Gaming computer help please.

[MrAndyW]

Need a gaming PC for my grandson. He wants to run steam O/S for the games he wants.
I know nothing about modern computers. Want to get him something that will not be obsolete in a few months. Is this spec any good? £1499.

Today's Special Offers Norton 360 VPN & Security for Gamers (Full 1 Year License) [FREE! Worth £79.99]

Case CyberPowerPC Sylph Mesh Gaming Case - White - (features 4x ARGB fans)

CPU (Processor) Intel® Core™ Ultra 5 225F: 10 Cores [6P Up to 4.90GHz / 8E Up to 4.40GHz], 65W TDP, 22MB Cache

CPU Cooling CyberPowerPC V4-NXP Air Cooler (TDP 250W) - White

Cooling Upgrades Thermal Grizzly Premium Thermal Paste
Motherboard ASUS PRIME H810M-A-CSM: m-ATX w/ PCIe 4.0, USB 3.2, SATA3, 2x M.2

Memory (RAM) 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 4800MT/s

Graphics Card (GPU) NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 5060 Ti 8GB (1 Card)

PSU (Power Supply) InWin B65E 650W 80+ Bronze Gaming Power Supply

Primary Storage (NVMe Drives) 1TB NVMe Gen4 SSD [+91]

Wireless USB Adaptor USB Wireless AC 600Mbps USB Adapter [+3]

Sound Cards HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD AUDIO

Bluetooth Adaptors USB Bluetooth Dongle

Operating System Windows 11 Home (No Recovery Media)

Fast Track Service Fast Track Service !!! Ready to Ship Same Business Day if Order Confirmed by 2PM

Warranty Service DESKTOP STANDARD WARRANTY: 5 Years' Labour, 2 Years' Parts, 12 Months' Collect and Return plus Life-Time Technical Support

[mmm-five]

Edited to change the GPU to a SteamOS compatible GPU.

Understanding that everything comes at a cost and you'll have a budget you'd like to stick to, I'll just give general notes on the components and let/others decide which are necessary and which are nice to have.

• You don't need / want Norton malware anywhere near it, nor do you need a Windows licence if your grandson is putting SteamOS on it - so if it saves you money, I'd remove both.
• Motherboard is very basic (i.e. no built in bluetooth or wifi), with very limited upgrade room - so any
• It's very slow RAM for a Windows gaming PC, but might be fine for SteamOS, normal speeds are 6000MHz+

This would be a better buy, and I've removed Windows as it'll be a SteamOS machine (or you can buy a cheap Windows key online).

Case
CORSAIR 3500X ARGB TEMPERED GLASS MID-TOWER (PCS)

Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 9700X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-5.5GHz/40MB CACHE/AM5) - or a 7800X3D for about the same price (but not sure of the X3D cache support in SteamOS)

Motherboard
GIGABYTE B850 EAGLE WIFI6E (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 6E) - more RAM/PCIe slots for upgradability, built-in wifi/bluetooth

Memory (RAM)
16GB PCS PRO DDR5 5600MHz CL46 (2 x 8GB) - faster RAM, don't need 32GB for gaming

Graphics Card
16GB GIGABYTE RADEON™ RX 9060 XT GAMING OC - HDMI, 2 x DP - double the VRAM and faster than the 5060, and SteamOS has drivers for it

M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SANDISK Optimus 5100 M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD (Up to 7,100MB/s Read, 6,700MB/s Write) - faster SSD

Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES ATX 3.1, MODULAR, CYBENETICS GOLD - modular PSU for easier component upgrade; as it's modular only the cables currently needed are fitted so they take up less space in the case; plus it's more powerful so suitable for a few upgrades to the GPU/CPU

Processor Cooling
PCSpecialist LS-360 AIO Liquid Cooler - more than enough for such an efficient CPU

Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED

Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days

Price:
£1,547.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure:
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configuration...

Edited by mmm-five on Thursday 24th September 20:29

[Drive Blind]

what games is he playing and at what resolution ?

[butchstewie]

I'll caveat this that I am not a gamer so apologies if I'm talking out my arse but I ran you question through a few AI engines (genuinely useful) and all three flagged the graphics card as apparently SteamOS has (had?) issues with NVIDIA cards.

[mmm-five]

butchstewie said:

I'll caveat this that I am not a gamer so apologies if I'm talking out my arse but I ran you question through a few AI engines (genuinely useful) and all three flagged the graphics card as apparently SteamOS has (had?) issues with NVIDIA cards.

You're quite correct though.

I completely overlooked that restriction...but there's definitely not enough budget for a 9070 or 9070XT, but the 16GB 9060XT I've changed it to is still better than the 8gb 5060.

[MrAndyW]

Fantastic mmm-five especially Thanks for all the time and effort.

Thanks to everyone else too.
I don't really know what games and res he's is going to use,
Just starting a process for a Christmas present. So I've got plenty of time to get it right,
Wil possibly come back with more questions/info
Budget will be around £1500 ish,

Once again thanks a million so far.

[Mr E]

How old is the lucky recipient?

[TheDrownedApe]

some game's anti cheat mechanics block linux making SteamOS useless. However its only a few AAA games but best to check what your grandson will be playing

[MrAndyW]

Mr E said:

How old is the lucky recipient?

He will be 13

[Mr E]

MrAndyW said:

He will be 13

So, a thought.
A 13, I made my kid build a machine.
It’s not that hard, there’s loads of guides online etc. it meant we built exactly what we wanted, it meant when he was bragging to his mates about the new toy he could say “built not bought” and it also means that upgrades/fixes down the line are easier as he knows how it runs.

If he’s interested in tech and has a bit of aptitude, might be fun. You should probably identify someone in the family who could help just in case.

[butchstewie]

mmm-five said:

You're quite correct though.

I completely overlooked that restriction...but there's definitely not enough budget for a 9070 or 9070XT, but the 16GB 9060XT I've changed it to is still better than the 8gb 5060.

No worries just saw "Todays Special Offer" and the word "grandson" and (no offence MrAndyW) just though "oh god don't buy that today because you're in a hurry" to do something nice as a gift

[Zetec-S]

Mr E said:

So, a thought.
A 13, I made my kid build a machine.
It s not that hard, there s loads of guides online etc. it meant we built exactly what we wanted, it meant when he was bragging to his mates about the new toy he could say built not bought and it also means that upgrades/fixes down the line are easier as he knows how it runs.

If he s interested in tech and has a bit of aptitude, might be fun. You should probably identify someone in the family who could help just in case.

I'd second this, if he's that age and wants a proper gaming machine (rather than a PS5) then he'd probably benefit from building it himself.

I remember when I got my first PC (25+ years ago) it spent more time with the case open than closed, always faffing around with the Windows install or swapping out components. Life has got in the way since and I've not really had anything other than consoles or off-the-shelf laptops since, but now I have more time and disposable income it doesn't scare me if I were to go down the self build route. When I mentioned it to my wife she looked at me in horror as she thought it needed to be built in a proper workshop by professionals