Looking for some help building a Gaming PC

ndelaespadandelaespada Hosting ProviderOG

Alright, so my younger son will turn 16 next month and I'd like to give him a gaming PC, the idea is to build it with him, figure he'll enjoy the time spent on it as much as I will; anyways, what can you guys recommend in terms of specs? I don't wanna go crazy and buy the latest most expensive hw as that would be unnecessary but I certainly want to buy something that will work great and that will last some time.
I'm 39 and don't game at all... last time I played a game on a PC was age of empires back in the late 90s, may be some need for speed, etc; I understand server HW but I don't want to think of me building a server here, so your help is greatly appreciated; we're obviously talking Ryzen but I'm not sure of what CPU/Mobo/etc to go for. Been looking at the Ryzen 5 3600X, thoughts?

Thanks!

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  • What is your budget? And what kind of games do you think he will want to be able to play?

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  • ndelaespadandelaespada Hosting ProviderOG
    edited July 2020

    I don't have a budget in mind (yet), I guess I'll know as I see what is considered a decent gaming config nowadays.
    He currently spends a lot of time (more than I prefer) playing Fortnite, CoD Warzone, GTA 5, Brawlhalla, ... just to list some of those I've seen him play.

    He currently uses an older i7 PC with SSD, not much RAM (I think it only has 8GB) and surely a really slow video card; he lately started complaining about it being slow for the newer games, etc.

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  • Does he have a monitor already/do you plan on getting a monitor? If he is just using a standard 1080P 60hz monitor with no plans to upgrade, then that pretty much limits you to a cheaper build since the monitor would be the bottleneck.

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  • ndelaespadandelaespada Hosting ProviderOG

    I'd be getting him a new monitor too.

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  • A fresh build with a fresh monitor should actually be built around the monitor believe it or not. Since that drives a lot of the other choices. If you were going with a 144hz 1080P monitor I would be giving you a much different recommendation than if you were going with a 240hz 1440P monitor for example.

    What would the general budget range be with a monitor? $1,000? $1,500?

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  • ndelaespadandelaespada Hosting ProviderOG

    interesting; up to about $1200 would be ok, if we go above that he'll notice it in Christmas.

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  • InceptionHostingInceptionHosting Hosting ProviderOG

    @ndelaespada said:
    I don't have a budget in mind (yet), I guess I'll know as I see what is considered a decent gaming config nowadays.
    He currently spends a lot of time (more than I prefer) playing Fortnite, CoD Warzone, GTA 5, Brawlhalla, ... just to list some of those I've seen him play.

    He currently uses an older i7 PC with SSD, not much RAM (I think it only has 8GB) and surely a really slow video card; he lately started complaining about it being slow for the newer games, etc.

    Honestly I play all those games with no issues on an I5 and a GTX 960, maybe the right thing to do initially would just be to upgrade the ram to 16 or 32GB and put a GTX1070 in there.

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  • edited July 2020

    @ndelaespada said:
    interesting; up to about $1200 would be ok, if we go above that he'll notice it in Christmas.

    How would you feel about using his same monitor now and then building a system that could be easily upgraded if/when he gets a nicer monitor? If that's the case you can do a fresh build that will handle all of those titles at 1080p 60hz for way under $1,200.

    Abby @ bloom.host | Gaming-Grade Virtual Dedicated and Virtual Private Servers | DDoS protection | Ryzen 3950X Dedicated CPU $2.75/GB

  • @AnthonySmith said:

    @ndelaespada said:
    I don't have a budget in mind (yet), I guess I'll know as I see what is considered a decent gaming config nowadays.
    He currently spends a lot of time (more than I prefer) playing Fortnite, CoD Warzone, GTA 5, Brawlhalla, ... just to list some of those I've seen him play.

    He currently uses an older i7 PC with SSD, not much RAM (I think it only has 8GB) and surely a really slow video card; he lately started complaining about it being slow for the newer games, etc.

    Honestly I play all those games with no issues on an I5 and a GTX 960, maybe the right thing to do initially would just be to upgrade the ram to 16 or 32GB and put a GTX1070 in there.

    I would agree except it sounds like he wants to do a full build with his son. Which is an awesome idea. I wish my dad did that with me!

    Abby @ bloom.host | Gaming-Grade Virtual Dedicated and Virtual Private Servers | DDoS protection | Ryzen 3950X Dedicated CPU $2.75/GB

  • InceptionHostingInceptionHosting Hosting ProviderOG

    @BloomVPS said:

    @AnthonySmith said:

    @ndelaespada said:
    I don't have a budget in mind (yet), I guess I'll know as I see what is considered a decent gaming config nowadays.
    He currently spends a lot of time (more than I prefer) playing Fortnite, CoD Warzone, GTA 5, Brawlhalla, ... just to list some of those I've seen him play.

    He currently uses an older i7 PC with SSD, not much RAM (I think it only has 8GB) and surely a really slow video card; he lately started complaining about it being slow for the newer games, etc.

    Honestly I play all those games with no issues on an I5 and a GTX 960, maybe the right thing to do initially would just be to upgrade the ram to 16 or 32GB and put a GTX1070 in there.

    I would agree except it sounds like he wants to do a full build with his son. Which is an awesome idea. I wish my dad did that with me!

    Ah fair enough.

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  • Yeah it's such a fun experience. I am sure he will be stoked. I built my first computer when I was 14 and since then have probably built 3 or 4 dozen more and I still enjoy every part of it.

    Abby @ bloom.host | Gaming-Grade Virtual Dedicated and Virtual Private Servers | DDoS protection | Ryzen 3950X Dedicated CPU $2.75/GB

  • You should consider the Zen 2 CPUs (i.e. Ryzen 3xxxXT and Ryzen 4xxx CPUs) - their performance per dollar is much higher than that of Intel's CPUs...

    For reference, I picked up a laptop with a Ryzen 4500U CPU for $600. The 4500U beats the i7-10750H, a CPU typically found in $1000+ laptops (not to mention the integrated graphics can even beat a Geforce MX330 by a wide margin!)

  • YmpkerYmpker OGContent Writer
    edited July 2020

    If there's anything I'd think is important if you know not much about building gaming rigs is the following: You can save on CPU and invest on GPU. Most Ryzen 5 CPUs (think 1600X, 3600..) should be good enough for the next generations to come. Many games still make use of only one core. So going with an affordable Ryzen 5 1600, or a similar affordable one of the Ryzen 5 line and getting a more expensive but highly performant GPU will make a big difference imho :)

    Just some side note, please don't take it as any criticism (you are free to do what you want, afterall):

    I am always surprised when people talk about building/buying an entry-level gaming pc and then talk about 1200$+ ish.

    My old gaming pc did cost me like 1300€ and it was an i5 4670 with a GTX 780 Ti and 16GB of RAM. While it's certainly not been a high-end gaming pc I was able to play every single gam I wanted to play at high specs to date for the past 8 years in a row.

    2 Weeks ago I got a new gaming pc and decided to this time spent less, seeing how long the old one lasted me. Paid some 800€ish this time and got myself a Ryzen 5 3600X, 16GB DDR4 RAM and a GTX 1060 Super 6GB. Could I have thrown 2000€ at it? Yes, certainly. Did I want to? No, not really. It'll serve me well for the next years to come like the old pc which was still doing good. The gf bought one for 500€ with a Ryzen 5 1600X and a RX 570 8GB XFX Radeon Card and 8GB RAM. For her, AC Odyssey works with the highest specs without any lag. She'll probably be able to play any old or new game to come for the next years without worrying much, too. Maybe upgrade the RAM to 16GB. My PC for 800€ has even better specs and it'll be even more feature proof, probably. That being said I am playing on 1920x1080p 144hz and don't see reason to upgrade from that any time soon. I've been given some higher resolution a try on friends PC's. Didn't feel like I needed that. Regardless, I am not telling you to not pay those 1200$ for an "entry-level" gaming rig, but I'd at least invite you to consider going cheaper and perhaps buy your younger son something else on top he'll enjoy, or otherwhise invest in his future. There's so many things he might benefit from. Even if you'd just save it for when he turns 18 or 21 (depending on where you come from). The games you mentioned, he'll be able to play them both without issues on both the 500€ PC the gf uses or my rig. Give it a thought ;)

  • UnixfyUnixfy OG
    edited July 2020

    @Ympker said: I am always surprised when people talk about building/buying an entry-level gaming pc and then talk about 1200$+ ish.

    Definitely agree. I've been gaming on my $300 laptop (i5-5200U and Geforce 940M) from 5 years ago, works fine :joy:

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  • @Unixfy said:
    You should consider the Zen 2 CPUs (i.e. Ryzen 3xxxXT and Ryzen 4xxx CPUs) - their performance per dollar is much higher than that of Intel's CPUs...

    For reference, I picked up a laptop with a Ryzen 4500U CPU for $600. The 4500U beats the i7-10750H, a CPU typically found in $1000+ laptops (not to mention the integrated graphics can even beat a Geforce MX330 by a wide margin!)

    Agreed on the Ryzens, although the XTs are not worth the price increase. 3600X is like the gold standard of a budget CPU. Also the desktop Ryzen 4000 series is actually Zen 3 but won't be arriving until this fall at the earliest.

    Abby @ bloom.host | Gaming-Grade Virtual Dedicated and Virtual Private Servers | DDoS protection | Ryzen 3950X Dedicated CPU $2.75/GB

  • @BloomVPS said: Also the desktop Ryzen 4000 series is actually Zen 3

    Oh yeah, you are right. My bad. AMD needs to work on their numbering system.

  • YmpkerYmpker OGContent Writer
    edited July 2020

    @Unixfy said:

    @Ympker said: I am always surprised when people talk about building/buying an entry-level gaming pc and then talk about 1200$+ ish.

    Definitely agree. I've been gaming on my $300 laptop (i5-5200U and Geforce 940M) from 5 years ago, works fine :joy:

    Until 2 months ago the gf was gaming on my 12 year old AMD FX 4100 and Radeon 6700 HD GPU. She was able to run most games she wanted to (ofc not high settings) without an issue. It's crazy how in local tech store magazines they promote "entry level gaming pc's" starting from 700€ and "entry laptops" starting from some 1000€.

    You want an entry gaming rig to get into gaming? Give me 400-500€ and I'll get you one that let's you play:

    GTA V, Skyrim, CS:GO, Need for Speed, Fifa, COD, Battlefield, LoL, Valorant, Civilization, Anno, Age of Empires 2, Oblivion, Tomb Rider, Shadows of Mordor War in the North, Final Fantasy X, FF:ARR, TERA, Blade and Soul, WoW, you name it.
    My steam library ranges about 300 (mostly well-known titles). There's not a single one the 500€ Rig from the gf couldn't run in high specs without issues.

    You don't need a 800€ rig for gaming. You definitely don't, to play these games at mid or even high graphics (still looking good).
    Are all these games not "gaming"? What is "gaming", I wonder every time when I read these magazines or commercial papers.
    Personally, I'd consider 800€ RIGs even "higher end" for gaming.

  • InceptionHostingInceptionHosting Hosting ProviderOG

    @Ympker said: Give me 400-500€ and I'll get you one that let's you play:

    Yeah and if you don't want brand new cases etc give me around half that to spend €100 on a used Dell and €150 on a GPU and €50 on some extra ram, same result :)

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  • YmpkerYmpker OGContent Writer
    edited July 2020

    @AnthonySmith said:

    @Ympker said: Give me 400-500€ and I'll get you one that let's you play:

    Yeah and if you don't want brand new cases etc give me around half that to spend €100 on a used Dell and €150 on a GPU and €50 on some extra ram, same result :)

    Exactly. I feel like ppl just like throwing money to define who has the better gaming pc. But isn't the better gaming pc the one that cost less to still achieve favourable results, I wonder ? :)
    There's so many other great things you can spend your money on. And I am saying this as a gamer (gaming since I was 10 y/o). I game several hours per week and would consider myself an active gamer. Still, I wouldn't spend that much on a gaming rig. Hell, buy games with the extra money, if you will. A gaming chair, some merchandise whatever. But don't burn it on the PC :P

  • @Ympker said:

    @Unixfy said:

    @Ympker said: I am always surprised when people talk about building/buying an entry-level gaming pc and then talk about 1200$+ ish.

    Definitely agree. I've been gaming on my $300 laptop (i5-5200U and Geforce 940M) from 5 years ago, works fine :joy:

    Until 2 months ago the gf was gaming on my 12 year old AMD FX 4100 and Radeon 6700 HD GPU. She was able to run most games she wanted to (ofc not high settings) without an issue. It's crazy how in local tech store magazines they promote "entry level gaming pc's" starting from 700€ and "entry laptops" starting from some 1000€.

    You want an entry gaming rig to get into gaming? Give me 400-500€ and I'll get you one that let's you play:

    GTA V, Skyrim, CS:GO, Need for Speed, Fifa, COD, Battlefield, LoL, Valorant, Civilization, Anno, Age of Empires 2, Oblivion, Tomb Rider, Shadows of Mordor War in the North, Final Fantasy X, FF:ARR, TERA, Blade and Soul, WoW, you name it.
    My steam library ranges about 300 (mostly well-known titles). There's not a single one the 500€ Rig from the gf couldn't run in high specs without issues.

    You don't need a 800€ rig for gaming. You definitely don't, to play these games at mid or even high graphics (still looking good).
    Are all these games not "gaming"? What is "gaming", I wonder every time when I read these magazines or commercial papers.
    Personally, I'd consider 800€ RIGs even "higher end" for gaming.

    I agree with what you are saying with the caveat that it only really applies to 1080P 60hz. If you are gaming at higher resolutions and higher refresh rates you definitely need to step-up from the budget tier.

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  • edited July 2020

    @Ympker said:

    @AnthonySmith said:

    @Ympker said: Give me 400-500€ and I'll get you one that let's you play:

    Yeah and if you don't want brand new cases etc give me around half that to spend €100 on a used Dell and €150 on a GPU and €50 on some extra ram, same result :)

    Exactly. I feel like ppl just like throwing money to define who has the better gaming pc. But isn't the better gaming pc the one that cost less to still achieve favourable results, I wonder ? :)
    There's so many other great things you can spend your money on. And I am saying this as a gamer (gaming since I was 10 y/o). I game several hours per week and would consider myself an active gamer. Still, I wouldn't spend that much on a gaming rig. Hell, buy games with the extra money, if you will. A gaming chair, some merchandise whatever. But don't burn it on the PC :P

    Favourable results is relative though. I have a 49" super ultra-wide monitor at 5120x1440 and 120Hz. Even my 2080 Ti struggles to reach 60FPS on a lot of titles at that resolution.

    DLSS2.0 is a game changer though and is helping a lot to improve framerates at super high resolutions.

    Abby @ bloom.host | Gaming-Grade Virtual Dedicated and Virtual Private Servers | DDoS protection | Ryzen 3950X Dedicated CPU $2.75/GB

  • ndelaespadandelaespada Hosting ProviderOG

    @BloomVPS said:

    @AnthonySmith said:

    @ndelaespada said:
    I don't have a budget in mind (yet), I guess I'll know as I see what is considered a decent gaming config nowadays.
    He currently spends a lot of time (more than I prefer) playing Fortnite, CoD Warzone, GTA 5, Brawlhalla, ... just to list some of those I've seen him play.

    He currently uses an older i7 PC with SSD, not much RAM (I think it only has 8GB) and surely a really slow video card; he lately started complaining about it being slow for the newer games, etc.

    Honestly I play all those games with no issues on an I5 and a GTX 960, maybe the right thing to do initially would just be to upgrade the ram to 16 or 32GB and put a GTX1070 in there.

    I would agree except it sounds like he wants to do a full build with his son. Which is an awesome idea. I wish my dad did that with me!

    Yeah, one of the goals is to spend the time with him

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  • @ndelaespada is

    @BloomVPS said: 1080P 60hz

    Okay with you?

    Which gen ?

  • ndelaespadandelaespada Hosting ProviderOG

    @Ympker said:
    If there's anything I'd think is important if you know not much about building gaming rigs is the following: You can save on CPU and invest on GPU. Most Ryzen 5 CPUs (think 1600X, 3600..) should be good enough for the next generations to come. Many games still make use of only one core. So going with an affordable Ryzen 5 1600, or a similar affordable one of the Ryzen 5 line and getting a more expensive but highly performant GPU will make a big difference imho :)

    Just some side note, please don't take it as any criticism (you are free to do what you want, afterall):

    I am always surprised when people talk about building/buying an entry-level gaming pc and then talk about 1200$+ ish.

    My old gaming pc did cost me like 1300€ and it was an i5 4670 with a GTX 780 Ti and 16GB of RAM. While it's certainly not been a high-end gaming pc I was able to play every single gam I wanted to play at high specs to date for the past 8 years in a row.

    2 Weeks ago I got a new gaming pc and decided to this time spent less, seeing how long the old one lasted me. Paid some 800€ish this time and got myself a Ryzen 5 3600X, 16GB DDR4 RAM and a GTX 1060 Super 6GB. Could I have thrown 2000€ at it? Yes, certainly. Did I want to? No, not really. It'll serve me well for the next years to come like the old pc which was still doing good. The gf bought one for 500€ with a Ryzen 5 1600X and a RX 570 8GB XFX Radeon Card and 8GB RAM. For her, AC Odyssey works with the highest specs without any lag. She'll probably be able to play any old or new game to come for the next years without worrying much, too. Maybe upgrade the RAM to 16GB. My PC for 800€ has even better specs and it'll be even more feature proof, probably. That being said I am playing on 1920x1080p 144hz and don't see reason to upgrade from that any time soon. I've been given some higher resolution a try on friends PC's. Didn't feel like I needed that. Regardless, I am not telling you to not pay those 1200$ for an "entry-level" gaming rig, but I'd at least invite you to consider going cheaper and perhaps buy your younger son something else on top he'll enjoy, or otherwhise invest in his future. There's so many things he might benefit from. Even if you'd just save it for when he turns 18 or 21 (depending on where you come from). The games you mentioned, he'll be able to play them both without issues on both the 500€ PC the gf uses or my rig. Give it a thought ;)

    Oh believe me, if I can spend less I'm all up for it! I certainly don't want to throw money away if I can get good specs for less.

    Thanks!

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  • YmpkerYmpker OGContent Writer

    @BloomVPS said:

    @Ympker said:

    @AnthonySmith said:

    @Ympker said: Give me 400-500€ and I'll get you one that let's you play:

    Yeah and if you don't want brand new cases etc give me around half that to spend €100 on a used Dell and €150 on a GPU and €50 on some extra ram, same result :)

    Exactly. I feel like ppl just like throwing money to define who has the better gaming pc. But isn't the better gaming pc the one that cost less to still achieve favourable results, I wonder ? :)
    There's so many other great things you can spend your money on. And I am saying this as a gamer (gaming since I was 10 y/o). I game several hours per week and would consider myself an active gamer. Still, I wouldn't spend that much on a gaming rig. Hell, buy games with the extra money, if you will. A gaming chair, some merchandise whatever. But don't burn it on the PC :P

    Favourable results is relative though. I have a 49" super ultra-wide monitor at 5120x1440 and 120Hz. Even my 2080 Ti struggles to reach 60FPS on a lot of titles at that resolution.

    DLSS2.0 is a game changer though and is helping a lot to improve framerates at super high resolutions.

    Fair enough. That's why I said 1920x1080p is what I game at and it's enough for me. For me, personally super ultra-wide 5120" 1440 and 120Hz and 2080Ti just scream "money burn" without too much gain for the price hike you'd have to take but I won't deny it's looking better. Just not worth it for me. It's a bit like with VPN: if Keepsolid LTD for 40$ can achieve 99% of what I want for a fraction of the price of monthly/annual NordVPN/ExpressVPN etc subs, I'll happily settle for less. Same with gaming gear. Back in time I'd have full Roccat gaming gear. I found after a while that I don't need a 70€ gaming mouse. A 10-20€ one from Amazon/Aliexpress did just fine. Headset I used to have one for 100€+, settled on 60-70€ headsets now. Keyboard I still pay good for my Razer.

  • ndelaespadandelaespada Hosting ProviderOG

    @Rahul said:
    @ndelaespada is

    @BloomVPS said: 1080P 60hz

    Okay with you?

    Which gen ?

    I believe it's an old i7-3770; as for the monitor, I think 144hz should be more than enough.

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  • @Ympker said:

    @BloomVPS said:

    @Ympker said:

    @AnthonySmith said:

    @Ympker said: Give me 400-500€ and I'll get you one that let's you play:

    Yeah and if you don't want brand new cases etc give me around half that to spend €100 on a used Dell and €150 on a GPU and €50 on some extra ram, same result :)

    Exactly. I feel like ppl just like throwing money to define who has the better gaming pc. But isn't the better gaming pc the one that cost less to still achieve favourable results, I wonder ? :)
    There's so many other great things you can spend your money on. And I am saying this as a gamer (gaming since I was 10 y/o). I game several hours per week and would consider myself an active gamer. Still, I wouldn't spend that much on a gaming rig. Hell, buy games with the extra money, if you will. A gaming chair, some merchandise whatever. But don't burn it on the PC :P

    Favourable results is relative though. I have a 49" super ultra-wide monitor at 5120x1440 and 120Hz. Even my 2080 Ti struggles to reach 60FPS on a lot of titles at that resolution.

    DLSS2.0 is a game changer though and is helping a lot to improve framerates at super high resolutions.

    Fair enough. That's why I said 1920x1080p is what I game at and it's enough for me. For me, personally super ultra-wide 5120" 1440 and 120Hz and 2080Ti just scream "money burn" without too much gain for the price hike you'd have to take but I won't deny it's looking better. Just not worth it for me. It's a bit like with VPN: if Keepsolid LTD for 40$ can achieve 99% of what I want for a fraction of the price of monthly/annual NordVPN/ExpressVPN etc subs, I'll happily settle for less. Same with gaming gear. Back in time I'd have full Roccat gaming gear. I found after a while that I don't need a 70€ gaming mouse. A 10-20€ one from Amazon/Aliexpress did just fine. Headset I used to have one for 100€+, settled on 60-70€ headsets now. Keyboard I still pay good for my Razer.

    Yeah computers and gaming is a passion so I definitely enjoy and appreciate the higher-end stuff. I will say there is a massive difference in experience gaming on an ultra-wide at high refresh. I could never go back :D

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  • @ndelaespada said:

    @Rahul said:
    @ndelaespada is

    @BloomVPS said: 1080P 60hz

    Okay with you?

    Which gen ?

    I believe it's an old i7-3770; as for the monitor, I think 144hz should be more than enough.

    A 1080P 144hz monitor plus the hardware that will be able to push that refresh rate (or close) should be able to fall under your $1,200 budget. I will put put together a PCPartsPicker build list this afternoon.

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  • YmpkerYmpker OGContent Writer
    edited July 2020

    @ndelaespada said:

    @Ympker said:
    If there's anything I'd think is important if you know not much about building gaming rigs is the following: You can save on CPU and invest on GPU. Most Ryzen 5 CPUs (think 1600X, 3600..) should be good enough for the next generations to come. Many games still make use of only one core. So going with an affordable Ryzen 5 1600, or a similar affordable one of the Ryzen 5 line and getting a more expensive but highly performant GPU will make a big difference imho :)

    Just some side note, please don't take it as any criticism (you are free to do what you want, afterall):

    I am always surprised when people talk about building/buying an entry-level gaming pc and then talk about 1200$+ ish.

    My old gaming pc did cost me like 1300€ and it was an i5 4670 with a GTX 780 Ti and 16GB of RAM. While it's certainly not been a high-end gaming pc I was able to play every single gam I wanted to play at high specs to date for the past 8 years in a row.

    2 Weeks ago I got a new gaming pc and decided to this time spent less, seeing how long the old one lasted me. Paid some 800€ish this time and got myself a Ryzen 5 3600X, 16GB DDR4 RAM and a GTX 1060 Super 6GB. Could I have thrown 2000€ at it? Yes, certainly. Did I want to? No, not really. It'll serve me well for the next years to come like the old pc which was still doing good. The gf bought one for 500€ with a Ryzen 5 1600X and a RX 570 8GB XFX Radeon Card and 8GB RAM. For her, AC Odyssey works with the highest specs without any lag. She'll probably be able to play any old or new game to come for the next years without worrying much, too. Maybe upgrade the RAM to 16GB. My PC for 800€ has even better specs and it'll be even more feature proof, probably. That being said I am playing on 1920x1080p 144hz and don't see reason to upgrade from that any time soon. I've been given some higher resolution a try on friends PC's. Didn't feel like I needed that. Regardless, I am not telling you to not pay those 1200$ for an "entry-level" gaming rig, but I'd at least invite you to consider going cheaper and perhaps buy your younger son something else on top he'll enjoy, or otherwhise invest in his future. There's so many things he might benefit from. Even if you'd just save it for when he turns 18 or 21 (depending on where you come from). The games you mentioned, he'll be able to play them both without issues on both the 500€ PC the gf uses or my rig. Give it a thought ;)

    Oh believe me, if I can spend less I'm all up for it! I certainly don't want to throw money away if I can get good specs for less.

    Thanks!

    That's good to hear :) Again, no offense was intended if it came over that way.
    Anyway, CPU is imho were you can really save on.

    You were saying he probably has an i7-3770 now. I'd get a Ryzen 5 1600 or Ryzen 5 1600X (X can be overclocked) which should be a good enough boost while still remaining viable for the future to come. Remember, he is already playing the games you mentioned on the old CPU. Following Benchmarks the Ryzen 5 1600 will almost double the old CPU's benchmark, the 1600X will more than double it:
    https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Intel-i7-3770-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-1600-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-1600X/896vs2984vs3000

    The 1600X has a base clock of 3,6GHz and boost up to 4GHz. The Ryzen 5 1600 has a base clock of 3,2GHz (older CPU had 3,4GHz) but that's good enough, too. Any better processor would be a money-burn you could avoid. Maybe there will 1-2 games that will significantly benefit from a better CPU, but like I said my 300+ Steam games will all run fine on that one.

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    @Ympker said:
    That's good to hear :) Again, no offense was intended if it came over that way.
    Anyway, CPU is imho were you can really save on.

    You were saying he probably has an i7-3770 now. I'd get a Ryzen 5 1600 or Ryzen 5 1600X (X can be overclocked) which should be a good enough boost while still remaining viable for the future to come. Remember, he is already playing the games you mentioned on the old CPU. Following Benchmarks the Ryzen 5 1600 will almost double the old CPU's benchmark, the 1600X will more than double it:
    https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Intel-i7-3770-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-1600-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-1600X/896vs2984vs3000

    None taken, I really appreciate the input :)

    I'll take a look at your suggestion on the CPU front.
    Thanks!

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