Gaming PC for a 14 year old...

[Richard1004]

I’ve specced the following for my 14 year old son who has wanted a gaming PC for a couple of years. He mostly plays Minecraft/Fortnite currently but does want to go into Call of Duty and similar games.

Because he’s 14, and because he’s literally obsessing over one he’s given some idea of what he wants including a really decent GPU. I mean he literally knows a ridiculous amount about them, far more than I do. Our budget is around £1500 for the base unit.

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 220T RGB AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
1TB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 470MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CV SERIES™ CV-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 RGB Series High Performance CPU Cooler (AMD)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
1x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 13 to 15 working days
Price: £1,561.00 including VAT and Delivery

Rich

 

[liambrown951]

HI Rich

What monitor do you plan on getting for him? It's always better to build the machine around the monitor to avoid bottle necking (no point having a 1440p graphics card if your only planning on gaming at 1080p)

from the above a few things stand out which id personally consider changing.

32GB of ram is overkill right now for his current gaming needs (IMO). 16gb will easily run the most demanding games, you'd be better off getting smaller but faster ram (16gb 3200MHz) use that cash for upgrades elsewhere. ram is a cheap and easy upgrade so can be done later down the line if need be

Replace the SSD with M.2 storage. - m.2 is basically next gen SSD it's a chip that slots into the motherboard. Read and write speeds are up to 4x faster than a regular ssd, it'll boot up much quicker load games alot quicker perfect for gamers.

power supply - if you plan on upgrading this machine further down the line its best practice to go with a larger one, or at the very least pick a TMx or RMx gold rated one.

Cooling - word is AMD's fans are pretty good so you might not need additional cooling. If you do insist on going with additional cooling id consider something other than the PCS frostflow i've heard it can be quite noisy and doesnt make much difference over the stock AMD coolers (this is just based on what i've read online so could be wrong here)

Wireless network card - Definitely worth upgrading to the AX200

Warranty - the silver package is worth the upgrade for £5

if you post the reconfig link the guys here can make adjustments to your build.

 

[Richard1004]

Thanks Liam,

would be looking at a monitor similar to this https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07T2Y5ZG7/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_api_fabt1_r-zQFb268H7X5

How do I post the reconfig link?

Rich

 

[AgentCooper]

Thanks Liam,

would be looking at a monitor similar to this https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07T2Y5ZG7/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_api_fabt1_r-zQFb268H7X5

How do I post the reconfig link?

Rich

Follow the instructions in the link below 👇

How to Post Your Specification to the Forum - Check this Spec

Just a first note, if you've been provided this link, don't amend your first post as it won't update the queue, please add an additional comment to the thread, that way it will go back to the front of the queue. Otherwise we don't know it's been updated. When creating a forum post looking to...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

 

[Richard1004]

Thanks. Really appreciate that.

with the suggestions Liam has made I’ve now got the following:


Case
CORSAIR iCUE 220T RGB AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
1x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 13 to 15 working days
Promotional Item
Get 1-Year Founders Membership to GeForce Now w/ select RTX Cards
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery

Reconfig link -

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/MbJPngeG9E/

 

[liambrown951]

That's a nice build.

The graphics card you have is more than capable of running any game at 4k resolution so it might be worth considering a 1440p monitor at the least if your budget allows for it.

I believe this one is the next model up: Samsung Odyssey LC27G55TQWUXEN 27" G55 1000R

I'm pretty sure your son wont be complaining either way