Ok, Xenon. Ax. Mark. Klaus.
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@jon-nyc said in Ok, Xenon. Ax. Mark. Klaus.:
@Loki Happy to have you chime in too!
Truth is I wouldn’t take my advice in this area.
This is a verified purchase of a young person who had the help of another young person who is the most competent person I know in this arena. While gaming is a hobby the “friend” writes code to facilitate faster ETF trades.
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Spend
$100 on a motherboard
$100 on RAM
$100 on an SSD
$100 on a CPU
$100 on a case with power supply
$200 on a monitor
$200 on a graphics card
$50 on keyboard & mouseTotal: $950.
You can spend another $50 on getting a fan that is quieter than the one that comes with the CPU.
It doesn't matter much what brand/model/... you buy, as long as they fit together. I believe AMD these days is a slightly better bang for the buck, but the difference will be small.
If you want small form factor, get everything in mini-ITX. There are very small mini-ITX cases, but sometimes they come with very small power supplies that will only work with low-power CPUs and no external graphics card. If you want a "gaming PC", you will want a desktop CPU and an external graphics card, hence make sure you have a 300+ watt power supply.
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CPU: Amd Ryzen 3600 - if you can get it in stock I’ve seen it for $199. At that price it blows the doors off other processors in terms of bang for buck.
Case: this is a good mini-itx one. Looks cool, subtle lights, but not overly flashy. sale link
Graphics card: I like Loki’s suggestion of the 1080ti, but that’s an older card. Good deals to be had, but you need to be vigilant on deal sites. They get snapped up fast. It used to go close to $1000, now you can get it for $250-$300, but hard to find. Look at a Gtx 1080 or 2060. Should be sub $300.
Mobo: lots of choices here - you need to work back from the features you need. WiFi (or will Ethernet do), get usb-c support, built-in Bluetooth? After that match to your CPU and form factor (e.g. ITX, Ryzen 3). I’ll look for a couple of options on this.
Ram: do you want lights or not? Otherwise just get the highest speed rating your mobo supports. This is more of a commodity part.
SSD: NVMe M.2 form factor is tiny and screws on to the motherboard. Not much of a premium over regular SATA drives.
I’ll see if I can find a few deals on the parts I haven’t named.
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You should check out CyberpowerPC.com. Some of the configurations are really good value - they can be cheaper than building yourself. If you do go that route rather than building your own, I'd recommend swapping the power supply for a better one than the "standard" configuration if it's possible, as that's one area where they cut cost and quality.
$1000 might be slightly on the low side if you go this route.
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Time frame for order?
I will put together a clickable selection list.
My daughter just built a nice system minus keyboard mouse and monitor for < $1k. Cool case too. She spend more on the MB and Power Supply because she will want to upgrade so we went with a X570 chipset. Mother Board was $189
be back in a few...
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Graphic Cards or GPUs are insane right now.
If you can find one, they are at super inflated prices well above MSRP. It has never been this bad actually.
What I told my daughter was to go with a CPU with built-in graphics to avoid the cost of the GPU at this time. The graphics in the AMD Ryzen 5 3400G are good for light to medium gaming. They are the best graphics of any processor with built-in graphics be it AMD or Intel.
So you can put more money into better quality power supply, Motherboard and memory or more storage. etc.
Ryzen 5 3400G $209.99
https://www.newegg.com/amd-ryzen-5-3400g/p/N82E16819113570ASUS AM4 TUF Gaming X570-Plus (Wi-Fi) ATX Motherboard $197.99
https://www.newegg.com/asus-tuf-gaming-x570-plus/p/N82E16813119197G.SKILL TridentZ RGB Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3600 CL16 $134.99
https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820232491Samsung (MZ-V7E1T0BW) 970 EVO SSD 1TB - M.2 NVMe Interface Internal Solid State Drive $129.99
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-970-EVO-1TB-MZ-V7E1T0BW/dp/B07BN217QG/ref=sr_1_3?crid=5JYECI4L73IN&dchild=1&keywords=m.2+ssd&qid=1607834049&s=electronics&sprefix=m.2+%2Celectronics%2C202&sr=1-3Fractal Design Meshify C Black ATX High-Airflow Compact Light Tint Tempered Glass Mid Tower Computer Case $79.99
https://www.newegg.com/black-fractal-design-meshify-c-tg-atx-mid-tower/p/N82E16811352084?&quicklink=trueSeasonic FOCUS PX-750, 750W 80+ Platinum Full-Modular, Fan Control in Fanless, Silent, and Cooling Mode $144.99
https://www.amazon.com/Seasonic-PX-750-Full-Modular-Application-SSR-750PX/dp/B07W4PLZWH/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA8dH-BRD_ARIsAC24umb5RfYyrIpAZ6cTbnacbJo_Evc9Qlc0TTxhbZLBWppgTqSekynTHA4aAuYIEALw_wcB&hvadid=409903340562&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9021879&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=2438427603730883471&hvtargid=kwd-325984465414&hydadcr=18033_11397908&keywords=750+watt+fully+modular&qid=1607833954&refinements=p_89%3ASeasonic%2Cp_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin%3A6906986011&rnid=6525659011&s=pc&sr=1-1&tag=googhydr-20$897.94 before Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse. This is using very high quality components. Seasonic is one the premier power supply manufacturers and I won't use anything else at this time.
ViewSonic VX2457-MHD 24" Full HD 1920 x 1080 75Hz HDMI VGA DisplayPort AMD FreeSync Built-in Speaker Anti-Glare Backlit LED Gaming Monitor $129.99
https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16824116778?Item=N82E16824116778CORSAIR K57 RGB WIRELESS Gaming Keyboard with SLIPSTREAM WIRELESS Technology, Backlit RGB LED, Black $89.99
CORSAIR M55 RGB PRO Ambidextrous Multi-Grip Gaming Mouse, Black, Backlit RGB LED, 12400 dpi, Optical $39.99
https://www.newegg.com/corsair-ch-9308011-na-m55-rgb-pro-usb-2-0-wired/p/N82E16826816134?Description=Corsair mouse&cm_re=Corsair_mouse--26-816-134--Product&quicklink=true$1,157.91 all in. +tax of course.
This motherboard will permit you to upgrade it as his needs grow. 6 months from now he will probably want a graphics card and they might be back to normal pricing. I would recommend the new Nvidia 3060 Ti or AMD RX6800 once they become available.
The X570 chipset is the latest and most "future-proof" chipset for the AM4 socket. 1 year or more down the road you can slap one of the new 5000 series Ryzen processors in there, and you will have a significant performance upgrade. It will also accommodate the new PCIe V4 GPUs so you could put a $1,500 GPU in there and it will handle it. The motherboard is expandable to 128 Gigs of RAM.
Starting with 16Gigs is fine. 32 is just another 2 sticks and $100, upgrade down the road.
Use the included CPU cooler. If you decide to try overclocking and find the temps are getting too warm, you can always upgrade the cooler. It will be fine with the stock cooler. It's only a 4 core / 8 thread 65 watt processor.
The RAM is RGB but it is pretty tame. You can shut it off if you get sick of it.
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No problem! This is the 5th computer I have spec'd out in the past couple of months. I'm building 2 for myself. I am typing this on my "budget build" which is almost identical to what I typed above. Same Motherboard, CPU and RAM. Actually, the ram I spec'd above for you is slightly better in that it has tighter sub-timings. It has the same CAS Latency but my sub-timings are 19-19-39 and the above sku is 16-16-36. Yes he will have to learn about these things to get the most performance out of it. I started out with 32 Gigs of RAM but quickly found that I needed more for the database work I do so, I have 64 Gigs of ram.
I played WoW on the built-in graphics using mostly low, to medium graphics settings and was getting a respectable 55-60 fps. I just downloaded and started playing Cyberpunk 2077 yesterday but I have a dedicated GPU. I have not yet tried running it on the built-in graphics. I don't think it will work very well if at all. I don't think your boy is ready for such a game anyway. It has a lot of content that I don't think is age appropriate. But games are getting more and more demanding.
Last week I found what I think was the last reasonably priced AMD RX 5600 XT with 6Gigs of GDDR6 ram. It is for my brother who doesn't game. He is all about software development. The 5600 XT was released about 18 months ago, and is the previous generation of low to mid level AMD GPUs. I don't recommend getting one due to inflated prices the age of the design and the performance in modern games. If you could find an RX 5700 XT for a good price (Good luck!) it would be a 3 to 5 year graphics card depending on level of expectations from your gamer. It runs Cyberpunk 2077 on low graphics setting (which still looks amazing btw) in 1080p (that is the resolution of the monitor I listed above for you. If I try to run it in native 3840 x 1600 I get like 20fps. lol
If you go this route, this will be the 3rd such system that is based on this proc and mb that I had a hand in. My daughter just completed a her first ever build using this mb. I have a pretty good handle on the mb, bios, optimizations for pushing past the default settings that hobble the ram and processor. This is getting into fundamental overclocking theory which allows you to push the envelope, or just get the cpu and ram to run at the fastest, speed that keeps the machine stable.
Now that I think about it, you should get 32 Gigs of memory. The built-in GPU uses system ram for it's graphics memory, It will consume whatever it needs up to a limit you specify in the BIOS. If you give it 4 gigs, you will only have 12 remaining for the rest of the system including the OS.
Fun stuff.
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No problem! This is the 5th computer I have spec'd out in the past couple of months. I'm building 2 for myself. I am typing this on my "budget build" which is almost identical to what I typed above. Same Motherboard, CPU and RAM. Actually, the ram I spec'd above for you is slightly better in that it has tighter sub-timings. It has the same CAS Latency but my sub-timings are 19-19-39 and the above sku is 16-16-36. Yes he will have to learn about these things to get the most performance out of it. I started out with 32 Gigs of RAM but quickly found that I needed more for the database work I do so, I have 64 Gigs of ram.
I played WoW on the built-in graphics using mostly low, to medium graphics settings and was getting a respectable 55-60 fps. I just downloaded and started playing Cyberpunk 2077 yesterday but I have a dedicated GPU. I have not yet tried running it on the built-in graphics. I don't think it will work very well if at all. I don't think your boy is ready for such a game anyway. It has a lot of content that I don't think is age appropriate. But games are getting more and more demanding.
Last week I found what I think was the last reasonably priced AMD RX 5600 XT with 6Gigs of GDDR6 ram. It is for my brother who doesn't game. He is all about software development. The 5600 XT was released about 18 months ago, and is the previous generation of low to mid level AMD GPUs. I don't recommend getting one due to inflated prices the age of the design and the performance in modern games. If you could find an RX 5700 XT for a good price (Good luck!) it would be a 3 to 5 year graphics card depending on level of expectations from your gamer. It runs Cyberpunk 2077 on low graphics setting (which still looks amazing btw) in 1080p (that is the resolution of the monitor I listed above for you. If I try to run it in native 3840 x 1600 I get like 20fps. lol
If you go this route, this will be the 3rd such system that is based on this proc and mb that I had a hand in. My daughter just completed a her first ever build using this mb. I have a pretty good handle on the mb, bios, optimizations for pushing past the default settings that hobble the ram and processor. This is getting into fundamental overclocking theory which allows you to push the envelope, or just get the cpu and ram to run at the fastest, speed that keeps the machine stable.
Now that I think about it, you should get 32 Gigs of memory. The built-in GPU uses system ram for it's graphics memory, It will consume whatever it needs up to a limit you specify in the BIOS. If you give it 4 gigs, you will only have 12 remaining for the rest of the system including the OS.
Fun stuff.
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Nevermind, I punted and bought a pre-configured entry level gaming PC on AMZN.
Big driver was
my procrastinationtime. I want this by xmas. Too late to sort out the new egg stuff, a lot of that ships later.He's stilll just doing Minecraft. In another 2 years or so we'll do it right.
Thanks for the help all the same guys.
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I personally would not go with a mini-ATX for factor.
But, if you insist...
MB (does less, costs more) lol
https://www.newegg.com/asus-rog-strix-x570-i-gaming/p/N82E16813119209Case, Hmmm. I never spent any time researching Mini ATX cases. Feel free to google that. Be aware of air flow issues.
This is a nice one.
https://www.newegg.com/black-fractal-design-meshify-c-mini-micro-atx-mid-tower/p/N82E16811352086
Should be all you need. Know that you will toss the two ram sticks, if you ever want to upgrade.
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A few years ago I was trying to put together a gaming computer for Luke. Then Alienware advertised a door buster that was twice as good as what I was planning for 30% less than what the system I was designing would have cost...
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Graphic Cards or GPUs are insane right now.
If you can find one, they are at super inflated prices well above MSRP. It has never been this bad actually.
What I told my daughter was to go with a CPU with built-in graphics to avoid the cost of the GPU at this time. The graphics in the AMD Ryzen 5 3400G are good for light to medium gaming. They are the best graphics of any processor with built-in graphics be it AMD or Intel.
So you can put more money into better quality power supply, Motherboard and memory or more storage. etc.
Ryzen 5 3400G $209.99
https://www.newegg.com/amd-ryzen-5-3400g/p/N82E16819113570ASUS AM4 TUF Gaming X570-Plus (Wi-Fi) ATX Motherboard $197.99
https://www.newegg.com/asus-tuf-gaming-x570-plus/p/N82E16813119197G.SKILL TridentZ RGB Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3600 CL16 $134.99
https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820232491Samsung (MZ-V7E1T0BW) 970 EVO SSD 1TB - M.2 NVMe Interface Internal Solid State Drive $129.99
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-970-EVO-1TB-MZ-V7E1T0BW/dp/B07BN217QG/ref=sr_1_3?crid=5JYECI4L73IN&dchild=1&keywords=m.2+ssd&qid=1607834049&s=electronics&sprefix=m.2+%2Celectronics%2C202&sr=1-3Fractal Design Meshify C Black ATX High-Airflow Compact Light Tint Tempered Glass Mid Tower Computer Case $79.99
https://www.newegg.com/black-fractal-design-meshify-c-tg-atx-mid-tower/p/N82E16811352084?&quicklink=trueSeasonic FOCUS PX-750, 750W 80+ Platinum Full-Modular, Fan Control in Fanless, Silent, and Cooling Mode $144.99
https://www.amazon.com/Seasonic-PX-750-Full-Modular-Application-SSR-750PX/dp/B07W4PLZWH/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA8dH-BRD_ARIsAC24umb5RfYyrIpAZ6cTbnacbJo_Evc9Qlc0TTxhbZLBWppgTqSekynTHA4aAuYIEALw_wcB&hvadid=409903340562&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9021879&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=2438427603730883471&hvtargid=kwd-325984465414&hydadcr=18033_11397908&keywords=750+watt+fully+modular&qid=1607833954&refinements=p_89%3ASeasonic%2Cp_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin%3A6906986011&rnid=6525659011&s=pc&sr=1-1&tag=googhydr-20$897.94 before Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse. This is using very high quality components. Seasonic is one the premier power supply manufacturers and I won't use anything else at this time.
ViewSonic VX2457-MHD 24" Full HD 1920 x 1080 75Hz HDMI VGA DisplayPort AMD FreeSync Built-in Speaker Anti-Glare Backlit LED Gaming Monitor $129.99
https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16824116778?Item=N82E16824116778CORSAIR K57 RGB WIRELESS Gaming Keyboard with SLIPSTREAM WIRELESS Technology, Backlit RGB LED, Black $89.99
CORSAIR M55 RGB PRO Ambidextrous Multi-Grip Gaming Mouse, Black, Backlit RGB LED, 12400 dpi, Optical $39.99
https://www.newegg.com/corsair-ch-9308011-na-m55-rgb-pro-usb-2-0-wired/p/N82E16826816134?Description=Corsair mouse&cm_re=Corsair_mouse--26-816-134--Product&quicklink=true$1,157.91 all in. +tax of course.
This motherboard will permit you to upgrade it as his needs grow. 6 months from now he will probably want a graphics card and they might be back to normal pricing. I would recommend the new Nvidia 3060 Ti or AMD RX6800 once they become available.
The X570 chipset is the latest and most "future-proof" chipset for the AM4 socket. 1 year or more down the road you can slap one of the new 5000 series Ryzen processors in there, and you will have a significant performance upgrade. It will also accommodate the new PCIe V4 GPUs so you could put a $1,500 GPU in there and it will handle it. The motherboard is expandable to 128 Gigs of RAM.
Starting with 16Gigs is fine. 32 is just another 2 sticks and $100, upgrade down the road.
Use the included CPU cooler. If you decide to try overclocking and find the temps are getting too warm, you can always upgrade the cooler. It will be fine with the stock cooler. It's only a 4 core / 8 thread 65 watt processor.
The RAM is RGB but it is pretty tame. You can shut it off if you get sick of it.
)
