Extreme budget first time gaming pc for a kid

Discussion in 'General Hardware' started by Halloween Jack, Aug 22, 2017.

  1. Halloween Jack

    Halloween Jack Maha Guru

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    Hi folks,

    Some friends of ours want to help their 13 yr old son build his first PC.

    They said they were flexible on budget but I doubt very much they want to spend more than £500.

    We did my son's, just, for £300 but had a case, hdd, monitor, psu and stuff.

    They said they have an old prebuilt non gaming pc and wondering if they could use anything from it. I said possibly case and HDD but for £40 it'd be a lot easier to start with a new fresh case.

    I'm starting with the PC Gamer budget build:

    Windows 10 £45 although some cheaper deals on Amazon

    Motherboard MSI H270M Bazooka £84
    CPU Pentium G4560 £60
    GFX Gigabyte GTX 1060 3GB £240
    RAM HyperXFury Black 8GB @2400 £67
    PSU EVGA 500BQ £60
    SSD PNY CS1311 120GB £40
    HDD Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB £44
    Case Bitfenix Neos £37
    Monitor Asus VE247H £110
    Keyboard Corsair K30 £35
    Mouse SteelSeries Rival 100 £18

    £840

    So I'm trying to think of some alternatives to get this down to £500 or even less.

    I suggested they get some cheap older components that could be replaced in a year or so, but at least it would get him started...

    A gfx card for £100 for an example, lose the SSD, cheaper keyboard....

    Stuff like that.

    I was originally thinking AMD CPU or an i5 4th gen but this recommended Pentium CPU looks pretty good and very cheap. Motherboard might be a bit OTT though.

    Any other suggestions?

    Cheers
     
  2. CPC_RedDawn

    CPC_RedDawn Ancient Guru

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    I would try a Ryzen 3 build maybe...? Would be better future proofed as the socket will be supported up til 2020 (or so AMD says).
     
  3. Halloween Jack

    Halloween Jack Maha Guru

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    Dont really know AMD stuff, but Ryzen 3 looks like more money?
     
  4. Jagman

    Jagman Ancient Guru

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    AMD A8 (or A10 2nd hand) APU combined with an A68 board. Don't bother with the GTX1060 for now and cheaper PSU, case, keyboard and monitor.

    Now you'll be closer to that £500 budget. No it's not going to be great but what can they expect for a complete system.
     

  5. sverek

    sverek Guest

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    cut down HDD to 500GB and drop SSD. 500GB HDD alone is enough for system and games.
    No need for gaming brand keyboard, just get basic cheap on market.
    Same for mouse, just get mouse with side buttons and nice grip. Doesn't have to gaming. Basic and simple is enough.

    AMD APU might be better choice. It does have good enough CPU and GPU power for basic HD gaming. GTX1060 is overkill for this system.

    If kid looking to play BF1, you might actually need to get proper CPU, cause dual core or weak 4 cores, won't be able to feed 60fps.
     
  6. DSparil

    DSparil Guest

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    I'm going to disagree with the post above saying a 500GB drive is enough for a modern gaming system. It's definitely not. Especially when you consider some modern games recommend 40+ GB alone. I will agree to get rid of the SSD in the build though. It's not necessary and if you're going for a budget build, the SSD is going to take a chunk out of that budget. For the hard drive, you could get a 1TB hybrid drive like the Firecuda that features an SSD portion for a faster OS boot. Take the extra $$ you'd save there and put it toward a better and more future proof processor in a Ryzen.
     
    Last edited: Aug 26, 2017
    alanm likes this.
  7. Agent-A01

    Agent-A01 Ancient Guru

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    Coffee lake is around the corner, i3 quad cores will be a better option for gaming than a pentium.
     
  8. sverek

    sverek Guest

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    It's for a 13 years old kid. Not otaku who buys and play games 24/7.
    For minecraft and couple more shooters, that would be enough.

    True, but we shall see the price. Intel won't sell them cheap, unless they perform like Ryzen 3.
     
  9. Singleton99

    Singleton99 Maha Guru

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  10. Halloween Jack

    Halloween Jack Maha Guru

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    Thanks everyone.

    I cut back my original starting point to:

    Windows 10 £45 although some cheaper deals on Amazon even £20.

    Motherboard MSI H270M Bazooka £84
    CPU Pentium G4560 £60
    GFX Gigabyte GTX 1050 £108
    RAM HyperXFury Black 8GB @2400 £67
    PSU Corsair VS450 £34
    HDD Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB £44
    Case Aerocool 300 £30
    Monitor Asus VE247H £110
    M&K Logitech cheapest on amazon £15

    Coming in at £570.

    CPU may be basic but can be upgraded in a year or so and you're on a current chipset and socket type there.

    GFX also basic, but agin, easy to upgrade.

    I think they need something to start him off with easy upgrade options in a year or even for an Xmas present.

    Tempted by AMB APU but the socket is already quite old. And I think there's something to be said for the ease of updating a GFX card. Upgrading from this is quite a rebuild.

    Singleton, your build looks good. Hadn't even thought of fans or new cooler, was going to go with the supplied ones.

    I'll link them your build as an option. No win 10 or HDD there though.

    Cheers
     

  11. sverek

    sverek Guest

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  12. user1

    user1 Ancient Guru

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    edit: should read thread before posting lmao.

    could probably reduce the cost further by finding a used case, people practically give them away for free
     
    Last edited: Aug 29, 2017
  13. Halloween Jack

    Halloween Jack Maha Guru

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    Agreed, my last list above was a 1050. Also got a cheaper PSU in there.

    Great idea about the case I've emailed him your suggestion.

    Thanks.
     

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