My son (12) is earning money to buy a gaming PC - his budget is around $1200 (box only). I'm not sure of what to recommend (this isn't my strong suit). I would say stability / reliable is important (don't need any blue screens of death that I need to try and troubleshoot). This is the PC that he's currently looking at. Any feedback or alternatives. It will need to be Wi-Fi as I don't have direct wire from router. He mainly plays Fortnite, but likely will want to play others.

Any recommendations appreciated!

Skytech Shadow Gaming PC, Intel i5 13400F 2.5 GHz (4.6GHz Turbo Boost), NVIDIA RTX 4060 8GB GDDR6X, 2TB NVME Gen3, 32GB DDR5 RAM 5600 RGB, 650W Gold PSU, Wi-Fi, Win 11 Home
https://a.co/d/1WWQFRj

We need a sticky for this question.

There is a lot that goes into recommendations for a gaming PC.

First off what resolution is his monitor? More than 60hrz refresh rate?

165 hz - he wants 2 monitors but only has one now

Better off with a 3070 over a 4060 for gfx card, example below. That skytech is good except for the gfx card at that price. If you can find similar with a 3070, i would go that route.
https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Gaming-Desktop-GeForce-Bluetooth/dp/B0CVDNHBSW?th=1

SnowboardAg said:

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165 hz - he wants 2 monitors but only has one now

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What resolution?

Does he want to run two monitors for gaming or just have two monitors?

Also, what games?

Running Call of Duty, Madden, WWE2k24, Fortnite at a resolution is totally different than running starfield, cyberpunk etc.

Also if he likes playing online shooters and such, i would recommend getting a powerline ethernet kit to give him hardwire from wherever the router is. Latency becomes a killer over wifi, especially if the signal has to travel through multiple walls/floors. If your main router is out of ethernet ports, then a cheap gigabit switch will give you more. Let us know if you have any questions.

Sorry. I appreciate all the advice everyone.

What resolution? 2560 x 1440

Does he want to run two monitors for gaming or just have two monitors? One for gaming - one for other stuff

Also, what games? Fortnite, Halo, maybe call of duty in the future.

Concur on the 3070 over the 4060 especially at 1440p.

Just a suggestion don't be intimidated by building one yourself. Microcenter processor/mobo/ram bundles and then finish it out with a ATX size case, graphics card, power supply, heat sink, windows key and storage. It's following instructions/plugging things in.

And make sure to discharge static and use two hands for inserting things (twss).

He can get much better value by building himself.

Do not get a prebuilt.

A great guide:

Can definitely get better specs for the money if he buulds it himself. It could be a fun parent/kid build following plenty of online guides.

If you want some parts lists, let us know. Can easily throw together a good spec pc for him.

nvm

SnowboardAg said:

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My son (12) is earning money to buy a gaming PC - his budget is around $1200 (box only). I'm not sure of what to recommend (this isn't my strong suit). I would say stability / reliable is important (don't need any blue screens of death that I need to try and troubleshoot). This is the PC that he's currently looking at. Any feedback or alternatives. It will need to be Wi-Fi as I don't have direct wire from router. He mainly plays Fortnite, but likely will want to play others.

Any recommendations appreciated!

Skytech Shadow Gaming PC, Intel i5 13400F 2.5 GHz (4.6GHz Turbo Boost), NVIDIA RTX 4060 8GB GDDR6X, 2TB NVME Gen3, 32GB DDR5 RAM 5600 RGB, 650W Gold PSU, Wi-Fi, Win 11 Home
https://a.co/d/1WWQFRj

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Selling mine if interested

I'd suggest an AMD 6800xt over a 4060/3070. Comparable to 3080 performance, but you aren't paying the ridiculous Nvidia pricing.

But you lose out on DLSS which is far better than AMD's FSR.

I just use native res 1440p and never FSR for mine. Are there certain genres where dlss/FSR are worth it?

Yea, lots of your heavier titles like cyberpunk it lets you crank up the quality and keep your framerates high and on less heavier ones, it will boost your framerate much higher with it on vs off. Any shooters/racers it can make a big difference. DLSS will also let the card remain relevant long into the future when games get more demanding, it can still handle them while keeping acceptable framerates. I dont see FSR ever catching up to DLSS.

Thanks. I was just comparing raw price to performance in my original suggestion to the OP since I have no knowledge of dlss/fsr.