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[Technology] Gaming PCs



Bozza

Bozza

You can change this
Helpful Moderator
Jul 4, 2003
55,776
Back in Sussex
I appreciate you can probably spend a ridiculous amount on one of these should you want to, but if my 13-y-o wanted a gaming PC, what's a good level/spec/price point to aim for?

Links also appreciated as I know nothing.
 




Bold Seagull

Bold Seagull

strong and stable with me, or...
Mar 18, 2010
29,813
Hove
Bozza said:
I appreciate you can probably spend a ridiculous amount on one of these should you want to, but if my 13-y-o wanted a gaming PC, what's a good level/spec/price point to aim for?

Links also appreciated as I know nothing.
Click to expand...
I got this last summer for my son as he's also doing a Game Design course at Varndean. It is a laptop as he does other stuff on it including his course, but he likes it as a capable games machine. We got a separate monitor (2nd hand) for home use. Thought the laptop was a good idea for taking to college etc.

ASUS TUF Gaming FA506IHR-HN057W R5 8GB 512GB

I got this from Mesh Computers and it arrived next day. £524 I think with some kind of discount.

This was the spec.
ASUS TUF Gaming FA506IHR-HN057W R5 8GB 512GB
15.6" FHD 144Hz Anti-Glare IPS with resolution 1920x1080
AMD Ryzen 5 4600H 3.0GHz max Turbo Speed Upto 4.0 GHz Hexa Core Processor
4GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650 Ti Graphics Card
8GB DDR4 SODIMM RAM
512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
Backlit Chiclet Keyboard with NumberPad Touchpad
Wi-Fi 6(802.11ax)+Bluetooth 5.2 (Dual band) 2*2 + 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN
Microsoft Windows 11 Home (Pre Loaded)
1 Year ASUS Warranty
Next Business Day Delivery - Order By 12pm and get it Next Day (Mon-Fri)
 
Last edited:


happypig

happypig

Staring at the rude boys
May 23, 2009
7,974
Eastbourne
Worth considering second hand, maybe even build your own out of used bits. Lots of people upgrading to top spec sell off their old stuff, which was top spec two years ago.
 


Echo the Seagull

Echo the Seagull

Member
Sep 29, 2017
83
Portslade
Assuming your 13Y/O is into all the shi... fancy lights, I suggest something along the lines of this.

As @happypig says, if you can try and build your own. Building similar to the link on your own can potentially save a couple of hundred but appreciate that isn't for everyone although for a 13Y/O a good learning experience for the future if they really get into the gaming scene so they can upgrade parts as they go along.
 


indy3050

indy3050

Well-known member
Jun 22, 2011
1,311
1682592219908.jpeg


I went through this last year for my kids and the attached spec was adequate for an entry level gaming pc. Not heard any complaints yet! Hope it helps.
 




J

juliant

Well-known member
Apr 4, 2011
559
Northamptonshire
My only advice (my son didnt listen) whatever you buy he/she will want/need to upgrade certain parts within the year. Especially if friend A gets the latest graphic card etc . Then that may cause issues with parts and compatibility unless your really tech savvy with PC hardware just be wary.

He lasted 6 months before he got the I told you so from me
 


StonehamPark

StonehamPark

#Brighton-Nil
Oct 30, 2010
9,781
BC, Canada
@Bozza if you can give me an approx budget, I’ll find you some good options.

And if you know what games he/she plays, and if you’ve already got a monitor or not, that’d be helpful too.

Would you be interested in building one together, or prefer to buy a pre built one for ease?
 


D

DFL JCL

Well-known member
Jan 8, 2016
792
Scan.co.uk get yourself a pre built if you haven't had experience of building and maintaining a pc. The main thing that will drive the cost of the pc will be the graphics card. Nvidia graphics cards are the main player. The latest cards are the 40 series cards and are top dollar and can be harder to come by. Something like a 3060ti graphics card will easily be able to run most games at 1440p.

GeForce RTX 3060 Ti - Mid Range Gaming PC - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Ampere Gaming PC - Scan 3XS Gaming | SCAN UK

Welcome to our GeForce RTX 3060 Ti - Mid Range Gaming PC - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Ampere Gaming PC - Scan 3XS Gaming page. Here you will find leading brands such as Scan 3XS Systems.
www.scan.co.uk www.scan.co.uk
Deciding what resolution you want to game at is probably the first decision, or fix budget and go from there.
 




D

DFL JCL

Well-known member
Jan 8, 2016
792
The resolution you want to play at will also drive what monitor you will want to pair with the PC. The options being 1080p, 1440p & 4k.
 




D

DFL JCL

Well-known member
Jan 8, 2016
792
It's not a lot cheaper to be honest and if you get any problems it's on you. But really down to your level of confidence building and maintaining a pc.
 








A

AstroSloth

Well-known member
Dec 29, 2020
1,004
juliant said:
My only advice (my son didnt listen) whatever you buy he/she will want/need to upgrade certain parts within the year. Especially if friend A gets the latest graphic card etc . Then that may cause issues with parts and compatibility unless your really tech savvy with PC hardware just be wary.

He lasted 6 months before he got the I told you so from me
Click to expand...
If buying the laptop/PCs linked with a 1650 it will be out of date pretty soon. It's worth splashing more money on a better PC that will last longer.

I paid around £900 for my PC about 2016 and it's getting extremely out of date now.

Luckily I only really play DOTA 2 and Football Manager so it's not too big a deal, but I'll be upgrading when possible.
 




Lethargic

Lethargic

Well-known member
Oct 11, 2006
3,463
Horsham
There is no silver bullet answer and it really depends on the games being played but as a general rule it's all about the graphics card. Modern games really need an Nvidia RTX, the games are written for this architecture.

Don't be tempted by the online bull a lot of the extra cost is more asthetics than function, if building your own look for a decent motherboard that you can upgrade processor, RAM, etc with M.2 storage options.
 




StonehamPark

StonehamPark

#Brighton-Nil
Oct 30, 2010
9,781
BC, Canada
Below is the best bag for buck pre-built gaming PC with moderate spec I could find (in the UK).
You'd want to buy a decent mouse & keyboard, and ideally pair it with a 1440p monitor (with a 120+ hz refresh rate if you can).

All-in considering the above, you're looking at a grand.

HP Omen 25L AMD Ryzen 5 NVIDIA RTX 3060 16GB RAM 256GB SSD + 1TB Gaming Desktop​


Beneficial upgrades would be a bigger SSD and maybe more RAM eventually (not neccassary immediately). But this can be easily upgraded by yourself in the future.
Tip: Don't bother with a 4k monitor. 1440p is the sweet spot, but do aim for a 120+ hz refresh rate if possible.
RTX 3060 is currently the most popular graphics card used (from Steam stats). It's a mid-range card and will last a good few years, with eventual in-game settings tweaks to get the most performance out of it.
 






US Seagull

US Seagull

Well-known member
Jul 17, 2003
3,310
Cleveland, OH
Without getting to specifics, since I don't know what prices look like in the UK, but generally if you look at specs for most components you'll notice you get more bang for your buck (pound) up to a certain point where prices suddenly shoot up massively for the latest and greatest. Try to stay before those inflection points to save money and still get a decent rig.
 




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