Hi all.
My son has requested a gaming PC and monitor for his birthday this year and as I am not a gamer would like to confirm if an I5 is enough?
Is prebuilt from scorptec/centrecom better value?
I’ve been told the monitor should be a 1ms response.
I would like a set up that lasts him 2-3 years so he can then build/buy his own.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
He fancies himself as competing down the line.
start with a budget
the PC hardware will be determined by which game and monitor resolution
i assume this is his 1st PC and never played a PC game before , or has he got any preference which game he is going to play ?
He only has Xbox and PS4 at the moment. He has not had pc before.
i5 is fine for gaming although I'd recommend AMD Ryzen as they are better bang for buck.
1ms is bullcrap marketing from manufacturers. The worst display in the world can have 1ms response times with enough pixel overdrive and dodgy measurement methods. You could get Centrecom to build a part list tailored to your son's needs. Also Core i5 does not matter for gaming, it matters as well as the video card. What games does your son aim to play and at what budget? Does it include the monitor?
Yeah would agree. I play on an old ass (not even 1080p) monitor with goodness knows what response time and I've personally used a relatives high end gaming monitor and to be honest, couldn't tell ANY difference (asides from refresh rate).
It's a non-issue… to an extent. I had never seen good response times, so I was quite thrilled when I used my 75hz LG IPS monitor with overdrive off. I had it disabled because it introduced artifacting, but I gave it another crack on a lower intensity and boy o boy I can't go back. Everything is less blurry and smeary. But response times below the refresh window are mostly placebo, I assume my monitor was running with response times above 13.3333ms (75hz refresh window, 1000/75) so it looked smeary. So for 144hz anything under 7ms (well 6.944444) isn't gonna make a difference.
He’s fortnite obsessed. And car racing. I would like to keep budget under $2000
Is Wi-Fi necessary in the system? And are the dimensions of the PC important?
Edit: https://www.centrecom.com.au/buildpc/162327
This is a Micro ATX build so it isn't particularly large, it has white LED fans on the front in case your son's into that stuff. RGB fans are unavailable at Centrecom. I've left budget headroom for a monitor too. A great one would be the AOC 24G2, which is 144hz (since your son plays competitively) and IPS (good viewing angles with less ghosting) for $300. The motherboard isn't very great, but Centrecom don't have anything else with Wi-Fi unless you are able to outsource or don't need it.
Edit 2: I specced out a similar system on Scorptec's site, and it came out $9 cheaper.
Differences:
Wow. Thank you so much. Very helpful.
What do you think of these specs.
Use the MSI Codex 5 i5-9400F/16GB/512GB SSD + 1TB HDD/4GB GTX 1650 Super Gaming Desktop to create a powerful and convenient gaming setup and workstation for your home.
Key Features
Provides a smooth multi-tasking experience with its Core i5-9400F processor and 16GB RAM
Fast file access and plentiful storage via its 512GB SSD and 1TB HDD
Crisp, sharp visuals when playing your favourite games, thanks to its GTX 1650 Super video card
Integrated Windows 10 operating system allows for easy access to the Microsoft Store and a secure software environment through its Windows Defender suite
@LarHon: At what price? A 1650 Super is quite weak, a lot weaker than the chosen 2060 though still moderately capable, the 9400F is going to be crushed by the AMD Ryzen part and they don't tell us how fast the memory is.
Edit: It seems to be going for $1999, with a bonus monitor. Though I wouldn't say that makes it a good deal, as if we were to just drop the video card down to a 1660 Super, far more capable in the Centrecom custom build we could have a significantly longer lasting and somewhat cheaper PC. I have the Scorptec system down to $1585 with a 1TB hard drive as well as the 500GB SSD, so 1.5TB total which should be a perfect amount. I have no way of sharing it so if you think you're interested DM me and I can send the links to every component to put into the system builder. It will not come with Windows 10, if you were to add it they'd charge an exorbitant $100. It is simple to just find an empty USB or one which you can back up, use Microsoft's program to put it onto it, then boot into the BIOS (while the PC is starting up spam the "Delete" key) and install it to the 500GB SSD. You can purchase OEM keys for like $10 off Amazon, eBay and many oher sites which can be entered into the dialogue to activate it. For the monitor I recommend this or this depending on whether a curved display is important to you, while they are the same price the non-curved one tends to have better viewing angles and response times (within the 7ms your son is looking for to have all pixel responses within the refresh rate).
Due to Centrecom's poor range of components I was unable to create a part list quite like the one at Scorptec with enough budget to fit a 27" monitor assuming that is a necessity.
@Void: Ok I think I was aiming for an all in one easy deal however budget is an issue so will take on your recommendations.
@LarHon: https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/CPU/AMD-Socket-AM4/77560… x1
https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/Motherboards/AMD-Socket-… x1
https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/Graphics-Cards/NVIDIA/79… x1
https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/Memory/DDR4/80222-HX432C… x1
https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/Hard-Drives-&-SSDs/SSD-2… x1
https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/Hard-Drives-&-SSDs/HDD-3… x1
https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/Cases/Micro-ATX/82962-CA… x1
https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/Power-Supplies/ATX/72670… x1
https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/Cooling/140mmplus-Fans/8… x2
https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/Cooling/Accessories/5316… x1
I recommend selecting the advanced packaging since it does have a heavy video card in there which when not properly taken care of can rip the slot it's in from the motherboard. While that risk is low it's only $9 to make it significantly lower. Seek approval from other OzBargainers in case I made a fatal mistake. There is budget for a monitor and there could even be deals popping up here. Keyboard and mouse aren't included, but with all these deals on monitors flying around I don't think it'd be difficult to get a healthy $100 under the $2000 for them.
if you've got a good enough GFX card then i5 is enough yes
Haha i5-2400 and RTX 2080 Ti, an amazing pairing.
Where can I buy a brand new system that comes with an i5-2400?
It was a joke, but you could buy an i5-8400 from CPL for some strange reason. The 8400 is quite weak.
You are a generous parent. It was lockdown for me until end of year 12
Maybe I’m too weak.
Yes, and 1ms isn't necessary
Ha, any PC should last more than 2-3 years. Don't go overboard and buy a multi thousand dollar PC if he's gonna be ditching it soon.
Go AMD Ryzen 3600 for budget builds.
Go for a decent Power Supply this will save money in the future as he will be able to reuse it if it's good enough plus decent ones comes with up to 10 years warranty.
what graphics card?
Budget?
Hoping under 2k including 27” monitor.
for budget builds
Don't you mean 3300X?
you really need to ask him what games he is wanting to play and whether he cares about how good it looks. if you buy middle of the road cpu and gpu he is going to have to scale down the settings in more demanding games.
can always upgrade cpu/mem/gpu later.
The short answer is YES. Either an i5-9600KF or i5-10600KF are very suitable as gaming CPUs and will give several years of high quality service. Both are easy to overclock (using safe overclocking with little work), but both need a graphics card. I recently built a 9600KF computer myself. For gaming, a 9600/10600 plus the most expensive graphics card you can afford is what you need. I think most people would recommend a Geforce 2060 super or Radeon RX 5700XT at a minimum. These are pretty expensive but will still be playing games in 2-3 years well.
I just bought my son components so he can build his own pc. He’s 14 and he wanted to buy a very budget build for $300-$400 with his own savings.
But being tax time and his birthday next month, we decided to buy for him as a present. If it’s under $300 you can claim back tax for work.
The tower is around $900. Ask him to his own research and try build it himself using pc part picker website.
Yes I did consider that. Tried going into centrecom, Msy and scorptec last weekend and All 3 were busy!!!! Lineups and staff could not assist.
haha no you have to buy online n pick up in store. Any questions they have a chat on their website or email them. There’s no more customer service. If yiu ask them what’s better they will say it’s up to you. lol
Excellent. Thank you.
Is this ok?
Use the MSI Codex 5 i5-9400F/16GB/512GB SSD + 1TB HDD/4GB GTX 1650 Super Gaming Desktop to create a powerful and convenient gaming setup and workstation for your home.
Key Features
Provides a smooth multi-tasking experience with its Core i5-9400F processor and 16GB RAM
Fast file access and plentiful storage via its 512GB SSD and 1TB HDD
Crisp, sharp visuals when playing your favourite games, thanks to its GTX 1650 Super video card
Integrated Windows 10 operating system allows for easy access to the Microsoft Store and a secure software environment through its Windows Defender suite
This is not bad. If you can't afford the i5-9600/10600, I would suggest springing for the 10400 over the 9400 as it is the newest generation and has hyperthreading enabled. It is only about $15 more at Centrecom. May not make much difference now, but as both AMD and Intel are now using this type of technology you can expect game makers to make use of it. It does require a newer motherboard chipset (the Intel Z590 I think it is).
The rest seems fine to me. It is very serviceable -in the short term you can probably skip the 1TB depending on your needs. For the SSD I would also suggest getting it in the M.2 format like this one:
https://www.centrecom.com.au/crucial-p1-500gb-3d-nand-nvme-p…
would recommend techfast something like
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/537804
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/547542
and a 144hz monitor if he wants to play competitive games
Assuming you're in Melbourne (Scorptec & Centrecom mentioned).
Check out PCCaseGear also (located in Rowville but can deliver).
Max budget (no monitor) - https://www.pccasegear.com/products/50302/pccg-prism-1660-su…
Cheaper but still good ($200 for monitor) - https://www.pccasegear.com/products/50495/pccg-arcane-1660-g…
Both are AMD Ryzen 5 processors, reasonable for gaming. Decent graphics cards to play most games to a reasonable level. Will be useable for 3ish years until your 13 YO can get a part-time job and start to earn the $$ for a new system.
As for monitor, most people on here have mentioned, don't have to break the bank, numbers can be meaningless.
Awesome. Will have a look. You are on the same page as me regarding part time job to upgrade. Lol.
In my mind, there's no reason to buy all new parts now if you expect them to want to buy new parts soon again anyway. For a PC that you only want to last a couple of years before they build their own, I think you're better off buying a second-hand gaming PC off fb marketplace.
You can find something in the same ballpark as a new console (500-700) for an entry level gaming PC that will do them fine for a year or two, especially later on when they have their own source of income and can really get into the weeds of deciding on new parts for themselves.
That said, nowadays you really don't need to spend more than ~2000 for a high end gaming PC (especially if you use OzB!), but with the way technology moves and improves year over year, you will lose more money buying something brand new when it's released, rather than getting something a year or two older that will still last a few years anyway.
Is he trying to get into competitive gaming at all? or will he just be casual gaming?