Advice wanted. Pc for gaming

pleasedelete

Hi

My 14 year old wants a pc for gaming and I have no idea where to start. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks

neilwoods

What types of games does he want to play and what budget do you have in mind.

momoyama

Take a look at the PC-Pro A-List. Even if you don't want one of those specific machines if gives an idea of what you can get for your money. Compare the spec's of the machines against the required spec's of the games.

With this in mind you can ask for PC companies to do custom builds based on budget and needs.

bingo_bango

Alienware X51 just been announced. £699, but that's peanuts for an Alienware machine. Only comes with an i3 processor though.

Novatech have a very similar spec machine, but with an i5 processor for £550. Does not have an OS though.

It's going to be a trade off between budget and performance, but if you give us details as neil has asked, we can help to make it easier.

pleasedelete

Not sure about what kind of games. He hasn't really had a decent pc before. Just a basic sony laptop. I wanted to get something that would last him until he leaves home.

Up to £1000 excluding vat? Is that reasonable?

I really know nothing about it.

jap200

Popped in here to ask the same question. I have 3 boys (eldest is 14) also looking for a PC for gaming as well as general homework/fun usage. Similar budget to the poster above (max £1000 total - excluding monitor). No idea at the moment which games they would want to play on it, but the sort of stuff they like on the XBox is Skyrim, Battlefield 3 etc.

Any suggestions for off the peg PCs would be appreciated.

Toxteth_OGrady

http://www.aria.co.uk/Systems/Gaming+Range/

This one is good bang-for-buck on your budget but I would probably upgrade the 560 gfx to a 570 for extra (or 560ti for slightly less):

http://www.aria.co.uk/Systems/Gaming+Range/Cyclone/Gladiator+CYCLONE+Rage+MKII+Intel+i5+3.30GHz+Quad+Core+NVIDIA+GeForce+Gaming+PC+?productId=47905

marvell-kid

Im not trying to put you off, but PC gaming is a very expensive hobby to start with (in relation to console gaming).
Wher on consoles you pay one off for the machine and peripherals spending £300 ish, you will spend £700 to get the same spec on a PC, but within 4 years, new hardware will come out meaning you will need to splash out on a more up to date piece, thus increasing your spend.

I would say hold off for now, until they can understand computer systems a little bit more, and possibly research and build their own PC for themselves. I found it a much cheaper way to get what I wanted in a PC.

I priced up a build a while back for around £1000, but this was before Christmas so prices may of changed. NOTE: This will involve building it yourself.

CPU - AMD Bulldozer FX-8 8120 3.1Ghz Socket AM3+ 8MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor - 287681 - £169.64
Mobo - Asus M5A99X EVO 990X Socket AM3+ 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard - 270698 - £98.59
RAM - G-Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RipjawsX Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V - 264750 - £36.34
GPU - PowerColor HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI Dual Mini DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card - 248745 - £131.99
PSU - Coolermaster Centurion 5 II SPECIAL EDITION with Red Interior - With Coolermaster 650W GX PSU - 250952 - £89.99
Case - See PSU - -
HDD - Corsair 120GB Force 3 SSD CSSD-F120GB3-BK - 268693 - £134.99
HDD 2 - Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM - 173804 - £115.00
Mon - Benq G2220HD Full HD TFT LCD 21.5" DVI-D Monitor - 248927 - £95.42
DVD - LiteOn iHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black with Nero Essentials - 176026 - £13.98
OS - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium w/SP1 - Licence and media - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 64-bit - English - 259863 - £70.78
Cable - Xenta DVI-D Dual Link Black Replacement Cable - 1 Metre - 130565 - £3.39

total £960.11


CPU - Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor - 251596 - £169.98
Mobo - Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD5-B3 Socket 1155 onboard 7.1 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard - 267127 - £130.80
RAM - Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333MHz XMS3 Memory Kit CL9 1.5V unbuffered - 247674 - £32.75
GPU - Gigabyte GTX 560 OC Edition 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI Mini HDMI PCI-E Graphics Card - 267865 - £149.63
PSU - Coolermaster Centurion 5 II SPECIAL EDITION with Red Interior - With Coolermaster 650W GX PSU - 250952 - £89.99
Case - See PSU - -
HDD - Corsair 120GB Force 3 SSD CSSD-F120GB3-BK - 268693 - £134.99
HDD 2 - Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM - 173804 - £115.00
Mon - Benq G2220HD Full HD TFT LCD 21.5" DVI-D Monitor - 248927 - £95.42
DVD - LiteOn iHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black with Nero Essentials - 176026 - £13.98
OS - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium w/SP1 - Licence and media - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 64-bit - English - 259863 - £70.78
Cable - Xenta DVI-D Dual Link Black Replacement Cable - 1 Metre - 130565 - £3.39

total £1,006.71

jap200

Thanks marvell-kid - a good point well made!

[Deleted User]

marvell-kid wrote: »

Im not trying to put you off, but PC gaming is a very expensive hobby to start with (in relation to console gaming).
Wher on consoles you pay one off for the machine and peripherals spending £300 ish, you will spend £700 to get the same spec on a PC, but within 4 years, new hardware will come out meaning you will need to splash out on a more up to date piece, thus increasing your spend.

I would say hold off for now, until they can understand computer systems a little bit more, and possibly research and build their own PC for themselves. I found it a much cheaper way to get what I wanted in a PC.

I priced up a build a while back for around £1000, but this was before Christmas so prices may of changed. NOTE: This will involve building it yourself.

CPU - AMD Bulldozer FX-8 8120 3.1Ghz Socket AM3+ 8MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor - 287681 - £169.64
Mobo - Asus M5A99X EVO 990X Socket AM3+ 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard - 270698 - £98.59
RAM - G-Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RipjawsX Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V - 264750 - £36.34
GPU - PowerColor HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI Dual Mini DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card - 248745 - £131.99
PSU - Coolermaster Centurion 5 II SPECIAL EDITION with Red Interior - With Coolermaster 650W GX PSU - 250952 - £89.99
Case - See PSU - -
HDD - Corsair 120GB Force 3 SSD CSSD-F120GB3-BK - 268693 - £134.99
HDD 2 - Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM - 173804 - £115.00
Mon - Benq G2220HD Full HD TFT LCD 21.5" DVI-D Monitor - 248927 - £95.42
DVD - LiteOn iHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black with Nero Essentials - 176026 - £13.98
OS - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium w/SP1 - Licence and media - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 64-bit - English - 259863 - £70.78
Cable - Xenta DVI-D Dual Link Black Replacement Cable - 1 Metre - 130565 - £3.39

total £960.11


CPU - Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor - 251596 - £169.98
Mobo - Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD5-B3 Socket 1155 onboard 7.1 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard - 267127 - £130.80
RAM - Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333MHz XMS3 Memory Kit CL9 1.5V unbuffered - 247674 - £32.75
GPU - Gigabyte GTX 560 OC Edition 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI Mini HDMI PCI-E Graphics Card - 267865 - £149.63
PSU - Coolermaster Centurion 5 II SPECIAL EDITION with Red Interior - With Coolermaster 650W GX PSU - 250952 - £89.99
Case - See PSU - -
HDD - Corsair 120GB Force 3 SSD CSSD-F120GB3-BK - 268693 - £134.99
HDD 2 - Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM - 173804 - £115.00
Mon - Benq G2220HD Full HD TFT LCD 21.5" DVI-D Monitor - 248927 - £95.42
DVD - LiteOn iHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black with Nero Essentials - 176026 - £13.98
OS - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium w/SP1 - Licence and media - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 64-bit - English - 259863 - £70.78
Cable - Xenta DVI-D Dual Link Black Replacement Cable - 1 Metre - 130565 - £3.39

total £1,006.71

They won’t learn or know anything about PC gaming unless they have one. Trust me!! I knew nothing about PCs till I brought one and started having problems… I had to self taught how to look for problems... take hardware apart... to solve my problem when they happen. I now strip my gaming rig down once a year for a proper clean inside. Even take the heatskink of the Graphic card, Clean the old paste of the Processor and reapply new paste.
As for spending 200 quid on a PS3 or Xbox.. And 700 quid on PC! Let take Battlefield 3 for example. The game is watered down on the consoles. PC has a 64 player multii player. I believe console can only handle 16 players online as cant process that amount of data Also maps are a lot more bigger on PCs. You can also choose what server you want to go in or you can buy/rent your own server set your own rules and even banned player that don’t commit to the rules or hacking.
As for upgrade in future for PCs well I only upgrade a few things every year. In last 12 month brought a 1000 watts power supply and a new case 250 quid altogether. Sounds a lot but these will last me at least 5-6 years. I upgrade the bundle (motherboard, Processor and Ram) every 4 years you get them as a bundle and they are expensive together about 500-600. 1k+ if you want a high end one.
Hope this helps.. I also fix PC as a hobbies made a few bobs out doing it