Build recommendations for my kid's first gaming PC....

Parental triumph! Might have another PC gamer in the house soon. Especially sweet because we also have a couple of XBoxes. :-)

SO--now the hard part--what to get. I've built a couple of PCs (last back in 2014 so has been awhile and I'm not really up on all the latest hardware), this is his first, so will be a fun project for both of us.

His 13th bday is in a week, so timing is a little bad, as we seem to be between the next CPU/GPU generations. That said, he'll be gaming on a 24" monitor at 1080p, so he won't need a monster rig or GPU, just something that will play newest titles at med/high settings and last a few years. If he needs to upgrade the GPU down the road, that would be a nice option to have.

I'd like to keep the budget under 1k, but not sure that's possible with recent component cost increases.

Thanks so much in advance for any suggestions.

Here is a quick parts list for a nice 1080p build

Ryzen 5600

Optional CPU cooler

MSI B550 A-PRO

32gb DDR4

RX 6600

Crucial P2 1TB NVMe

EVGA 650w Gold PSU

Corsair 4000D Airflow Case

You can add couple more fans for the case if you want.

Without the beefier CPU cooler its under $900.

@04dcarraher:

Thank you! That looks like a solid mid-range rig for him. Will put on list.

I forgot to mention that his bedroom is too far from router to use ethernet, so he'll either need a motherboard with wifi, or guess I'll have to get another mesh network node for his bedroom and connect PC to node via ethernet. Hm.

Got to make sure that they are not on a power strip(any that filters power) if you go that route

@attirex:

Well here is a board with built in wifi for $30 more Gigabyte B550 AORUS ELITE AX V2

Thanks for info! That gigabyte MB with wifi looks good. I'm going to have to think about the network connection for his room. It's very small and I think he needs a new desk. His current desk isn't located near an outlet, unfortunately. So either need to rearrange his room or just use wifi. Hm.

Wait does that thing turn your home's power lines into ethernet cables (more or less)? That's awesome.

Yea their nothing new, but the quality and speed of those powerline adapters depends on a few things. Making sure the pair of adapters are on the same circuit. Power strips that have surge protection or do any power filtering can cause issues and or hurt quality and speed of them. And the last thing is how old is the house and its wiring can affect the speed you can get as well.

My house was built in the early Fifties so.....kinda of old if you're an American, not so old if you live in other countries where things were built pre-Middle Ages. :-)

Regardless, not sure how old the wiring is generally, but my panels are maxed out. Electrical upgrade is on what I and the wife like to call the "Twenty Year Plan" list.

Might go with wifi for now. Hm.

I went with a Ryzen 5600/Radeon 6600 XT build. Started building yesterday afternoon and ran into a brick wall installing the stock Ryzen cooler--the spring loaded screws are not long enough to reach the standoffs in the backplate. i've read this part is tricky and you just have to do xyz, but there is still a very very large gap between the screws and the backplate standoffs. There is no possible they can reach. I can screw down one corner partially, but that's it. If I try to physically force it I know for certain I will crack my MB in half or it will be bowed like a ship's hull. I even pulled the CPU out of the socket at one point try to get the cooler off, so I guess it'll also be a miracle if I haven't destroyed some pins. Oy.

I feel bad for my kid as I won't have time to get back to this for probably another two weeks. :-(

Is this an mb/cooler incompatibility (MSI B550M Pro micro-ATX) or am I just a moron here?

Thank you.....

@attirex: Watch Youtube videos and try to see what you're doing wrong. Here's one.

How to install a Ryzen CPU and its Wraith Stealth Cooler | AM4 socket | AMD - YouTube

@Kjranu:

Thanks for vid. I gave it one last shot and with my wife's help, brute forced that motherfcker into place. Forgot I had this same issue with my last build. Next time, I'm guying a clip-on cooler. Fark those screws.

@attirex: take some pics :)

Will try to remember to! Won't be anything exciting, though. Using a basic case and there isn't any RGB bling. Also, my cable management is awful lol. Feel free to mock.

Help! I can't install Win 11. :-(

Got everything connected, can boot into BIOS, and all hardware is recognized (including M.2 drive) and appears to be working.

I'm installing from a Windows 11 thumb drive that I bought at a local Microcenter.

If I plug in the drive, the PC boots from the thumb drive into Windows install prompts. I can enter key, select M2 drive, and I get as far as "Preparing Files" step of the install, and then it crashes with random stop code errors - page faults, can't write to memory, Windows can't install required files, referenced memory error/memory could not be written errors, etc, etc.

My uneducated guesses:

• Problem with RAM
• Problem with M.2 SSD
• Problem with thumb drive
• BIOS/motherboard firmware needs to be updated first? If so, do I need to install the firmware from another USB drive?

Frustrating bc I'm SO CLOSE and my kid was psyched this afternoon to see the comp boot up. :-(

Any ideas, suggestions, or troubleshooting tips very much appreciated.

Thanks....

@attirex:

Try installing Windows 10 instead.

@04dcarraher:

I thought of that. I'm also going to try flashing the BIOS. What is installed is a couple versions older than what's available on the MSI support site, but.....the version I have should support Windows 11. Worth a shot, I guess.

Otherwise....my kid gets a $1,200 brick for his bday. Yay.

@attirex:

I would also re-seat the ram, then I would download and run Memtest86+ from a flash drive.

@04dcarraher:

I reseated the RAM and M.2 drive (didn't help), will also run Memtest, thanks.....

@04dcarraher:

FIXED. The SSD formatting got screwed up somehow, so after using command line to wipe and reformat it, got Win 11 installed. Don't know what went wrong, but....phew.

I now officially hate M.2 SSDs.

Thanks for your suggestions!

@attirex:

Glad its working

If he's going to be a competitive gamer you would want latest WIFI router and latest WIFI adapter card to reduce latency as much as possible, not sure about the mesh but if you've got the money for it why not - just make sure you do WIFI 6 nowday

There's another solution for that which I personally used before it's an ethernet over electricity - you plug one adapter to wall socket with LAN cable to the router and another adapter next to the device in the other room - your kid's computer.

Thanks for info! I bought a mesh system a year or so ago so he should be set. I did a speed test and he gets a little over 200 Mbps in his room, but not sure how much lag he could have.

Someone else recommended powerline adapters, but I think the issue is you can't use powerstrips with them.

@attirex: Yea, anything that filters power will cause issues with powerlines. Wifi latency isnt a real issue if you have a strong signal and the wireless router can handle all the devices.

speed is nothing for a gamer, latency is more important but then again it depends on the games - competitive fps? most important, turn based RPG like Original Sin 2 co op - doesn't really matter

@gerygo:

Yep. This is my kid's first gaming PC so he's definitely not playing competitive shooters at this point lol (right now, he's trying TF2, which is kind of awesome). He has 30 years of PC titles to get through (!), so it's overwhelming to figure out where he should begin. I told him get HL2, Spider Man Remastered, and Skyrim. I'm thinking he'd like Diablo series, too.

@attirex: Not sure about TF2 nowdays, how many player base it has? I know Overwatch and Paladins took it's place

My kid says there are still people playing TF2. He even got called out for being a bot lol. Love it. :-)