Seeing as the nerdery is pretty low volume/slow, at the expense of ridiculous answers I'll try here too.


My two boys 8 and 9 want a 'gaming computer' for the oldest's bday next month.

I'm waaaay out of the computer game; used to buy parts and put them together back in college in late 90s/ early 00s from newegg.. but have had laptops the last 20+ years.

I'm deciding between just finding a used one, vs piece together (probably the least likely), vs buy one off shelf.

My older one made a short list based on some YT videos he's watched... don't think he got too much into the spec world, but he says he wants I5, 32gb of ram, and most importantly, he wants the clear case with colors.

They are playing mine craft, roblox.. not sure how big the computing needs are of those.

I came across this on marketplace;

Case - Corsair Spec-Omega
CPU - i7-6600K
GPU - EVGA 3060TI SSC
Motherboard - Asus Z170-A
Memory - 16GB DDR4
Storage - Samsung 970 Evo Plus 250GB
Cooler - 360MM DeepCool AIO
PSU - Corsair 650M

listed for $650. my kid absolutely loves red and this is right up his alley...





Pricing those components out, I'm coming up to like $1500.. so seems like a good deal? It looks really clean.

never bought a computer used, is it standard to have the seller have the unit up and running so I can see it?

Any overall suggestions for me? Questions I should ask a seller?

How much is windows for a student these days?

What video card?

KidDoc said:

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What video card?

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you mean on the one for sale?

I have no idea, is that not the GPU?

The 6600K processor was released in 2015. Intel stopped updating/supporting in 2022.

I would not expect to get much performance out of it tbh.

To clarify, this is probably just OK for 1080p games that kids would want to play on a PC. I do question the longevity of the CPU and motherboard. They are long in the tooth.

The GPU is fine for your typical Fortnight, Minecraft, Rocket League type games at 1080p on good settings but will struggle with more demanding games. Looking at it again, you may get some good 1440p performance out of it at medium settings.

To my understanding, neither Minecraft nor Roblox are anything like resource hogs. Generally, I'd recommend (in order of preference):

• Build it yourself - generally the most economical and allows you to tailor to what you want; could also be a fun activity for you and your boys to tackle together. Use sites like pcpartpicker.com to help make sure you're getting everything you need and it's all compatible
• Buy new - if you don't want to handle building it (understandable), buy new - you can still customize to some extent, and you're less likely to inherit someone else's problem. There are budget builders out there that you can work with (iBuyPower, for example) all the way up to super expensive bespoke systems builders (e.g., Falcon Northwest), many of which allow you some customization. If you're close to a Micro Center store, they also sell pre-built PCs, as well as I think building services where you buy the parts from them and they assemble for a relatively modest fee.
• Buy used - You'll probably get a decent system, but there's a level of risk in buying used hardware. For what it's worth, I think the specs of the PC you listed are plenty for Minecraft/Roblox. I'm not too familiar with that motherboard - may want to confirm that it has on-board networking/wifi.

Some good advice for building in this budget range (I would look a the 1440p budget gaming rig he put together - similar price but much, much newer hardware):

6600k is way outdated and past eol. Is ram speed listed?

Ragnar Danneskjoldd said:

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Video games make you stupid and celebrate fake achievements

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man after not playing any video games for about 20 years, we got our kids a switch and that thing is awesome. Especially seeing the new Zelda stuff; I never played anything after adventures of link.

My kids do plenty enough sports and other after school stuff that I don't care much about screen time. The 10 year old will be in baseball, basketball, and after school weekly coding and robotics all winter and spring.

62strat said:

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Seeing as the nerdery is pretty low volume/slow, at the expense of ridiculous answers I'll try here too.


My two boys 8 and 9 want a 'gaming computer' for the oldest's bday next month.

I'm waaaay out of the computer game; used to buy parts and put them together back in college in late 90s/ early 00s from newegg.. but have had laptops the last 20+ years.

I'm deciding between just finding a used one, vs piece together (probably the least likely), vs buy one off shelf.

My older one made a short list based on some YT videos he's watched... don't think he got too much into the spec world, but he says he wants I5, 32gb of ram, and most importantly, he wants the clear case with colors.

They are playing mine craft, roblox.. not sure how big the computing needs are of those.

I came across this on marketplace;

Case - Corsair Spec-Omega
CPU - i7-6600K
GPU - EVGA 3060TI SSC
Motherboard - Asus Z170-A
Memory - 16GB DDR4
Storage - Samsung 970 Evo Plus 250GB
Cooler - 360MM DeepCool AIO
PSU - Corsair 650M

listed for $650. my kid absolutely loves red and this is right up his alley...





Pricing those components out, I'm coming up to like $1500.. so seems like a good deal? It looks really clean.

never bought a computer used, is it standard to have the seller have the unit up and running so I can see it?

Any overall suggestions for me? Questions I should ask a seller?

How much is windows for a student these days?

---

This is a fantastic deal if you are able to buy and build around it. CPU would run circles around that used system. Its basically black friday prices for it.
https://slickdeals.net/f/17747688-intel-core-i7-12700k-cpu-gigabyte-b760m-mb-16gb-t-force-vulcan-z-ram-260-free-shipping-w-assassin-s-creed-shadows-pcdd

62strat said:

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Ragnar Danneskjoldd said:

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Video games make you stupid and celebrate fake achievements

---

man after not playing any video games for about 20 years, we got our kids a switch and that thing is awesome. Especially seeing the new Zelda stuff; I never played anything after adventures of link.

My kids do plenty enough sports and other after school stuff that I don't care much about screen time. The 10 year old will be in baseball, basketball, and after school weekly coding and robotics all winter and spring.

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if coding and robotics are his thing, building his computer with him would be super cool!!

I built my first gaming computer a few weeks ago. It wasn't difficult, but it took a couple of hours to get it all assembled and make sure I didn't mess anything up.

The most difficult thing for me was deciding on all of the different parts and what I did/did not need as far as higher priced GPU/CPU/Cooling and stuff like that

swimmerbabe11 said:

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62strat said:

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Ragnar Danneskjoldd said:

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Video games make you stupid and celebrate fake achievements

---

man after not playing any video games for about 20 years, we got our kids a switch and that thing is awesome. Especially seeing the new Zelda stuff; I never played anything after adventures of link.

My kids do plenty enough sports and other after school stuff that I don't care much about screen time. The 10 year old will be in baseball, basketball, and after school weekly coding and robotics all winter and spring.

---

if coding and robotics are his thing, building his computer with him would be super cool!!

---

yeh I'm leaning towards that method.

I built a few pcs in college, so I'm guessing the assembly concepts haven't changed much.

Ragnar Danneskjoldd said:

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Video games make you stupid and celebrate fake achievements

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sorry you sucked at techmo bowl

swimmerbabe11 said:

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62strat said:

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Ragnar Danneskjoldd said:

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Video games make you stupid and celebrate fake achievements

---

man after not playing any video games for about 20 years, we got our kids a switch and that thing is awesome. Especially seeing the new Zelda stuff; I never played anything after adventures of link.

My kids do plenty enough sports and other after school stuff that I don't care much about screen time. The 10 year old will be in baseball, basketball, and after school weekly coding and robotics all winter and spring.

---

if coding and robotics are his thing, building his computer with him would be super cool!!

---

It's fairly easy and you can't go wrong with YouTube.

The hardest part is always front panel IO plug ins lol. We can help put together a PCpartpicker list based on a budget if you want.

The hardest part for me was that my case was a little small for me to easily make it look pretty inside. I really want to take it apart and organize it inside better. when I get home, I'll take a pic of mine

https://www.logicalincrements.com/

Better processor and a decent graphics card.

If you're going to build your own, I would go AMD rather than Intel for the CPU.

PC Part Picker is great for making sure that everything you are planning to buy is compatible.

I also highly recommend checking out some build videos from Linus Tech Tips.

When i was their age, had a Commodore 64 for my gaming computer

64 kB RAM
20 kB ROM
1MHz processor
BASIC OS

At $600, in your price range.

Pro Sandy said:

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When i was their age, had a Commodore 64 for my gaming computer

64 kB RAM
20 kB ROM
1MHz processor
BASIC OS

At $600, in your price range.

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we had a Mac 128k, and pretty sure it was a couple thousand bucks… back then!

I kinda relate to this post. Built a new computer for the first time in a decade and there's new things to learn every generation. The basics are still viable tho.

Form factors are shrinking. Think about taking advantage. Things like SSD or M.2 make for some tiny storage compared to the platters that were mainstream. Or look at smaller cases like mini-itx.

Part it out first with PCPartPicker to check for compatibility or what you might be missing.

Spring for a kit with extra screws, standoffs, gaskets, paste, and tools if you don't have more specialized stuff. I liked being able to put rubber grommets on my mobo and fans and everything basically. Secure but lowered vibration.

And involved kids are great but mine got bored. Your results may vary!

Any comments on this build? Also, what would you change to reduce it by $50-$75?

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/GPkbFs

Did you look into CPU/Motherboard combos?

Here is an AMD Ryzen 5 5600 combo for $224

https://www.amazon.com/AMD-12-Thread-Processor-B550-PLUS-Motherboard/dp/B0BTTBY7QZ/

Edit: Apparently that motherboard does not have WiFi, if that would be an issue

Do you live anywhere near a Microcenter? If so their in-store bundles are insane.

I have some thoughts on the build, especially the GPU choice. Going to a work training but will post back again in a few hours.

AtticusMatlock said:

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Do you live anywhere near a Microcenter? If so their in-store bundles are insane.

I have some thoughts on the build, especially the GPU choice. Going to a work training but will post back again in a few hours.

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yep someone on nerdery pointed out the microcenter, there is one right on my way home. Gonna stop by today or tomorrow and look at those bundles.

Awesome. They have a builder on their website where you can plug in the bundles.

To be clear, though, the components in the red computer build you were thinking about buying in the first post are all pretty good except for processor and motherboard. Upgrading may cost you some money. The $650 price point seems like an OK value for everything else. The graphics card is not bad at all. The problem with buying from randos is you never really know the condition of the parts and if everything is truly functional.

Another thing to keep in mind with the cost of the system is peripherals (mouse, keyboard), a decent enough monitor that won't make the graphics look like trash, and a Windows install key.

Commodore 64. Worked for me back in the day!

62strat said:

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Any comments on this build? Also, what would you change to reduce it by $50-$75?

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/GPkbFs

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I would use some of the bundle savings to get a 1tb m.2 instead of a 500. With the os on the drive and todays game sizes, that wont leave room for many newer games. Either that or keep it 500 but only use for os and program installs while getting a cheap 1-2tb sata SSD for game storage.

The mobo price seems a bit high too. See this part list with a gfx card mentioned below, swapped out a few parts with better options and reduced the cost. Swapped mobo (way cheaper), ram (faster and cheaper 3600 vs 3200, both cl16) and power supply (650 vs 550, gold rating and cheaper) .
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/CXtrz6

Also a 1650 wont get too far into future and a rx580 out performs it for a similar price. Used around 50-60, brand new for 90 on Amazon/newegg.
https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1650-vs-AMD-RX-580/4039vs3923

RX 580 at $88.99
https://a.co/d/6AUj65p

But any budget you have after your base parts should go towards the gpu.

FatZilla said:

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62strat said:

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Any comments on this build? Also, what would you change to reduce it by $50-$75?

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/GPkbFs

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I would use some of the bundle savings to get a 1tb m.2 instead of a 500. With the os on the drive and todays game sizes, that wont leave room for many newer games. Either that or keep it 500 but only use for os and program installs while getting a cheap 1-2tb sata SSD for game storage.

The mobo price seems a bit high too. See this part list with a gfx card mentioned below, swapped out a few parts with better options and reduced the cost. Swapped mobo (way cheaper), ram (faster and cheaper 3600 vs 3200, both cl16) and power supply (650 vs 550, gold rating and cheaper) .
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/CXtrz6

Also a 1650 wont get too far into future and a rx580 out performs it for a similar price. Used around 50-60, brand new for 90 on Amazon/newegg.
https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1650-vs-AMD-RX-580/4039vs3923

RX 580 at $88.99
https://a.co/d/6AUj65p

But any budget you have after your base parts should go towards the gpu.

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what is a good website for used pc parts?

Also, talk to me about wifi.. I notice some MOBOs have it, others dont.
is this is any fix with a wifi card or something? What is benefit to MOBO w/wifi?

The microcenter intel bundle has a pricier mobo.

https://www.microcenter.com/product/5006643/intel-core-i5-12600kf,-msi-z790-p-pro-wifi-ddr4,-gskill-ripjaws-v-16gb-ddr4-3200-kit,-computer-build-bundle

also, do all these components have like a serial number to know if you're looking at the same item?

I'm having trouble deciphering all the abbreviations and numbers and specs to know if I'm looking at the same thing on two different websites.

For example, I don't think pcpartpicker has that GPU that is linked above, the RX580.

The RX580 was popular as a value buy several years ago during Covid when cards were not available so it's going to be hard to find one that is new. It was released in 2017. It is an old card. I would not go that far back in the past to find value.

The AMD RX6600 can be found new and is the best bang for the buck performance wise on a budget.

In terms of part numbers, the GPU cards are farmed out to different companies for completion/cooling. So you'll see various brands of those but they are all the same chip. For motherboards and CPUs the actual name of the part should match.

Wireless built in is nice to have but if you have the ability to hardwire that would be ideal. It isn't a gamebreaker either way especially for games your kids would be playing. If you get a good deal on a motherboard you can get a cheap wireless adapter.