Kiddo's first Desktop

[bwalker36]

So I have a nzxt case laying around.  He already has peripherals.  I think realistically all I need is a gpu/MB/CPU/Ram.  I have SSDs, like what else is there been a while since I built a full computer lol. 

 

Assuming i'm correct (Pretty sure I am), the most demanding games the kid plays are poppy playtime and fortnite.  He is turns 9 this year, so hes getting close to either turning the leaf to realing games or giving up gaming......So I want to get CPU/GPU combo that won't break the bank but can offer him more in teh futuer if he expands.  He games at 1080p 100hz right now and that probably won't change for a while.  Could I get a decent used combo for 500 USD or so and what would you guys look at? 

 

Or am I better off driving to a costo or microcenter and just grabbing a sub 1k prebuilt and ripping it apart, or leaving it alone to be honest.  Money isn't an issue for what he needs, I just want to save a buck if I can since I really only need 3 components.  But if buying him a more modern complete makes sense I can do that too. 

 

 

Edited March 10 by bwalker36

[Cerberus]

I have my 8 year old on a i7 8700 and a 1050ti LP

 

does fortnite on med/high 1080p 60fps(lows in the 40s)

 

honestly, find a pascal card and a decent cpu.

[Slaughtahouse]

A modern AMD APU would probably trade blows or beat the 1050ti if you have a hard time finding a cheap pascal GPU.

 

I have the 780m iGPU in my laptop and its in between 1050ti to 1060 level performance according to TPU. An 8600g (760m iGPU) would be pretty good long term since its Zen 4 cpu, get access to a modern platform with NVME storage and PCIE 4, and could easily scale in the future if they want to upgrade the GPU in few years.

 

Minecraft / Roblox will also scale a better with a more modern CPU for your kiddo to flex that 100hz

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/radeon-760m.c4022

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/radeon-780m.c4020

 

https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/desktops/ryzen/8000-series/amd-ryzen-5-8600g.html

 

AMD Ryzen 5 8600G AM5 4.3GHz 6-Core Boxed Processor - Wraith Stealth Cooler Included - Micro Center

WWW.MICROCENTER.COM

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Get it now! Incredible PC gaming is within your reach. Get your...

 

It may be more expensive than an older Intel / Pascal build but could be an option to explore if you're struggling to find used hardware. 

 

 

Edited March 10 by Slaughtahouse

[Fluxmaven]

Do you have a decent power supply? I only see a case and peripherals mentioned.

 

As for used hardware recommendations:
Intel: I'd look for a 12600KF or 12700KF. The "F" means no iGPU which tends to lower the price a bit. I wouldn't go any older than this unless you got a crazy deal. 

 

On the AMD side I'd look into Ryzen 5600 or better.  A couple months ago, I'd say order a 5700X3D off Aliexpress, but those shot way up in price unfortunately. 

 

For GPUs, Pascal is holding up amazingly well for how old it is, but I wouldn't go that route unless it was dirt cheap. Quick scan of my local listings and it's all over the place. GTX 1070s range from $40-150. For $40, sure why not... $150 put the crack pipe down lol. 

 

Basically any RTX card would be a good option depending on pricing. I see 4060's for around $200 pretty often which are basically 2080 performance at half the power consumption. The price floor doesn't dip much below that though and a 2060 isn't worth $150. The price ceiling for Nvidia cards is basically the moon. 

Radeon RX 6600-6750XT would be decent team red options. 

 

Another option with Microcenter is going with a CPU/Motherboard/RAM combo instead of a full prebuilt. If I were I were in the same boat, I'd probably spend the majority of the budget on a new CPU combo and toss a cheap used GPU in for now. If he sticks with it, swapping in a new GPU is the simplest upgrade down the road. 

 

 

Edited March 10 by Fluxmaven

[pio]

My 10 year old has a Ryzen 2600x and Vega 64 playing at now 1440p / 165Hz.  Honestly, the games kids his age seem to play, my kiddo probably would've been fine on something like a 3770k + RX 580 8GB (or GTX 1060 6GB).

Yes, you can absolutely put something together cheap.  Look for an older i7 with any board it'll run in, or go for some used Ryzen kit.  Whatever GPU you can find, even something like a RX 480 or a GTX 1050Ti (or higher) is probably fine for graphics.

[Slaughtahouse]

Another GPU to consider is a GTX 1660. Its that weird Turing gen that stripped RT features but has tensor cores to support ML features like DLSS. Once you get into RTX class GPUs, it’s kinda a wash for your need. It really depends on what you can find used. At least in this segment you have a ton of options.

 

Unless you can find a RTX 4060 for $200, that would be stellar. I see a lot 3060 in that price range and they’re within 15% of each other. Likely a lot more ampere cards out there because of the mining boom and crash. Heck you can even find 12gb 3060s fairly cheap.

 

Both GPUs are overkill for these games but at least they have some flexibility in the future.

 

CPUs / board / memory you have a bajillion options from so it will simply come down to how modern you want to go if budget isn’t a concern. 

 

Another good reference for baseline system costs: 

Logical Increments

WWW.LOGICALINCREMENTS.COM

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Helping you build a PC, at any budget.

 

 

[Kaz]

If I were trying to build a good gaming computer for cheap, I'd look at the 2nd hand market.  3060ti or 3060 super 3060 12gb version, and 5800X3D would be my go to choice.  That combo can run any game on the market reasonably well and will be an enjoyable experience.

 

The 5800X3D is somewhat expensive as they are good gaming cpus and hold their value well.  However they have the same socket (AM4), as many other CPU's, and you could easily pick up a different AM4 CPU and change it later if it matters.  5700x's are going for about $115 on ebay.    Ram should be DDR 4 3600 or 3000, with the 3600 being preferred.  16 gigs is probably enough.  Just about any B450 motherboard should work, and they are pretty cheap new. Although you might want to consider if you need/want wifi tied into the motherboard.

 

PSU?  What is your power supply or do you need to buy one?

 

I generally do not buy prebuilts, although I do recommend picking up used computers from the local university, which are essentially prebuilt PC's that are about 5 years old.  University computers are cheap enough that replacing a component or two isn't that bad.

Prebuilt computers tend to cut corners.  PSU is generally not a good one and ram is often slow.  Often times they never bother to set the ram timing in the motherboard settings.  For me, it works out better to just build a computer.

 

 

Edited March 11 by Kaz
added preferance for 12 gb 3060.

[damric]

  On 10/03/2025 at 14:35, bwalker36 said:

So I have a nzxt case laying around.  He already has peripherals.  I think realistically all I need is a gpu/MB/CPU/Ram.  I have SSDs, like what else is there been a while since I built a full computer lol. 

 

Assuming i'm correct (Pretty sure I am), the most demanding games the kid plays are poppy playtime and fortnite.  He is turns 9 this year, so hes getting close to either turning the leaf to realing games or giving up gaming......So I want to get CPU/GPU combo that won't break the bank but can offer him more in teh futuer if he expands.  He games at 1080p 100hz right now and that probably won't change for a while.  Could I get a decent used combo for 500 USD or so and what would you guys look at? 

 

Or am I better off driving to a costo or microcenter and just grabbing a sub 1k prebuilt and ripping it apart, or leaving it alone to be honest.  Money isn't an issue for what he needs, I just want to save a buck if I can since I really only need 3 components.  But if buying him a more modern complete makes sense I can do that too. 

 

 

Expand  

I have a GTX 1060 3GB you can have for cost of shipping (usa hopefully). Might also have some DDR4. P.M. me.

[schuck6566]

You said you had a case, I ran across this combo on amazon earlier tonight and a set of 32GB ram is another 45-50 dollars.Edit: The DDR5 ram is roughly 75-80 dollars. My bad.

Amazon.com

WWW.AMAZON.COM

 

Edited March 13 by schuck6566

[Kaz]

Whoops, just realized that 12600K is listing the gpu as well.

Was going to link this 12700K for $211.32 as an alternative, but it doesn't have a gpu in that pricing.

Edited March 13 by Kaz

[damric]

I have spare RX 6500XT I can let go for $75 shipped as well. Nifty little card that can be OC'd to about 3GHz in the driver while only drawing like 75w.

Edited March 15 by damric

[bwalker36]

Have to apologize, I posted this then life got the better of me lol.  Sorting through stuff now.  I have everything I need except mobo/cpu/ram I have confirmed that.  However right now I'm thinking (since work was nice to me) that I might get a 5090 (in a pre built ) and then between that, my current setup, and my spare parts I can put him together a really nice right with a 3080 that he doesn't need haha.  

 

So the question becomes, who would you order a pre built from.  Technically I really only care about the 5090 and maybe the PSU that comes in it but if I'm gonna do it might as well get a good one he can have the case, I'll steal the other stuff and shove it in my Meshify 2. 

 

I'm also contemplating a 5080, seems like its a good 75% faster then my 3080 10gb.

Edited Tuesday at 15:09 by bwalker36