What's the switch version of overwatch then? :p hehe
 

BlackTron

Member
What's the switch version of overwatch then? :p hehe

Trying to draw an analogy with another genre so everyone in the room can get it.

Another take, imagine showing up to a Smash Bros. meet, and instead of controllers, everyone is trying to play Smash with a keyboard. If you take Smash seriously, you just turn around and walk away. To comp FPS players, that's what it's like playing FPS with a controller. You're not even part of the culture or playing the real game until you're on PC with a mouse, if you're talking about that genre.
 
That build looks like it would be great for a 15yr old and would last for a while. It would run just about all games on max at 1440p and some at 4k maxed out. Dont listen to people about the wattage or cpu, they are both fine. The gpu requires 170w and the cpu draws 65w and the motherboard will draw around 100-150watts so around 400watts total. I would add a 7200rpm mechanical drive for extra storage as 500gb will fill up fast. Keep the ram at 16gb, web browsing eats up a lot of ram nowadays, if you drop to 8gb then performance will drop. But at that price, it might be cheaper to build one. It would be a great family project. Go to pcpartpicker.com and pick out the same specs.
 
Last edited:

chixdiggit

Member
Build ur own man,

don't buy a prebuilt. buy him the parts and let him build it himself.

Don't buy him a pre-built. True dads build PC's with their sons.

Do this. Watch some YouTube tutorials on how to put it all together and teach your son how to build it. Great father-son activity and he'll remember it for a long time.

I would suggest you and him building the PC. There are plenty of people on here and videos on YouTube to help you two through the process. Would be a great educational and bonding experience.

Building your own PC is awesome but these days it's usually much cheaper to buy a prebuilt. It was the only way for me to get a 3080 at a reasonable price.
 
Really great advice. Thank you Gaf :) :) I will try and customize the prebuild to get better milage out of the money he has. Sadly i cant help him with building his own pc - i'm a console gamer my whole life and dont know the first thing about pc parts and putting them together. I dont want to make a mistake - it is his money on the line.

He got the money over many years, saving christmas and birthday money. :)
 
Last edited:

ClosBSAS

Member
Building your own PC is awesome but these days it's usually much cheaper to buy a prebuilt. It was the only way for me to get a 3080 at a reasonable price.
Gpu prices are down at very reasonable prices right now. Don't see a reason ever to buy a prebuilt over a build it yourself. Pre builds are just a recipe for disaster.
 
Last edited:
OP, this list seems to be somewhat around the budget you're looking after:


ComponentSelectionBasePromoShippingTaxPriceWhere
CPUAMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core ProcessorAMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor$198.89FREE$198.89


CPU CoolerARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU CoolerARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU Cooler$51.97
amazon-prime.png
$51.97
MotherboardASRock B550M Phantom Gaming 4 Micro ATX AM4 MotherboardASRock B550M Phantom Gaming 4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard
From parametric filter: Form Factor: ATX, Micro ATX; Chipset: AMD B550; Memory Slots: 4 - 16
$89.99$2.99$92.98
MemoryCorsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 MemoryCorsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory
From parametric filter: Form Factor: 288-pin DIMM (DDR4); Type: DDR4; Speed: 3600 - 5000; Modules: 2 x 8GB; CAS Latency: 3 - 16
$79.99-$5.00 1FREE$74.99
StorageTEAMGROUP MP33 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State DriveTEAMGROUP MP33 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
From parametric filter: Capacity: 960 GB - 15360 GB; Type: SSD; NVME: Yes
$67.98
amazon-prime.png
$67.98
Video CardXFX Radeon RX 6600 XT 8 GB Speedster SWFT 210 Video CardXFX Radeon RX 6600 XT 8 GB Speedster SWFT 210 Video Card
From parametric filter: Chipset: Radeon RX 6600 XT; Cooling: 2 Fans, 3 Fans, 120 mm Radiator, 120 mm Radiator + 1 Fan, 120 mm Radiator + 2 Fans, 240 mm Radiator, 240 mm Radiator + 1 Fan
$359.99
amazon-prime.png
$359.99
CaseAntec DF700 Flux ATX Mid Tower CaseAntec DF700 Flux ATX Mid Tower Case$104.99FREE$104.99
Power SupplyEVGA B5 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully Modular ATX Power SupplyEVGA B5 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
From parametric selection: Show
$69.98
amazon-prime.png
$69.98

Base Total:$1023.78
 
Last edited:

01011001

Banned
Trying to draw an analogy with another genre so everyone in the room can get it.

Another take, imagine showing up to a Smash Bros. meet, and instead of controllers, everyone is trying to play Smash with a keyboard. If you take Smash seriously, you just turn around and walk away. To comp FPS players, that's what it's like playing FPS with a controller. You're not even part of the culture or playing the real game until you're on PC with a mouse, if you're talking about that genre.

you are wrong in many ways... first of all, this is a Smash Bros Controller right here:
SB-Banner-4k50-v1610752452065.jpg

you could bind all of this onto a keyboard and have the same effect, just less stylish and slighly less ergonomic for many.


also, go watch some Apex Legends and Call of Duty tournaments.
you can bet that every team in Apex has at least 1 controller player and there are even full controller teams, with one guy even playing on console as far as I know. and they compete on a very high level.

Controller becomes more and more common to see in competitive shooters on PC
 

01011001

Banned
OP, this list seems to be somewhat around the budget you're looking after:


ComponentSelectionBasePromoShippingTaxPriceWhere
CPUAMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core ProcessorAMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor$198.89FREE$198.89


CPU CoolerARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU CoolerARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU Cooler$51.97
amazon-prime.png
$51.97
MotherboardASRock B550M Phantom Gaming 4 Micro ATX AM4 MotherboardASRock B550M Phantom Gaming 4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard
From parametric filter: Form Factor: ATX, Micro ATX; Chipset: AMD B550; Memory Slots: 4 - 16
$89.99$2.99$92.98
MemoryCorsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 MemoryCorsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory
From parametric filter: Form Factor: 288-pin DIMM (DDR4); Type: DDR4; Speed: 3600 - 5000; Modules: 2 x 8GB; CAS Latency: 3 - 16
$79.99-$5.00 1FREE$74.99
StorageTEAMGROUP MP33 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State DriveTEAMGROUP MP33 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
From parametric filter: Capacity: 960 GB - 15360 GB; Type: SSD; NVME: Yes
$67.98
amazon-prime.png
$67.98
Video CardXFX Radeon RX 6600 XT 8 GB Speedster SWFT 210 Video CardXFX Radeon RX 6600 XT 8 GB Speedster SWFT 210 Video Card
From parametric filter: Chipset: Radeon RX 6600 XT; Cooling: 2 Fans, 3 Fans, 120 mm Radiator, 120 mm Radiator + 1 Fan, 120 mm Radiator + 2 Fans, 240 mm Radiator, 240 mm Radiator + 1 Fan
$359.99
amazon-prime.png
$359.99
CaseAntec DF700 Flux ATX Mid Tower CaseAntec DF700 Flux ATX Mid Tower Case$104.99FREE$104.99
Power SupplyEVGA B5 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully Modular ATX Power SupplyEVGA B5 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
From parametric selection: Show
$69.98
amazon-prime.png
$69.98

Base Total:$1023.78

for the love of god don't get an AMD card...

also Op is from germany it seems... so these prices aren't helpful necessarily
 

JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
OP, this list seems to be somewhat around the budget you're looking after:


ComponentSelectionBasePromoShippingTaxPriceWhere
CPUAMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core ProcessorAMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor$198.89FREE$198.89


CPU CoolerARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU CoolerARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU Cooler$51.97
amazon-prime.png
$51.97
MotherboardASRock B550M Phantom Gaming 4 Micro ATX AM4 MotherboardASRock B550M Phantom Gaming 4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard
From parametric filter: Form Factor: ATX, Micro ATX; Chipset: AMD B550; Memory Slots: 4 - 16
$89.99$2.99$92.98
MemoryCorsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 MemoryCorsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory
From parametric filter: Form Factor: 288-pin DIMM (DDR4); Type: DDR4; Speed: 3600 - 5000; Modules: 2 x 8GB; CAS Latency: 3 - 16
$79.99-$5.00 1FREE$74.99
StorageTEAMGROUP MP33 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State DriveTEAMGROUP MP33 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
From parametric filter: Capacity: 960 GB - 15360 GB; Type: SSD; NVME: Yes
$67.98
amazon-prime.png
$67.98
Video CardXFX Radeon RX 6600 XT 8 GB Speedster SWFT 210 Video CardXFX Radeon RX 6600 XT 8 GB Speedster SWFT 210 Video Card
From parametric filter: Chipset: Radeon RX 6600 XT; Cooling: 2 Fans, 3 Fans, 120 mm Radiator, 120 mm Radiator + 1 Fan, 120 mm Radiator + 2 Fans, 240 mm Radiator, 240 mm Radiator + 1 Fan
$359.99
amazon-prime.png
$359.99
CaseAntec DF700 Flux ATX Mid Tower CaseAntec DF700 Flux ATX Mid Tower Case$104.99FREE$104.99
Power SupplyEVGA B5 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully Modular ATX Power SupplyEVGA B5 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
From parametric selection: Show
$69.98
amazon-prime.png
$69.98

Base Total:$1023.78
Stay far the fuck away from that Asrock motherboard. PSU is wayyyy to weak.
 
Top Bottom