My son (9) is launching a gaming youtube channel, and is convinced his PS4 is inadequate. He's started using a keyboard for games like Fortnite, and now wants a gaming PC.

He's looking at high-priced systems in flashy cases, but I figure there's got to be decent systems that come in white boxes for less $$. Since he's going to be raising the money for this, I'd like to steer him in that direction.

I know nothing about modern PC hardware or demands of gaming, so all suggestions welcomed. TIA.

Here's what a gamer I know uses. He streams on twitch.

CPU - Ryzen 9 3900X
Motherboard - ASUS PRIME X570-PRO
Cooler - Noctua NH-D15
Memory - 32 GB G.Skill DDR4-3600 CL16
Video card - ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Gaming OC 11GB
Primary SSD - Samsung 970EVO 1 TB
Secondary SSD - Samsung 860EVO 1 TB
Tertiary HDD - WD Gold 4 TB
Power supply - Corsair RMx RM850x 850 Watt
Case - Fractal Design R6 Black USB-C

^^^ Dude, that's a 4K Machine, as in NEARLY $4000.00!

Pretty sure the OP is thinking of a somewhat more 'Budget Friendly' Machine for his 9 YO....

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
^^^ Dude, that's a 4K Machine, as in NEARLY $4000.00!

Pretty sure the OP is thinking of a somewhat more 'Budget Friendly' Machine for his 9 YO....

Yeah, was hoping for something under a grand. Maybe that's not possible? Does not need to be top of the line.

Just FYI - High-end Video Cards can easily run $1000.00+ all by themselves....The card in Shaql's post w/ 11GB VRAM retails for $1300.00!

Yeah, that video card itself is $1200.

Get an off the shelf budget gaming PC, like iBuyPower or whatever. All the major manufacturers make gaming lines, like Lenovo's Legion line.

Just look for something with an nVidia 1660 or better video card, and 16gb of ram, and an SSD. Then throw the rest of your budget at CPU power. Faster clock speed is better than more CPU cores in this instance.

Also, look at his monitor.

Frame rates are important, depending on the types of game he plays. Something that requires fast twitch reaction, like fortnite, may want a faster monitor that may not be quite as big.

And get the boy some lighting, a good microphone, and maybe a second camera.

There is serious money to be made if he's entertaining to watch.

quote:

I figure there's got to be decent systems that come in white boxes for less $$.

Not really.

If you go down part-by-part a gaming PC will add up.

Graphic Cards and the processor taking up most of the price.
Not to mention you have to deal with increased power supply requirements and cooling.
The rest of the parts are pretty much the same as any other desktop.

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
Yeah, that video card itself is $1200.

Get an off the shelf budget gaming PC, like iBuyPower or whatever. All the major manufacturers make gaming lines, like Lenovo's Legion line.

Just look for something with an nVidia 1660 or better video card, and 16gb of ram, and an SSD. Then throw the rest of your budget at CPU power. Faster clock speed is better than more CPU cores in this instance.

Also, look at his monitor.

Frame rates are important, depending on the types of game he plays. Something that requires fast twitch reaction, like fortnite, may want a faster monitor that may not be quite as big.

And get the boy some lighting, a good microphone, and maybe a second camera.

There is serious money to be made if he's entertaining to watch.

Also, you might consider learning to build your own rig, letting him pick out an incrementally more expensive case, and planning it a 3 year upgrade path.

Check out YouTube and seek advice from other content creators.

My son follows a few channels and I overwatch content he follows.

The Xclusive Ace, jgod, whosimmortal post pretty clean Modern Warfare content and they seem like pretty nice dudes.....maybe ask them what they use .... and tell them it’s for your kid....I bet they’d offer an opinion.

I don't know anything about gaming, but I worked with a guy who was into gaming.
Gaming guy recommended a Dell Alienware PC for decent store machine. I haven't checked but I believe it was around 900-1000.
Grandson lost interest so never happened.
Good luck with your YouTuber.

PC Part Picker

I don't know about needing to spend 4k on a gaming machine. Kids like the liquid cooling, glass cases and LED's but that's just flash and cash that no one is ever going to see hiding your desk. I build my own machines and play a pretty fast paced online action game and have no issues with frame rates or processing. I might have spent $1,500.00 on parts with my latest configuration.

quote:

Originally posted by x0225095:
Check out YouTube and seek advice from other content creators.

My son follows a few channels and I overwatch content he follows.

The Xclusive Ace, jgod, whosimmortal post pretty clean Modern Warfare content and they seem like pretty nice dudes.....maybe ask them what they use .... and tell them it’s for your kid....I bet they’d offer an opinion.

Some of my concern is that he's currently looking at rigs that are "endorsed" by some of the influencers he follows. But I hadn't thought of trying to contact others directly.

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:

Also, you might consider learning to build your own rig, letting him pick out an incrementally more expensive case, and planning it a 3 year upgrade path.

I started building PCs in the last century. I just don't have any idea what the current state of the art is because I built my last one when Enron was still a thing.

Holy shit at the guy in here saying "not really" to getting a gaming PC under 4k.

A mid level gaming PC should cost around $1200-1500 with all peripherals included. The current "one step under the top end" video card, the RTX 2070, is around $450, not $1200, and that's generally going to be the single most expensive piece of equipment, with the CPU being the second priciest.

You can certainly get a decent gaming pc for under 1k.

There's a website that lays out which parts you should get for your budget. I'll see if I can find it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Jester814,

There is gaming and then there is gaming/streaming/content creation/etc...

If he's just going to game, then a Dell G3 or G5 gaming laptop is sufficient. If's going down the streaming/content creation, he'll need a machine that can multi-task or multiple machines.

I had no idea that the rig I showed you was $4k. Just was trying to give you an idea of what gamers/streamers have. Sorry.

I can't find the website I was talking about, but here's some reading for putting a PC together for the first time. For a gaming PC, you definitely need an SSD.

This is what I put together that's closest to the current PC that I'm running, from scratch, with all needed periphials. And like I said, the two places to drop the most price would be to get a less powerful CPU and Graphics card: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HGP9vW

If you have a Micro Center nearby (not sure where you live) check out any of their house brand gaming computers (Powerspec is the name of their house brand). Great computers at a very good price (you likely can’t build them cheaper yourself). No bloatware at all either. I bought one a couple months ago and absolutely love it. Money well spent.

This is the one that I bought:

https://www.microcenter.com/pr...e_SSD;_Microsoft_Win

I would build one with my son! It is not difficult even if you are not mechanically inclined. +1 on Microcenter, they have killer CPU and Motherboard combos. You can pick a budget and build YOUR machine. As others have said, CPU and video card will eat most of the budget.

If you are nervous, I would be happy to help you if you are interested in building. IMO it would be a great experience for the both of you.

$1K gets you a basic gaming rig on the low end of performance. $2K gets you a decent gaming system. $4K gets you a killer gaming rig.

I just bought some new parts for a upgrade to my gaming pc. Just shy of $4k. Granted, I did pick up 2 2080TIs....at $1200 each...BUT

For a gaming and streaming pc, core count and memory are going to be the first two things to look at. Most streamers I see that use the same pc for both have 32gig memory and minimum 8 core cpu. AMD Ryzen is by far the best bang for the buck on that end. For the GPU, you can pick up a 2060 super or 2070 for a pretty reasonable price.

The other card that would be needed if want's to stream the PS4 as well is a good capture card. Most that I see prefer Elgato brand. NewEgg

Here is another PCpartpicker for a rough idea on some base parts. Things can be adjusted of course. I have a 4TB storage drive for extra room for storing the videos but a 2TB could probably work as well. I didn't add a case as that can be pretty much anything really. You can get a nice "good brand" case for $50-$60. PartPicker