Is this decent for my gamer kid?

[mum_im_hungry]

Hello all! I'm looking to purchase an affordable gaming PC for my son.
Does this look like an ok spec? He plays Roblox, Fortnite, etc.
He uses OBS and stop motion animation software to upload clips to YouTube (this will not be heavy usage like a proper YouTuber, more just as and when).
When I go through the screens on PCspecialist, it says something about USB C not being available. I do understand that USB C is for phones etc and the generic USB is probably already included. Please bear with me, I have looked at hundreds of specs in the last few months, and we've gone from just going to buy a tower from a large online retailer (bog standard £499 one which I know will plug in and work even if Fortnite has to go on medium settings) to getting a much more decent one like below). I would MUCH rather get one from PCspecialist as I know it will be far superior.

(The current pc he has was bought from a small company online that rips out Dells and adds stuff in (16GB 1TB etc- it did work fine, tiny bit laggy, had it 8 years, bought for £340). I did that because I had to buy 3 x PC's for all my children. Also, our internet speed is 240mbps and they are using a dongle into the back of the tower. It is ok but not great. Should I get a better Wifi part put in to the new PC? I'm learning the spec and options fast- but I do need to purchase one soon as his PC has overheated. Also, can I purchase the monitor separately from PCSpecialist at a later date? (He has a Dell monitor, it's ok but I want to get the PC first and get it going before I choose). Thanks very much!

Case
PCS AEGIS BLACK ARGB MID TOWER CASE
Promotional Item
Get a discount code for 20% off select peripherals at Corsair.com
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 7500F Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-5.0GHz/38MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME A620M-K (mATX, AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0)
Memory (RAM)
16GB PCS PRO DDR5 4800MHz CL40 (1 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
4GB MSI GEFORCE GT 1030 OC - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (3500 MB/R, 3200 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CX SERIES™ CX-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 V3 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
2 x 35cm Corsair LS350 Aurora RGB Light Strips
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX210 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book
Price: £696.00 including VAT and Delivery

 

[sh0_]

Fortnite will still likely need to go on medium settings. How well games run also depends on the resolution, if you buy a 1400p (2k) screen and he's trying to run it in 1440p, it will require a lot more graphics power than if he were trying to run it in 1080p on a 1080p screen.
Fortnite can also be a pretty demanding game if you try to turn everything up to the max, he doesn't need to do that to enjoy the game, tho. Will it run? Sure, as long as it beats the minimum spec, will he be able to run those games at super high frame rates and graphics, not very likely.

As for your wifi, honestly it really depends. If you don't think it's good enough and you're not getting anywhere near the 250mbps you are getting directly from the router, then yeah you should probably fix it. But, you need to figure out where the problem is first, is it the dongle, is it the network card in the pc (if it even has one, or is the wifi built into the motherboard?). You could try moving the pc somewhere else, plugging the dongle into a laptop or something right next to the router to see if the speed changes. If you believe it's the dongle, you could try buying a high end one from amazon to test if it makes a difference and just send it back and get a refund either way.

Not sure about the USBC, you'd need to provide a link to the actual configurator or screenshot the message. But, USBC isnt just for phones, its just one of the most recent iterations of USB. Motherboards now come with USBC connectors so any device that uses USBC such as a USBC thumb drive can plug straight into it.

 

[sck451]

The USB-C stuff will be about the case having a USB-C port but that cheap motherboard not having the connector, so the port wouldn't work. This is fixable by not choosing the lowest-price/junk-quality motherboard.

But basically this PC is not good. You have gone for the very cheapest possible options (I shudder to think what was in that £499 PC!). It will "work", but the experience, even considering the price, will be poor. Ultimately you get poor value because you are spending on stuff that's essentially rubbish: it will kind-of-sort-of do a job for a year or two, then you'll think "I'd like a bit more performance" and you'll find you have to chuck it out and start again. Better to spend a little more and build on more solid foundations so you get a good PC for today and tomorrow.

Here's where I'd be looking:

Case
PCS AEGIS BLACK ARGB MID TOWER CASE Not the best case, but it would do a job
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 8600G Six Core CPU (4.35GHz-5.0GHz/22MB CACHE/AM5) A CPU with integrated graphics that are better than the 1030 (which is bad *and* ancient)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6) Up-to-date motherboard with good WiFi onboard
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 6000MHz CL36 (2 x 16GB) Fast RAM is essential for performance (the stuff you selected would have needed replacing)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW) Much superior SSD will last longer
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET This is the key: this will take upgrades for years and years to any reasonable tier of graphics card, meaning you get a long PC lifetime (plausibly a decade)
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 150 Series High Performance CPU Cooler Fine for the 8600G
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence If you can transfer Windows from the old PC, that'll save £100
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Price: £883.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/Yxp9WYwhaT/

 

[mum_im_hungry]

Thanks, that's amazing advice. With regards to the following configuration sck451 posted above: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/Yxp9WYwhaT

- What better case in the reasonable budget range would you pick for the configuration you posted (if it was for a kid, not pro gamer etc)
- I noticed the graphics card in the list says 'INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)' - does this mean it is the 'onboard graphics'? Excuse me for asking daft questions, it is just that I telephoned a local computer shop last week and she said never to go with the onboard graphics (though she was talking about the PC's for sale in the large UK online stores).
- Would it be better if I upgraded the processor cooling a bit more? (i.e. some are within £10-15 of the one already chosen, and some are ARGB etc. However, the case will be put on a floor wheeled stand right in the left hand corner of a room against the left wall so I'm not sure if this is necessary as it may not even be seen).
- I would like to purchase as large a curved monitor as possible. Which PCSpecialist monitor would be best (I was reading what sh0_ said about monitors above, and I'm concerned I may not purchase the correct one for the graphics power. Which monitor would be most suitable for the following configuration https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/Yxp9WYwhaT/ Please note I would like a curved monitor, and to attach it to the wall if possible. (It does not say in the monitor section if any of them can be attached to the wall). My son's desk is only 40cm wide, as this is the only space we can get a desk in so I would prefer wall attached. This is because a his current 21 inch monitor has to be placed directly in front of the speakers and it juts right out). With regards to monitors that can be attached to the wall, I'm guessing I would buy a bog standard wall mount for the correct screen size (i.e. no specialist wall mounts needed. I will research this.)

Thanks very much, much appreciated.

 

[TonyCarter]

iGPU usually refers to the very basic ones that are part of the CPU which are just enough to power a couple of displays at 60Hz.

APUs (i.e. the AMD CPUs with a G suffix at the end) are slightly different in that the CPU and GPU are two discrete chips on the same 'board', and suitable for low-level gaming.

 

[Nursemorph]

- I noticed the graphics card in the list says 'INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)' - does this mean it is the 'onboard graphics'? Excuse me for asking daft questions, it is just that I telephoned a local computer shop last week and she said never to go with the onboard graphics (though she was talking about the PC's for sale in the large UK online stores).

Ordinarily, that computer shop person would be correct...for gaming you would always try to select a dGPU (dedicated GPU..basically, a separate card). However, your low budget doesn't allow that....and an iGPU from a CPU released in the last couple of years will outperform a near 8 year old dGPU (the 1030). The good thing about sck's spec is that the power supply selected means, when finances allow, you can buy and fit a decent current graphics card with no worries.

Case: The Lian Li 205 is a better case; the Corsair 3500x even better. Either case will do a good job. Beyond them, the price increase gets a bit much.

Monitor: The PCS selection is quite restrictive and you can get better prices elsewhere (as an example, the cheapest curved monitor there, the AOC one, is £40 cheaper elsewhere). The 1st 2 curved 1080p monitors are wall mountable...my guess is most are. As to what monitor would be best, a lot depends on hoiw much your budget allows for the monitor?