My soon to be 11 yo wants a computer for gaming but probably other stuff - videos, occasional coding…. All I care about is price lol. So idk anything about setups, specs, etc and am just attracted to price. So I see something like this: https://a.co/d/7tgA4UV Can someone recommend to me a whole setup that isn’t crazy expensive be it the above or something else that he’d actually be able to use and not have it struggle ???? thank you
If you don't know anything about PCs, I'd probably just go to Microcenter and ask the salespeople there. Tell them your budget and what your son is into. Most of the workers there are enthusiasts and want to set you up with something good rather than the clueless people at Best Buy.
Would you be interested in building one? Its a really fun thing to do and a great way to bond with your son. Its a better value proposition as well. Also, are you in Houston?
That $400 refurb is just going to frustrate him. Buy nice or buy twice. What types of games will he play? AAA titles with intense graphics needs? You’re looking at $2k. If it’s Minecraft and kids games you can get away with far lower specs. Consider that you will never see him again if it’s in his room. Keep it in a family area. Consider a mid-spec gaming laptop. Comes with a monitor and keyboard. The downside is that you can’t upgrade the video card later.
Thanks all for responses so far. Ugh, still seems more difficult than i wanted it to be lol. I am in Austin, not Houston, so no microcenter nearby
It's a 'big' purchase that should last for several years. It should be a well thought-out purchase. I gave my oldest my 'old' 2013 Alienware laptop in 2017 when he was 12. It lasted until last year when the stuff he wanted to play just couldn't hang. We gave him a very beefy gaming PC for his birthday/xmas present. I expect it to last through college. (our 7yo has been using the Alienware to play older games, so it still has legs). Wait until you need to start buying cars for your kids. You will look back at this and laugh.
In that case, still need an idea on your budget. An 11 year old kid doesn't need a graphics card made in the past 3 years, which is gonna be the biggest budget consideration.
You could be incorrect here. You're equating AAA titles to age groups. There are plenty of kids younger than 11 who play graphics-intensive games.
Thanks again all. So Im not super interested in spending $1k all in. He likely won't be playing graphic intensive games to start, but maybe gets there in a few years.... I'm going to shop at Costo, though i'll check out Discount Electronics. If anyone is eager to look at Costco and recommend a setup that'd be so so helpful. I'm not an "idiot" at this stuff, I just have 4 kids, a job, a life etc and don't have the time or ability to do much research.
https://discountelectronics.com/ https://www.costco.com/computers.html If anyone wants to throw out any specific recommendations
There's budget builds out there still and ways to get in cheaper with idea that you can upgrade parts later. Basically you can go all out and spend a lot or over time build/learn more on it/what's needed. It's not as difficult as it used to be w/ putting stuff together/upgrading. The Optiplex you linked is not the one though, if you were to go with an Optiplex you want one that's a full size tower, there's some posters on tech forums that basically turn optiplex systems into somewhat passable gaming systems and with the tower size being too small on that one, it's not worth the effort. Reason being is that you will not be able to get a GPU to fit.
And those games could be played with lower resolutions. I had mid-tier cards until I started my career. A 1660 is perfectly fine for a kid and will be in the $500 range for that system. No need to splurge on a 3000 series card.
Anyone have any comments on either of these? Amazon.com: HP Pavilion Gaming Desktop, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER, Intel Core i3-10100, 8 GB DDR4 RAM, 256 GB PCIe NVMe SSD, Windows 11, USB Mouse and Keyboard, Compact Tower Design (TG01-1022, 2020) : Electronics Amazon.com: iBUYPOWER Pro Gaming PC Computer Desktop SlateMR 2130 (AMD Ryzen 5 4500 3.6 GHz, AMD Radeon RX 550 2 GB, 8 GB DDR4 RAM, 500 GB NVMe SSD, WiFi Ready, Windows 11 Home) : Video Games
If you're in the $700 price range, this one from Costco is a really good setup. https://www.costco.com/hp-victus-ga...0g---radeon-rx-6600xt.product.4000056482.html That'll play AAA games with good resolution for the next 5 years.
PCPartPicker Part List CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700G 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor ($178.61 @ B&H) Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING B550M-PLUS Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($159.99 @ B&H) Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($52.99 @ Amazon) Storage: Silicon Power A55 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($48.49 @ Newegg Sellers) Case: Fractal Design Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.99 @ B&H) Power Supply: EVGA 500 W1 500 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.95 @ Amazon) Total: $555.02 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-12-14 16:11 EST-0500 https://www.target.com/p/hyperx-gaming-bundle-for-pc/-/A-87375061
OP isn't gonna build a PC. He wants an easy plug and play solution. Building a PC, you have to install software and possibly adjust BIOS settings. Add in another $100 for the software license, too. You can find a 24" monitor for $100, an 11 year old kid doesn't need 1440p, 144hz 1ms. There's probably a mouse, keyboard, and headphones lying around the house.
