• Welcome to our Forum! Ask PC-Build Questions, discuss Tech-News, Content Creation & Gaming Workloads or get to know the CGDirector Community off-topic. Feel free to chime in with insight or questions on any existing topic too! :)

Helping My Nephew Build His First PC

Polymath_88

Polymath_88

Tech Intern
Joined
Jan 16, 2024
Messages
3
Reaction score
2
Points
3
Location
Oregon
TL;DR
He has a budget of around $1200, he says he knows he wants the rtx 3060 and the i7 core. He wants a PC to continue playing Hollow Knight, Fortnite, and Valorant, and he plans on playing COD if he can with this new PC.

Below is what I got from your PC builder. Taking into account what he intends to use it for and the specs he specified, can someone here give me/him some advice or direction?

CGDirector.com Parts List: https://www.cgdirector.com/pc-builder/?=6Oa3v

CPU: Intel Core i5 12600K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor ($169.99)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 ($69.90)
Motherboard: ASUS Prime B660-PLUS DDR4 ATX LGA1700 ($179.50)
GPU: Nvidia RTX 3060 12GB -EVGA XC Gaming ($301.50)
Memory: 32GB (2 x 16GB) G.Skill Trident Z Neo DDR4-3600 C16 ($89.99)
Storage PCIe-SSD: Sabrent Rocket 1TB NVMe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive ($69.99)
Power Supply: EVGA 650 B5, 80 Plus Bronze 650W Power Supply ($94.99)
Case: be quiet! Pure Base 600 Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.90)
Total: $1065.76


I have built PCs before, but it was before Bitcoin was a thing, I feel like the landscape has changed quite a bit. I'm not sure I will be able to actually build it with him, so if anyone has some videos they can recommend for that I would also appreciate that.

Thank you in advance!
 
Jerry James

Jerry James

Hardware Nerd @ CGDirector
Staff member
Joined
Jun 19, 2020
Messages
765
Reaction score
141
Points
43
CPU: Intel Core i5 12600K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor ($169.99)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 ($69.90)
Motherboard: ASUS Prime B660-PLUS DDR4 ATX LGA1700 ($179.50)
GPU: Nvidia RTX 3060 12GB -EVGA XC Gaming ($301.50)
Memory: 32GB (2 x 16GB) G.Skill Trident Z Neo DDR4-3600 C16 ($89.99)
Storage PCIe-SSD: Sabrent Rocket 1TB NVMe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive ($69.99)
Power Supply: EVGA 650 B5, 80 Plus Bronze 650W Power Supply ($94.99)
Case: be quiet! Pure Base 600 Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.90)
Total: $1065.76
That's a decent starting point. I would shuffle around some budget to allocate more towards the GPU if your nephew's primarily gaming, so I'd recommend the AMD AM4 route here because of the cheaper platform.

Switch to an AMD Ryzen 5 5600 CPU, MSI Pro B550-A motherboard, and skip the cooler as you can use the included one. Also switch the memory to a 32GB (2x16GB) G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4-3200 CL16 kit.

That should free up around $200 to put towards a GPU. You can use it to upgrade to a much faster AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT at around $440~
 
  • Like
Reactions: Polymath_88
Polymath_88

Polymath_88

Tech Intern
Joined
Jan 16, 2024
Messages
3
Reaction score
2
Points
3
Location
Oregon
That's a decent starting point. I would shuffle around some budget to allocate more towards the GPU if your nephew's primarily gaming, so I'd recommend the AMD AM4 route here because of the cheaper platform.

Switch to an AMD Ryzen 5 5600 CPU, MSI Pro B550-A motherboard, and skip the cooler as you can use the included one. Also switch the memory to a 32GB (2x16GB) G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4-3200 CL16 kit.

That should free up around $200 to put towards a GPU. You can use it to upgrade to a much faster AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT at around $440~
Thank you for taking the time to respond! I appreciate your advice!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jerry James
Top