Son wants a gaming PC
Discussion
Hi all. Help please!
I'm 20 years out of date with PCs. Son has a PS4 and to my knowledge, just plays Fortnite.
Today he says "I'd really like a gaming PC"...................I reply "why", he says to increase my FPS.
Questions for those that know......
1. Is it worth it? He's 13.....how much is a PC going to cost that is going to be better than his PS4?
2. Does FPS really matter without a high end monitor/TV?
3. Will the new PS5 potentially change your answer of Q1?
4. Do I buy one new, second hand, or even build one? I used to build PCs for friends and family, but that was in 1996 when a basic machine was £1000 from Tiny and I could buy the bits for £300! I stopped when it was uneconomical with the likes of Dell coming on board. Would I still have the skillset from then, or have things come on so much that this isn't viable?
5. If I'm getting him something, I'd prefer a laptop as he could use it at school. Are laptops any good for gaming?
Thanks all for any help
I'm 20 years out of date with PCs. Son has a PS4 and to my knowledge, just plays Fortnite.
Today he says "I'd really like a gaming PC"...................I reply "why", he says to increase my FPS.
Questions for those that know......
1. Is it worth it? He's 13.....how much is a PC going to cost that is going to be better than his PS4?
2. Does FPS really matter without a high end monitor/TV?
3. Will the new PS5 potentially change your answer of Q1?
4. Do I buy one new, second hand, or even build one? I used to build PCs for friends and family, but that was in 1996 when a basic machine was £1000 from Tiny and I could buy the bits for £300! I stopped when it was uneconomical with the likes of Dell coming on board. Would I still have the skillset from then, or have things come on so much that this isn't viable?
5. If I'm getting him something, I'd prefer a laptop as he could use it at school. Are laptops any good for gaming?
Thanks all for any help
1. Is it worth it? He's 13.....how much is a PC going to cost that is going to be better than his PS4?
Not in the UK but I'm guessing entry level 1080p gaming would be £600 or so for the PC including Ryzen 3 3000x and a 1650 or similar
2. Does FPS really matter without a high end monitor/TV?
yes kinda, most screens will do 60fps at 1080 these days and entry level stuff should cover that mostly, you dont want any serious dips though
3. Will the new PS5 potentially change your answer of Q1?
No not really, console gaming is a different experience, pay to play online, no mods etc.
4. Do I buy one new, second hand, or even build one? I used to build PCs for friends and family, but that was in 1996 when a basic machine was £1000 from Tiny and I could buy the bits for £300! I stopped when it was uneconomical with the likes of Dell coming on board. Would I still have the skillset from then, or have things come on so much that this isn't viable?
PCs are piss easy to build now, compared to 1996. everything is on board apart from the GPU but it depends on if you want to go full on RGB custom watercooled loop gpu riser or not.
Buying a used shed of a pc with a recent CPU and throwing in a low/mid range GPU is doable ifd you can find one with decent ram and ssd
5. If I'm getting him something, I'd prefer a laptop as he could use it at school. Are laptops any good for gaming?
Some are, the latest are pretty good with the 20x0 nvidia gpu's but they are expensive
Not in the UK but I'm guessing entry level 1080p gaming would be £600 or so for the PC including Ryzen 3 3000x and a 1650 or similar
2. Does FPS really matter without a high end monitor/TV?
yes kinda, most screens will do 60fps at 1080 these days and entry level stuff should cover that mostly, you dont want any serious dips though
3. Will the new PS5 potentially change your answer of Q1?
No not really, console gaming is a different experience, pay to play online, no mods etc.
4. Do I buy one new, second hand, or even build one? I used to build PCs for friends and family, but that was in 1996 when a basic machine was £1000 from Tiny and I could buy the bits for £300! I stopped when it was uneconomical with the likes of Dell coming on board. Would I still have the skillset from then, or have things come on so much that this isn't viable?
PCs are piss easy to build now, compared to 1996. everything is on board apart from the GPU but it depends on if you want to go full on RGB custom watercooled loop gpu riser or not.
Buying a used shed of a pc with a recent CPU and throwing in a low/mid range GPU is doable ifd you can find one with decent ram and ssd
5. If I'm getting him something, I'd prefer a laptop as he could use it at school. Are laptops any good for gaming?
Some are, the latest are pretty good with the 20x0 nvidia gpu's but they are expensive
Unless you are made of money, ask him to price up whatever machine he thinks he needs, and tell him once he has saved up half the money you will pay the rest. That should focus his priorities atleast!
You can spend thousands, or hundreds..
A PS4 should play Fortnight perfectly well!
As far as school work goes, He needs a Cheap laptop. I am not sure taking a high end gaming laptop to school is the smartest thing to do.
You can spend thousands, or hundreds..
A PS4 should play Fortnight perfectly well!
As far as school work goes, He needs a Cheap laptop. I am not sure taking a high end gaming laptop to school is the smartest thing to do.
If all he wants to do is game and be in the Microsoft ecosystem, an X Box One X will come in cheaper than a gaming PC by a fair margin (shares same Microsoft live accounts and seems like popular games run on each). But we decided to spend the cancelled summer holiday on a gaming PC and discovered the following:
1) Games these days are f-ing enormous. So went for a boot SSD + large (2tb) HDD for storage
2) Graphics cards are really expensive these days. Reliably informed that nvidia RTX series was “needed”. Caved in order to avoid issues with underperformance meaning we had to change again soon (incompatibility with current games was the final nail in the coffin of the machine it replaced).
Ended up with a Dell G5 (Dell’s site shows FPS that each system will run certain games). Seems happy with it. First time I’ve bought rather than built a home desktop pc but, as you say, the savings with building just aren’t what they used to be.
1) Games these days are f-ing enormous. So went for a boot SSD + large (2tb) HDD for storage
2) Graphics cards are really expensive these days. Reliably informed that nvidia RTX series was “needed”. Caved in order to avoid issues with underperformance meaning we had to change again soon (incompatibility with current games was the final nail in the coffin of the machine it replaced).
Ended up with a Dell G5 (Dell’s site shows FPS that each system will run certain games). Seems happy with it. First time I’ve bought rather than built a home desktop pc but, as you say, the savings with building just aren’t what they used to be.
Shuvi McTupya said:
As far as school work goes, He needs a Cheap laptop. I am not sure taking a high end gaming laptop to school is the smartest thing to do.
It would build up his core muscles and legs though lugging it around!I got a Dell G7 laptop for occasional game playing, and I would not want to have to carry it around all day!
Do it. Mine got his own gaming PC at 8 (after previously using my old laptop). He will learn more valuable skills with a proper computer IMHO. Anyone can just bash buttons on a console controller. If you can encourage him to research, spec and even build it himself then all the better. You don't need to spend a huge amount either. Gaming laptops are very capable, but also much more expensive than the equivalent desktop system.
Munter said:
Shuvi McTupya said:
As far as school work goes, He needs a Cheap laptop. I am not sure taking a high end gaming laptop to school is the smartest thing to do.
It would build up his core muscles and legs though lugging it around!I got a Dell G7 laptop for occasional game playing, and I would not want to have to carry it around all day!
Also, battery life on a gaming laptop is awful, even when new mine would just about last 2 hours with light non-gaming use. Fire up a game even slightly demanding and it would drop off to under an hour. Compared to my cheap Dell laptop from work, 3 years old and it still lasts a good 8 hours on the battery when I need it to.
RobDickinson said:
There's incredible value in shopping used for some bits when people upgrade too could be a project for them
Obviously we dont know what the budget is but if money was tight i would buy a basic new machine and throw a used 4GB GPU in it. That should cost about £300 and run Fortnight perfectly well, but better than a PS4? I have no clue!Hmmmm yeah I think the PS5 ask for Christmas is coming!
Re the PC then. I’m going to get him to build one (with my supervision). Where do I go to for parts these days? If I had a budget for the box of £600 would this get a decent spec?
So I need:
Tower £50?
PSU £50?
Motherboard (what make?) £100?
Ram (16gb enough?) £100?
Graphics card £150?
Processor £150?
What else? Are these budgets any good?
Re the PC then. I’m going to get him to build one (with my supervision). Where do I go to for parts these days? If I had a budget for the box of £600 would this get a decent spec?
So I need:
Tower £50?
PSU £50?
Motherboard (what make?) £100?
Ram (16gb enough?) £100?
Graphics card £150?
Processor £150?
What else? Are these budgets any good?
audi321 said:
Oh god yeah I forgot HDD and OS! This is gonna be more like a £800 project then?
Not bothered about the peripherals as I have plenty knocking around.
This is what I built for 700, not a lot of care or research but it would work OK, not gone for the cheapest bits Not bothered about the peripherals as I have plenty knocking around.
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/KbJPCL
Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff