Does it need to be new or can it be used? This used (A- condition) MSI Aegis system is pretty decent at $620 (and there is Best Offer option so you may potentially get it cheaper). https://www.ebay.com/itm/265866315143 AMD 5700G Radeon RX6600 16gb RAM 500GB SSD and 2TB HDD It'll be a little slower than the $700 HP Victus system from Costco with the RX6600XT, but the best part is that the components on the MSI Aegis system will all be standard sized. So if any components fail in the future or if you want to upgrade a component, it'll be extremely easy to do. The HP system uses mostly HP proprietary parts, so don't expect to be able to do any upgrades in the future. Also, even though the RX6600 XT in the HP is usually about 25% faster than the RX6600 in the Aegis in gaming, I bet the difference is smaller than that due to differences in cooling. The Aegis will be much much cooler with a bigger CPU heatsink and likely a better cooled GPU. In addition, I bet your son would love the RGB lights on the Aegis!
Yeah i definitely wanted the $650 or less route more than the $900 i posted on the prior page. Is this a brand thats good? Have you bought refurbished before? If if breaks somehow in the near-term, no recourse (as opposed ot say if i buy from Costco)? I don't know why i keep @'ing him, lol, but @Salvy thoughts on this.
MSI is a very solid brand. I would not have any qualms about their quality. I have not bought from that ebay seller before though. It does come with a 30 day return policy, so that gives you some protection. I looked around on ebay some more and found a couple more good options. This seller is huge (60k reviews) and the systems are 'ebay certified refurbished', so it comes with a 2 year All-state warranty. ASUS ROG STRIX G10CE-SB564 for $470 https://www.ebay.com/itm/165837789704 Core i5-11400F GTX 1660TI 16GB RAM 512GB SSD The GTX 1660TI is slower than the RX6600, but honestly still more than capable enough for a 11 year old. It can drive a 1080p monitor at medium to high settings for most games Here's another one for more money. https://www.ebay.com/itm/165840879481 Asus ROG Strix G10DK-DBR5660 for $650 Ryzen5 5600X RTX 3060 16GB RAM 512GB SSD and 1TB HDD This one is also a good deal, a bit faster than the 6600 XT and the 5600X faster than the 5700G in most tasks that your kid will do. The 5700G has more, but slightly slower cpu cores. I personally would go with the $470 system. It's enough for most people unless they want to step up to 1440p gaming.
thank you much! that's abetter price range for me/him, and the certified refurbished with2 yr warranty makes me feel fien about it. appreciated
No problem lol.... Yeah, my only issue with a used/certified pc is that while it does have warranty you don't want to have to use it. Its a hassle. Now why would you have to use it? Well, a gaming pc is much like a tuner/sports car. Its modified for a reason and that reason is performance. If you were to buy a Mustang with a full exhaust system and intake then chances are high that the person who drove it was likely to have raced it or beat on it every now n then. Does it mean that car is no longer good? No not at all but it does mean that depending on how the person drove it problems could arise. With a built gaming pc you have two vital components that could potentially get pushed to its limit. The CPU and graphics card, both of these need proper cooling to essentially not burn out. Motherboards, ram and power supplies also need proper ventilation but those two components are the heart of that computer. There is no way to know how that CPU was treated, for example I ran an older I7 processor overclocked from something like 2.6 ghz to 4.0 for years and at a really high voltage. I knew it was running hot but also knew I was going to upgrade it as soon at it went out. It never went out, I technically could sell it (not worth much now) and someone may still run it for years but I know that CPU is near the end of its life. Point is, gaming computers are likely to have been overclocked and used for gaming which means heat which means maybe components life cycles are shortened. Totally not against @jchu14 finds, they are good deals. Its going to come down to the risk of spending $300.00 more for a computer that probably won't give your son problems considering he will be doing nothing to it other than playing games in the settings the game itself specs the hardware out vs the possibility of getting a computer that has although been certified and checked could still have a troublesome component and wishing its nothing major. What matters I think is you willingness to give your son a good experience and seeing him happy. There is no wrong choice. Both computers are future proof and in the event of something breaking both can be repaired. The new setup will cost $300.00 more, despite its said warranty lets assume something goes wrong with the certified pc and you have to take care of it. Will you be able to fix it with less than $300.00? I'm gonna go ahead and say its very likely.
im going to go ahead and risk the certified warranty and hope worst case the warranty actually works....its half the price.
PC gaming took me later in life to like it and now I prefer it over the consoles. Steam is having a yuge sale you should get him a couple of the classics. Has anyone played the EA sportsgames on pc? I really want the new FIFA but the reviews are saying you have to mess with the BIOS boot.
I’m glad this thread was created. I’m an idiot when it comes to these things. Is this good enough to get solid game play for CoD and the Fortnite’s of the world? Any feedback would be most appreciated.
My PC suddenly decided that it wants to power up to a black screen. While I will try and due diligence, what are good affordable options out there?
Any of the PCs listed so far are pretty affordable gaming PCs. Are you needing a PC or a gaming PC? An affordable graphics card adds about $300 to a regular PC's price. But try a different monitor first. If it's not the monitor, connect the monitor to the motherboard instead of the graphics card and see if it'll boot up.
Monitor is good, checked it out with a laptop. Motherboard doesn't have integrated graphics. Tried a previous graphics card and it didn't work either. Going to try and reseat all components today after Christmas activities are over.
Any lights or beeps popping up on the motherboard? The motherboard should have a display out, even if it's VGA. Process of elimination is how I troubleshoot. Might want to disconnect any hard drive, use one stick of RAM, and slowly add piece by piece back. From my own experience with dead PCs, it's usually been the motherboard to die on me. And with how old the computer is, it's usually not worth replacing the motherboard as finding the right socket is hard to find.
Motherboard fans and lights turn on with no abnormal beeps, seems like everything is fine except just black screen right away. When I get home later today I will follow your advice and try items one at a time.
My 11 year old daughter insisted on a 4080 for her build. You are out of touch with the kids from todays.
You take build advice from an 11 year old kid? That's the card that nobody wants and everybody laughs at you for buying it.
Laughs and nobody wants lol. Well not everyone is a cheapskate. Unless you want to save a few $$ that card is perfectly fine and powerful. Great 4k gaming card Better than paying $1100 for 3090 ti not interested in AMD to save a few bucks and give up raytracing. My 11 year old knows more than you do lol now hush away PS. I upgraded her request to a 4090
