Gaming PC for my son

johannis

Hi, in the past few years i've found MSE really helpful with sourcing laptops and i'm hoping you can help me with this.
My Son is 13 and wants to save up for a gaming PC, he's an avid xboxer but his mates are starting to go into gaming PC's and he doesn't want to get left behind. I've had a root though the previous posts on the subject but there's nothing particularly up to date.
Basically i'm looking for a little guidance on what he really needs, 8 or 16gb, how much storage etc? Is there anything we need to steer clear of? any recommendations of god places to buy and should we be buying new or is it worth looking for reconditioned?
thanks J

Cisco001

What is his budget?
Any idea what game he intend to play?
Have you got monitor?
Are you buying pre-build or self-assamble?

forgotmyname

Unless he can afford £1800 for a video card alone he may well struggle to build a new PC.

Virtually all the new stuff is out of stock.

Buying an older/used PC maybe cost effective, but you need to know the machines true value. Spend £300 on a

machine that will struggle to play a game he wants to buy in 6 months time maybe a waste of money.

johannis

Cisco001 said:

What is his budget?
Any idea what game he intend to play?
Have you got monitor?
Are you buying pre-build or self-assamble?

Well he was thinking £500, i thought that that was optimistic
he's been mostly Fortnite, Fifa, Rocket League and has recently got Call of Duty, so i would imagine he's going in that direction.
he has a monitor.
i imagine we are safer going for pre-build, as you can probably tell it's all a bit beyond me?

[Deleted User]

johannis said:

Cisco001 said:

What is his budget?
Any idea what game he intend to play?
Have you got monitor?
Are you buying pre-build or self-assamble?

Well he was thinking £500, i thought that that was optimistic
he's been mostly Fortnite, Fifa, Rocket League and has recently got Call of Duty, so i would imagine he's going in that direction.
he has a monitor.
i imagine we are safer going for pre-build, as you can probably tell it's all a bit beyond me?

Sadly picked a really bad time to buy a gaming PC, I've seen second hand used gaming graphics cards selling for £100+ more than retail prices recently, there is virtually no stock of any of the best value components around and demand is higher than ever with everyone stuck indoors.

If you want to get the best out of £500 you really need to wait, problem is I can't tell you how long to wait, all depends on how the pandemic goes on.

getmore4less

Read some history and keep an eye on

https://www.hotukdeals.com/tag/gaming-pc

Some concentration of knowledge on the market and how to get custom prebuilds at close to component costs built  with warranty. 

Cisco001

Refurb PC. 
https://www.elekdirect.co.uk/product/3xs-gaming-tower-gaming-desktop-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1660-amd-ryzen-3-8gb-ram-3xs-108844-272903/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5pbUovrS7gIVmK3tCh12twjKEAQYBiABEgJxjPD_BwE

A_Lert

You've set your budget, that's step one done. £500 is doable but low; if you can stretch to £600 you'll have an easier time of it. Keep in mind that at the low end a lot of stuff sold as "gaming PC" isn't actually very good.

Look on https://www.logicalincrements.com/ for sample builds at every budget. This will give you a sense of balance. You don't normally want a super-fast CPU paired with a weak graphics card, or vice versa, because the weak parts will limit the overall performance.

If you're buying, favour smaller system builders such as Scan, PC Specialist, or Cyberpower, rather than the big name OEMs (Dell, HP, etc). Smaller builders use standard parts and offer a lot of customisation, the big names tend to be overpriced with limited choice.

If you're building, remember to include the cost of Windows in your budget.

Like other posters mentioned, there is currently shortage of many PC parts. So you might prefer to buy something that a retailer has in stock ready to deliver; a custom order could well end up taking ages to arrive or even get cancelled altogether.

johannis

getmore4less said:

Read some history and keep an eye on

https://www.hotukdeals.com/tag/gaming-pc

Some concentration of knowledge on the market and how to get custom prebuilds at close to component costs built  with warranty. 

Thanks for the reply and the link, i'll keep an eye out here
J

johannis

Cisco001 said:

Refurb PC. 
https://www.elekdirect.co.uk/product/3xs-gaming-tower-gaming-desktop-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1660-amd-ryzen-3-8gb-ram-3xs-108844-272903/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5pbUovrS7gIVmK3tCh12twjKEAQYBiABEgJxjPD_BwE

Thanks for the link, close to his idea of budget and gives me a decent oidea of what i'm looking at.
J

johannis

A_Lert said:

You've set your budget, that's step one done. £500 is doable but low; if you can stretch to £600 you'll have an easier time of it. Keep in mind that at the low end a lot of stuff sold as "gaming PC" isn't actually very good.

Look on https://www.logicalincrements.com/ for sample builds at every budget. This will give you a sense of balance. You don't normally want a super-fast CPU paired with a weak graphics card, or vice versa, because the weak parts will limit the overall performance.

If you're buying, favour smaller system builders such as Scan, PC Specialist, or Cyberpower, rather than the big name OEMs (Dell, HP, etc). Smaller builders use standard parts and offer a lot of customisation, the big names tend to be overpriced with limited choice.

If you're building, remember to include the cost of Windows in your budget.

Like other posters mentioned, there is currently shortage of many PC parts. So you might prefer to buy something that a retailer has in stock ready to deliver; a custom order could well end up taking ages to arrive or even get cancelled altogether.

Really helpful, lot to get our teeth into there and i'll spand a little time exploring the link, really appreciate this.
J