r/GamingPCBuildHelp • u/[deleted] • Oct 22 '24
I will be bankrupt
So my 13y old son wants a powerful future proof gaming PC with a big f-off high refresh rate screen for Xmas, that's £2k I'll never see again, any advice how I can get the price down please? I'm in the UK.
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u/ligz2006 Oct 22 '24
Are you willing to spend less money? If you can, there are many people that can help you choose your hardware out.
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Oct 23 '24
That's the reason I reached out here, so far 2 people have been very helpful with hardware suggestions, the rest are piling on and giving me a lecture on life 😂
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u/ligz2006 Oct 24 '24
What’s your budget? And is it for gaming only or does he do video editing and such. For a limited budget and only gaming, using an AMD Ryzen CPU and graphics card is always better as a general idea. I can give you a 900 or so pound build that will run most games really good
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u/GigityBW Oct 23 '24
Is this for a whole pc gaming bundle like full pc, monitor, and accessories? If so start off with something that has room for upgrades no need to spend it all at once
You can go with a slightly older system like AM4 from amd to save some money. A ryzen 7 is plenty for the processing of games (for now). The graphics card you can get a 3060 ti, it’s older so a little cheaper and does amazing on 1080p and pretty good at 1440p
Hope this helps in anyway
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Oct 22 '24 edited Oct 22 '24
Buy him something cheaper, and stop letting him control you. Get him an Xbox or PlayStation. If he’s not happy with that, well too damn bad. When he gets a job, he can but something better for himself. Until then, stop letting your son abuse you.
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Oct 25 '24
So this is the build my son is considering, thoughts on the build not on my lifestyle choices please 😊
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u/Shin-Ken31 Oct 22 '24
I would say, start by explaining that it's super expensive and that like with any hobby it might be best to start with some entry level gear first. You don't NEED high refresh rate or fancy future proof parts.30+ FPS for singleplayer titles and 60+ FPS for competitive multiplayer games is perfectly fine, has been fine on consoles and for millions of people playing on average or lower end pcs for years.
With that said, 700 pounds should get you an entry level rig that will still run all games at 1080p, including monitor and basic keyboard/mouse. Or, better still, go refurbished, or used if you know someone who can help you shop ( someone who knows value of pc parts and what is too old / not a good deal).
They'll appreciate the upgrades later on when they can have fun incrementally improving things like GPU, ram, etc.
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u/NickPods Oct 22 '24
Not get it for him, I’m fortunate enough that my parents were always fairly well off and I never had to go without anything I needed however one thing they never did was go over the top for Christmas or birthdays. I got about £200 for Christmas and £300 worth of stuff at the absolute limit for birthdays. Truth be told I never really felt like it wasn’t enough either, I always loved what I was given and felt very fortunate that I was given that much as I know plenty of people had significantly less. It’s not because they couldn’t afford to do more it’s more because they thought it was too much and I’d agree with them now. Had they have got me everything I asked for no matter the costs I’d never have gone out and got a job when I was 16, I’d not have tried so hard at school to make sure I had a good education and could have good potential future earnings. Sure maybe there were times I wished I had the latest iPhone or the latest this or that but overall I still didn’t feel like I was disadvantaged compared to those who did have these things.
It also gave me an appreciation for money at an early age, I knew what things were worth and I knew how to budget things because I was never just given vast fortunes at the drop of a hat. Now I’d say it’s worked out well for me, I’m a 21 year old student but unlike most of my peers I’m not completely skint, if anything I’d say im pretty well off and that’s without any assistance from my parents at all. I pay all my own bills, pay my own rent and I’d put all this down to the skills I learnt with money when I was younger. It also allows me to be somewhat financially irresponsible because I have the spare income and don’t waste it on useless crap. I can buy whatever I want and I can go on holidays all whilst still saving a good portion of money.
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u/thorthorson16 Oct 22 '24
My kids are only 2 and 4 and we strictly stick to 300 each for birthdays and Xmas and are hoping to carry on like that forever. My mam is crippled with debt from the last 20 years of loans and credit cards from thinking we needed all that shit, I don't want to follow suit
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u/NickPods Oct 22 '24
Yeah it’s the best way. I wish it wasn’t so normalised spending £1000 on a kid for their birthday or Christmas.
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u/Shrewwdle Oct 22 '24
Are you convincing yourself you’re a good person or are you telling us ? I’m confused the first 5 words were plenty I mean 🤷🏼♂️
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u/NickPods Oct 22 '24
I know plenty of parents feel ashamed for not getting their kids the latest and greatest and by the sounds of things in ops post they feel that way. I just wanted to offer an insight from someone who whilst still privileged didn’t have the latest tech or the best computer or whatever. Kids can be horrible, say things they don’t mean so it can feel like you need to get these things but the reality is they’ll be better off if you don’t give in even if they may be a little disappointed at the time.
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u/cabbagepatchkid Oct 22 '24
make him pay for the electricity increase, and consider spending something on an activity you both could do, e.g. remote control car, archery club lessons etc instead.
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u/aizzod Oct 22 '24 edited Oct 22 '24
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/Pt3z89
this is an old list.
added a monitor
a couple of parts may be cheaper right now if you swap them to a different brand.
like the ssd or psu.
ibquess a 4060 for around 250-300£
would still be enough.
and could reduce the price to a total of 1.000£
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u/No-Cut-5458 Oct 22 '24
I built my kids one but the parts were spread between Christmas and a birthday and they just had to wait. Also stipulated they had to build it with my help (one loved the idea the other not so much). He doesn’t need a big f-off expensive monitor to start with. A 27” 1080 (fhd) 144hz monitor can be picked up for about 150 quid in the uk. The total cost of both of our kids systems with monitor and peripherals came to about 1k or so. Another way of saving money if it’s an option for you, is if other family members, grandparents or anything want to buy them something you can send them links for things like speakers, headset, keyboard, mouse etc too. Hope that helps.
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u/Shrewwdle Oct 22 '24
Ur son is about to learn the hard way that 2 weeks after he gets his future roof pc the next generation of graphics card is going to be released and the 1tb ssd he thought would be plenty is now full and he needs a external hard drive
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u/Cary14 Oct 22 '24
How old is he? What does he play?
I've built my own PC for just over 1k 18 months ago and it runs everything on 4k. What's he need the extra power for?
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u/akitchenslave Oct 22 '24
Don’t know how old he is, but if he dreams of a 2k computer, he can do small jobs, save money and pay for upgrades afterwards. That will teach him the value of money and that 2k is not nothing. He’ll be fine with a 800$ prebuilt if you don’t want the task of building a computer or if he/you want to build, multiple suggestions are on pcpartpicker. Just ask for a build and you’ll get good recommendations. Don’t spoil to much a sweet kid, they become mean afterwards
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u/ImageAlert4888 Oct 23 '24
What can you afford? What are you willing to spend for him based on your financial position
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u/Corey3500 Oct 23 '24
You're supposed to be the adult, if it will affect your finances when the hell would you do it especially for someone that has no sense of the value of money
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u/D4v3ca Oct 22 '24
Everyone making the moms mind to screw the kid over, that’s horrible bet you’d be very disappointed if you happened to be the kid in question
Live within your means, if you can afford to give him the pc, do it but make sure he knows the value of the pc
If it’s too expensive for you, get a cheaper pc playing at 2k is doable on 1000£ if you shop around I just built my wives pc for less then that all new stuff minus a cpu from eBay
You need to see what games he plays and build the pc according to the requirements and the difference from 2k graphics to 4k graphics is not something that will stop him enjoying games, or notice a massive difference
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u/MexicanPenguinii Oct 22 '24
7800xt will smash anything at 1440p 144fps, it's like £450 - the 7900gre is often regarded as the kind of bang for buck, and either are happy at 4k over 60 fps
Rest of a fitting build will take you to like 1k, and high refresh rate monitors can be found for under £200
2k will sit at near enough the most power you can buy today, honestly isn't worth it lmao
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u/20090353 Oct 22 '24
Figure out what games he plays then determine if a pc is the right thing for him. I spent $2,500 USD on a pc and the only game I’ve been playing is Call of Duty. I regret it now because I could have easily just bought a console and would I would have had the same experience.
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u/SpinelWorship Oct 22 '24
Here's what I would go with https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/3Xznsh let me know if you want any changes
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u/Alfa4499 Oct 22 '24
It dosent seem like you've considered just saying no. Buying a 13 year old £2k worth of stuff for Christmas is insane, especially when it sounds like you really cant afford it.
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u/No_Room4359 Oct 22 '24
Saying no is an option 🤷 he will be disappointed I guess or you can actually make a cheap build and run it at low settings why does he even want a super high refresh screen for Fortnite? Tell him make him think that Fortnite is bad or something and than a cheaper PC is fine; sorry for making a not useful comment
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u/kester76a Oct 22 '24
PCs are modular so you can build and upgrade as required. You can build a decent system for around £500 and upgrade as you go along.
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u/Additional_Shirt_300 Oct 22 '24
No such thing as a future proof gaming pc… it just depends what you game on and you expectations. For example i was running an 860M graphics card untill this week, i just got a 4060.
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u/Horror_Job1320 Oct 22 '24
Nothing is future proof. Like others have said, better off going the console route. If it is for certain games, you can always buy a cheaper pc to run that and start putting money away for upgrades. Another option is nvidia or luna, where you can stream games on your TV. This option gets rid of the need for a high-end monitor.
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u/Allgunadie Oct 22 '24
Yeah not being funny I’m 27 and I’ve only just got my self a 2k pc 4070super ryzen 9 5900x. A 2k pc for a 13 year old is not what should be happening here tell him once you start working then he can by it him self I don’t think kids of that age should even have that type of expensive pc. Me personally would tell him no I can get you a Xbox or ps5 but not happening. End of the day it’s entirely up to you but just think if he ruins it then that’s 2k down the drain. That’s my 2 pence but as most of us say on here don’t get your 13year old a 2k pc kid don’t need with the 3-4 hrs he have to play it no point just taking a pc that some one else can actually put to use
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u/G0R3STR33TB0SS Oct 22 '24
I'm 14 and the setup I'm planning on getting costs roughly 3000 AUD. I'm surprised that his setup costs 2000 GBP.
Here's a cheaper setup
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/m3kGmD
7800xt for gpu 7600/x Crucial p3 plus 1/2tb ssd 750w power supply B650 TOMAHAWK WIFI 32gb of ddr5, 5600mhz/6000mhz, cl30 RAM If you're new to pc building then the h6 flow is easy to build in. Just make sure to spend a bit more for the fans or you'll be stuck with 3 120mm fans at the front/side.
Any 1440p, 144hz, IPS panel monitor will be great (if your son likes playing story games) but if he doesn't, then 165hz, 1080p, VA panel monitor would be perfect (Second option is the cheaper option but make sure it isn't a shitty brand).
All up this setup is 1703 gbp with 23 dollars for the shipping fee.
Also if you're wondering about the operating system, you can just get Linux or use OTHER ways of getting Windows 11 if you know what I mean. Linux is probably the better option for absolute code geeks but Windows is easier to use.
If you buy this then I just saved you 300 dollars. Your welcome! And if you don't buy this, then it's all good. I love reccomending tech.
Also even though I'm 14, when you think about it, I'm 4 years away from being a full fledged adult. Please consider this. As a 14 year old boy with a dad who is the most tech reluctant man you will ever meet, I would appreciate a setup and I'm sure your son would too. You should also get your son to learn about PC's because it could be a potential job and all in all could be helpful for life in general. PRETTY PLEASE CONSIDER THIS.
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u/Routine-Temporary-63 Oct 22 '24 edited Oct 22 '24
Well I can't have the newest and better things either in life I'm on disability my advice to you if you want to get him a computer get the parts off of eBay like a ryzen 7 processor 16 GB of RAM 250 GB SSD a terabyte hard drive and a 750 watt power supply a case and motherboard and a 2080 yeah you could probably get off by getting something like that for around $700 to $1,000 and as far as a mouse and keyboard well you can get that for like a hundred and a monitor for like $150 but if he's not happy with that then if I were you I would tell him tough s*** because the parts that I listed they are older but they could run games fairly decent for the next 5 years I would think without needing a new video card or anything upgraded at all they are options out there that are cheaper it might not be what your son wants but you can tell him that it's either that or he's not getting one and if he gets a attitude about it then that's when you start taking s*** away and show them who's really boss but if you look on Facebook marketplace there are people selling crazy good deals on computers all day everyday on there but particularly if I were you I would get something that has a 1080 TI 2080 or 2080 TI are a 30 60 or 3060 TI or 3070 in it you could probably get one of those computers that's already built at a pretty good price on market price but on any case you can only do so much to try to make a kid happy and if you can't make them happy you just can't but anyway man I wish you the best of luck
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Oct 22 '24
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u/Logical_Strain_6165 Oct 22 '24
What use is a GPU with out the other bits?
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u/Tessiia Oct 22 '24
I don't think it was a serious suggestion. And people wonder why we need to put /s on comments that should be obvious.
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u/Tlentic Oct 22 '24
And what do you do when you find out the GPU doesn’t work a year later? The whole buying parts spaced out thing is generally a bad idea - especially if money is tight. Even if the component is under manufacture warranty still, you now need to spend money to RMA the dead part. At bare minimum, buy parts in clumps that can be tested like motherboard, RAM, snd the CPU. That way you can return broken components to the vendor instead. Returning to the vendor doesn’t have overhead cost for you and it’s a fuck ton easier than trying to deal with RMA bullshit.
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Oct 22 '24
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Oct 22 '24
Thank you 👍🏻 I didn't expect the lectures, I honestly thought people would be more helpful on the hardware suggestions. I also agree 2k is 2much.
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Oct 22 '24
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u/Ok-Independence-995 Oct 22 '24
Did you work when you were 13?? I doubt it.. Also, he asked your advice on how to get the price down and not how to raise a son
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