Old man seeking PC build for son.

[IS7Doji]

Well I'm not that old... xD

My son has come of age where he would like a gaming computer.

He tells me he wants to be able to stream and play new AAA games.
(Very generic I know)

I have a 1080p 24" monitor that he can use for now but I shall likely upgrade this at Christmas for him to something that is better and 1440p as I don't think 4k will be worth it for his needs.

I think I want the route of AMD/Nvidia looking over many similar posts as being a dad I'm always looking for value for money and somewhat future proof.

What I can get currently
Ryzen 5 3600 brand new sealed for £140
(I will update this to a Zen 3 when released/needed)
1TB WD Blue SN550 for £95 approx
(He probably won't need any more space as I have a microserver)

I then get stuck on the rest of the build and have another £1000 towards but like to spend less where I can. I can get hold off a 1050 from a friend while I wait for these new cards nvidia cards to be released. I am concerned about buying this now due to PSU connection rumours on these new GPU etc. He will also need WiFi for the time being as I won't be hard wiring his room till early next year. No keyboard or Mouse is needed.

 

[Quartz]

My only advice is to build it with him.

 

[Lemin]

Just go for 16gb if ram too expensive...

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x MSI B450 GAMING PRO CARBON MAX WIFI (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £124.99
• 1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £95.99
• 1 x Silverstone Essential 650W 80 Plus Gold Semi-Modular Power Supply= £79.99
• 1 x Kolink Inspire Series K1 RGB Midi Tower Gaming Case - Black Window= £44.99
• 1 x Arctic Freezer 34 eSports 120mm CPU Cooler - Black / Grey= £29.99

Total: £388.25 (includes shipping: £12.30)​

​

 

[Sparx]

For the rest of the build, I'd go with something like this... Leaves ~£500 for the GPU then I take it?

Presume the lad wouldn't mind some RGB, the case is good for the price anywho with 4 pre-installed RGB fans. If not bothered about RGB could get a little cheaper RAM.

Went X570 for the PCIe 4 lanes, AX wifi adapter, etc... If not interested could get a B450 board a chunk less.

Edit: Yeah mobo like the one Lemin linked lol

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x MSI MAG X570 TOMAHAWK WIFI (AMD AM4) DDR4 X570 ATX Motherboard= £219.95
• 1 x Phanteks AMP 650W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply= £96.95
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO Black 16GB (2x8GB) 3600 MHz AMD Ryzen Tuned DDR4 Memory Dual Kit= £89.99
• 1 x BitFenix Nova Mesh A-RGB Midi-Tower Case - Black Window= £69.95
• 1 x Alpenfohn Brocken 3 CPU Cooler - 140mm= £42.95

Total: £519.79 (includes shipping: £0.00)
​

 

[IS7Doji]

@Quartz Thank you. I shall be building it with him and explaining what each part does etc

@Lemin & @Sparx Thank you for both build suggestions.

In regards to the;
Motherboard - My cheapness says to go for the B450 but do we know if the new GPU's will benefit from the PCIe 4 lane?
PSU - Will 650W be acceptable for these new GPU's?
RAM - Giving that my son will stream and possible edit these for youtube etc (prediction) would 3200mhz or 3600mhz be better overall. Looking at the price point I think 32GB at 3200 will be better value.
Cooler - Again both different suggestions, can I assume the the Brocken 3 would offer better temps when the cpu does get upgraded?
Case - I let my son pick between the two and he is a fan of the Bitfenix. I see the Lian Li Mesh case is £10 more, would this offer better air flow for him? but has less fans included.

Sorry about all the questions just trying to collate.

 

[Sparx]

We aren't even close to saturating PCIe 3.0 bandwidth on GPUs yet, I can't see even the next 2 generations of GPUs saturating it before going into PCIe 4.0 realms tbh. So if wanna go for the cheaper B450 go for it, my main reason for the X570 is just future-proofing for the WiFi 6/AX radio and great VRMs it has. Also the use of NVMe PCIe 4.0 drives if you think might use in the future. But depends if it's worth it to you. It is a chunk more money but I see it as a worthwhile investment personally.

650w should be ample to run the next gen GPUs yes.

Only a slight performance decrease going from 3600 to 3200MHz, so I'd get the 32GB kit if he'll be doing video editing etc.

Brocken 3 is a fantastic cooler, would more than likely still be providing great temps/low noise, considering it's 5 heat pipes and large heatsink density.

Not sure on the 2 case comparisons, both are decent. I prefer the cable management and aesthetics of the BitFenix personally.

 

[Quartz]

Motherboard - My cheapness says to go for the B450 but do we know if the new GPU's will benefit from the PCIe 4 lane?

This is strongly rumoured. Note also that NVME drives come in PCIe v4 flavours.

 

[Journey]

Motherboard - My cheapness says to go for the B450 but do we know if the new GPU's will benefit from the PCIe 4 lane?

I just built four systems with the ASUS TUF GAMING B550M-PLUS (WI-FI), which were ~£120 delivered, they are rock solid for the money and packed full of features including the PCI-E 4.0 if you need it. Have a look around see what you can find, some good offers finally popping up with B550.

 

[IS7Doji]

Thanks to you lovely people I have now got most the parts sitting on my desk.

I shall be getting the 3080 for his build failing stock issues the 3070 hopefully.

The psu is the last part to decide as the difference was £10 for an 850w I'm stuck between the corsair or superflower. The corsair has 10 years warranty over 7 for sunflower but in the back of my mind I feel the superflower is a better psu. There are the same price.

 

[mickyflinn]

I think you may be right about the super flower psu but apart from the 3 year extra warranty
corsair also have an advanced returns service, which hopefully you won't need.

 

[heatonpkmassive]

Stick with the Corsair, 10 year warranty is worth having.