Hi everyone My nephew is wanting to get into PC gaming, he's growing out of his consoles and wanting to get his 1st PC, i've agreed to build it for him, but its been awhile since i've built a pc. I am going to supply a monitor, and the OS. But i need the rest His budget its a max of £500, he wants it for gaming and homework. He just turned 15 so i ideally i want it to look the part for him but rather have a better build over looks lol I also will need a keyboard n mouse, i've always dealt with Intel and Nvidia so rather sick to these manufacturers So i need, case, cpu, gpu, psu, HDD (if cash allows a ssd for OS), Keyboard n mouse, n maybe a better cooler (i may look at getting a H50 or something like that later on for his Bday) thanks in advance for any advice
I would go along the lines of one of following, with the following understood. SSD is only ~200GB usable so may need a HDD as a future upgrade. Using stock cooler shouldn't be a problem as CPU is not unlocked and MB doesn't support OC'ing anyway. Both leave £40/£35 for Case, keyboard and mouse ########################################### CPU: Intel Core i5-6400 2.7GHz Quad-Core Processor (£129.00 @ Amazon UK) Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-D2V DDR3 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£49.20 @ Aria PC) Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£31.60 @ Amazon UK) Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£55.14 @ Aria PC) Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£152.74 @ More Computers) Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£41.98 @ Amazon UK) Total: £459.66 Limitations are: CPU is latest tech and an I5. is not massively high spec. GPU is one gen old and only has 2GB, should be good at 1080p now but may need upgrade in a few years. Or CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (£86.98 @ Amazon UK) Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£30.99 @ Ebuyer) Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£31.90 @ Amazon UK) Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£55.14 @ Aria PC) Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card (£229.98 @ Aria PC) Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (£29.99 @ Aria PC) Total: £464.98 Limitations are: Much weaker CPU, dual core is not great, uses older tech. Could be upgraded in the future with cheaper second hand CPU. Motherboard may need a Bios update GPU will destroy stuff at 1080p now and for years to come. PSU is not bronze efficient
For a 15 y/o the fun is in the build and final look, not squeezing every$ from spec. It's his first system to tinker with. 1) I would NOT buy a 30 quid motherboard. 50 quid H81 boards will be slightly better - there are mini ITX ones that could yield a pretty cool build. Or try and find a H87/Z87 board 2nd hand or in EOL stock which will have more features and will match Haswell chips. Or even FM2+ 7850K are really not bad and are much cheaper to get into OCing. 2) GTX 770 is really plenty. Even GTX 960 2GB that are going EOL now are great buys for 1080p and Maxwell is the focus of Nvidia's game optimizations now. 3) The i5-4460 is a good mix of quad core and >3GHz, although that dual core with high clock is still absolutely fine for 500 quid. https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i54460 4) Go two DIMM with pimp tall heatsinks. Make it look good - he's 15, he'll get a kick out of it. 5) 400W is plenty. I would do: ASUS H81I-Plus or 2nd hand H87/Z87 i5-4460 or maybe try and find 2nd hand Haswell. Or look second hand - you could try and get a 3570K+MB if people are selling up. Or 7870K + A88X Gamer or A88X-Plus or Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H or Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN-WIFI (miniITX + WiFi for 80 quid!) GTX 960 2GB 2x4GB 1600MHz DIMM 240GB SSD (BX200s are new and very cheap) For mini-ITX case and PSU - maybe CoolerMaster core (~40 quid?) or Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV ITX (42 quid), BitFenix Phenom, CM Stacker 915R (55 quid)
Bindi, an i5-4460 is Haswell. Second hand, from here for example, may be a great way to get him the foundation of a great rig. I wouldn't bother with an i3 personally. If you are going down the Haswell route, get an i5 or a Pentium G3258 as they beat the i3 when it's overclocked They're also far cheaper. Maybe don't try to go for the latest and greatest. I built my friend a gaming rig with an i5-4690K, MSI Z87M G45 (I think), 250GB Samsung EVO (new) and the rest sourced second hand too ... it came to £650 including a £110 monitor (ASUS 27 inch, 1080P, from here) with an ASUS DCU II R9 280X as the GPU as well. It's one hell of a machine for the money. This was almost a year ago now as well.
Yea. And I'm saying either look at that one as new or find one second hand. R9 280X is a decent option too, but Hawaii is pretty power hungry though.
Ah, I may have misread what you meant. Apologies! New isn't worth it as they are close to Skylake prices (or even more in some instances). The 280X is a power hungry beast, yes, but they are also only about £80 for top-end ones. Muchos power for very little cash.
Cant see too much of a problem with a low end motherboard really, machine will be run stock and once the side of the case is on nobody would ever be able to tell. Also a i3 does a fair job, even in really threaded games like BF3/4 the extra threads if not cores make a huge difference. Dull as it sounds in these games a stock i3 > Pentium K. Id just build a low end skylake rig, last thing you would want is 2 years down the line to be struggling to find a 1150 board.
That last bit of advice is absolutely spot on. Even if you need to drop down to an i3, you can always upgrade to an i5 in the future when the budget allows. I'm not a fan of the i3's, but they clearly have a purpose with multi-threaded applications. Try to squeeze to an i5 if possible, you won't regret it!
id just like to add that the Pentium G3258 is no better for gaming than a good i3. In fact benchmarks show a mid tier i3 will run games better than the Pentium even with a mild overclock. Iv built two budget gaming systems this year both with i3's in them and they play everything just fine. Its all down to the GPU. also getting him onto 1151 socket is a big plus for future upgrades.
my recommendation. Little over budget tho. This has great upgrade-ability and will play anything at great settings now. ahhhh ****, just noticed the ram is DDR3,,, just imagine its DDR4
Just thought I'd come at this from a different angle.... 860K GTX 970 500GB SSHD 8GB RAM FM2 Board with heatsinks Corsair Case Corsair PSU Given the number of games that are CPU limited, I'd throw as much cash at the GPU as possible. Bindi is right about it looking cool too! The board and RAM match nicely, and the case has a sexeh side window.
Again 43 quid jeez. Get something with some OC features and more than basic VRMs/sound. 250 quid on visuals and almost nothing on sound - poor kid! Although the Athlon is a better option I guess since he won't need the iGPU. 1 He doesnt need Skylake. Haswell will do fine for perf:value. I'd still opt for a GTX 960 2GB in perf/value or a GTX 770 if they're available. Or maybe some AMD equivs. Aww man someone do some buyers guides again
this pc wont ever be overclocked.. never had a AMD before... how does that compare to the intel stuff
