So my nephew's 11 and getting into pc gaming. They don't have much of a disposable income so I thought I have enough parts let me see what I can do. So far I have the following: Z97i I3 4340 8gb ram Random arctic cooler 256 solid state 1060 3gb Phanteks evolv itx non window Logitech g502 mouse Corsair 450w psu He has the following; 1080p monitor (hp I think) Full size mechanical keyb with reds It feels to me like that's enough to get him started, anything I'm missing? Our WhatsApp chats are weird, he keeps asking about various upgrades we can do now and buying 144hz monitors etc. I've explained that we should wait for Ryzen 4th gen to drop before upgrading the CPU/mobo/ mem combo as any money spent now would be redundant in a couple months. Also the GPU I've suggested we wait will Nvidia 3k series drops and then review. Case I'm trying to convince him to avoid the RGB unicorn vomit and rather get something more unique. On the monitor front Im struggling tbh, I can't fathom how buying a super high refresh monitor really changes things given the rest of his hardware isn't all bells and whistles and he is not even a serious PC gamer / eSports professional. Feels to me like he has just been watching all these streamers that are just glorified adverts and convinced himself he needs it. Im trying to be sympathetic, as I mentioned things are tight at home and he's been bullied at school about being poor and how his current pc is crap (hp 7th gen intel all in one), so I wanted to do something to help. Am I missing something? Should I really be considering a monitor upgrade for him?
I don't think so, that's a great PC (even more so if it's free!) to get started being able to play most games I would have thought. Stuff like high hz monitors, mech keyboards, high res monitors, top end hw is just luxury at the moment.
The system you listed will be fast enough for games and has a decent amount of storage High hz monitor needs a high gpu to drive them, a bog standard 1440p would be a cheap upgrade, monitors are long term investments if nothing else I am sorry to here he is been bullied though it’s never nice when that happens.
Again it's weird as I'm trying to help my sister. They at an absolute max can spare about 500 quid but that would mean that they would really have to scrimp to do that. So my thought is this gets him started, and over time we can look at upgrades as and when they are able to afford it. Parts would kinda be a loan that I'd prob end up taking back bits as we upgrade over time but I'm not expecting them back,it's family after all. Hoping to enshrine some mindfulness into him through the process.
I would prioritise 3 things in a low cost build CPU Ram and SSD. the 1060 is more than enough for modern games I would ignore the esport monitors and focus on performance that he can actually use and see for 1080p a 1060 should deliver 60fps in most games with a lot of graphic options at near max
Honestly, if things are already quite tight on the money front for your sister scraping together £500 for a PC doesn't feel like the most sensible use of money, regardless of how much your nephew wants it. What you have to give would be more than good enough to get started with but leaves the door open for upgrades as you say. The need for all the 'shiny upgrades/monitor' will stem from the bullying I'd imagine, it might help to go the RGB case route, I absolutely loathe them but for around £50ish it might just take the 'hand-me-down' computer image away for him, make it feel more like it's his and not break the bank?
The monitor sounds a bit silly, as nobody will be able to tell unless they can visit. As long as he can play the games. Sadly, it does not necessarily help with the bullying as I've head kids get picked on for using stock skins. I really can't imagine anyone getting picked on about a monitor. Maybe for barely being able to run a game at its lowest setting and thinking high refresh monitor = high FPS? Mean kids are mean, but at least he will have his own PC. Don't let him sucker you into a monitor he can't power. The RGB case suggestion and something he will probably care about. I doubt he knows what refresh rate is.
I've managed to have a chat to my sister, she's agrees with me and is gonna have a chat with him to explain the situation and that what uncle Nims says goes, so no upgrades for a bit.
It would be a shame if you went through all the trouble to build him a gaming PC and he wasn't appreciative. I would recommend getting all the parts together and building it will him, explaining the function of each component.
If you decided to get a windowed panel (or even mod a panel in with your nephew as his first mod) then I have a Corsair 120mm RGB you can have. Just let me know an address and I will stick it in the post to you.
I'm curious, did he understand the function of a high refresh rate monitor, and how it requires an even more expensive GPU to benefit. I'm wondering if he was thought faster monitor = better performance.
No he paid lip service and pretended to listen to me. I sent him some articles to read on the matter and I immediately got a response that he saw a YouTube video that said our brains can see up to 500fps.... I asked if the video was sponsored by Nvidia / AMD to which I didn't get a response just yet....
If it helps I may have an old work desktop in the garage which may have a 3rd or 4th gen i7 if you want me to look and see?
I appreciate the offer, bit for the moment I think he is good. There is a level of entitlement and being spoiled going on that I'm not going to entertain. He keeps on and on about upgrades and within two days had filled up the disk already....
I blame triple-A game development for that. Some of the new games coming out are north of 80GB, it's ridiculous.
My first hard drive was 20MB. Unformatted. I used to load games from cassette tapes that held about 80kB per side. At what point do you think publishers will just take a leaf out of Hollywood's book and distribute the games on a terabyte-plus SSD you plug in to play? (Hey, I think we just reinvented games cartridges - if we ignore the fact that, size aside, I just described Switch games.)
