Topher
Identifies as young
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GAF I need your help! My son want a PC to play Minecraft and Fortnite. What’s a good low-mid range PC?
- Thread starter OverHeat
- Start date
Nonehxc
Member
Ahh, they grow up so fast.
Before you can blink, he will be asking for help to install mods.
PlayStaytion
Member
An APU is the best thing we've got but I recommend watching Jayztwocents videos cause he's cheap and reasonable when he talks about cheap builds.
OverHeat
« generous god »
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
OverHeat
« generous god »
Dorago
Member
You'd get more bang for your buck with a $1200 gaming laptop. A prebuilt tower still needs a monitor, keyboard, mouse, cables, and maybe a wifi adapter. Even the cheaper gaming laptops have 144hz monitors and everything else built in obviously.
If you're dead set on a tower though make your own on https://ca.pcpartpicker.com.
Just choose the the CPU you want, Ryzen 5 for instance, select a compatible motherboard, then go to that manufacturer's site and find the compatible parts list for the rest.
If you're dead set on a tower though make your own on https://ca.pcpartpicker.com.
Just choose the the CPU you want, Ryzen 5 for instance, select a compatible motherboard, then go to that manufacturer's site and find the compatible parts list for the rest.
Boo Who?
Member
I bought this laptop for my son to have down at college and it performs extremely well. It even runs MH Wilds at 60fps at 1080p.
Miyazaki’s Slave
Gold Member
crackajack
Member
I'd say give him the budget and he should select the parts himself. Choosing and screwing everything together is or can be part of the fun in PC gaming.
IFireflyl
Gold Member
PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/x7YW8Q
Obviously you would need to source that for Canada instead of US, but that should be around what you're looking for. Use the PC Part Picker site to tweak things so they are below $1,200 (CAD). That should be easy enough as I didn't necessarily pick the cheapest parts. For example, you could forgo the fully modular power supply and shave off ~$55 (CAD).
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor ($135.00 @ Amazon)
- CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.90 @ Amazon)
- Thermal Compound: Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut 1 g Thermal Paste ($7.75 @ ModMyMods)
- Motherboard: Asus PRIME B550M-A WIFI II Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.74 @ Amazon)
- Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($37.99 @ Amazon)
- Storage: Western Digital Black SN770 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($74.99 @ Newegg)
- Video Card: MSI VENTUS 2X BLACK OC GeForce RTX 4060 8 GB Video Card ($342.98 @ Newegg)
- Case: Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($39.99 @ Amazon)
- Power Supply: MSI MAG A650GL 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Obviously you would need to source that for Canada instead of US, but that should be around what you're looking for. Use the PC Part Picker site to tweak things so they are below $1,200 (CAD). That should be easy enough as I didn't necessarily pick the cheapest parts. For example, you could forgo the fully modular power supply and shave off ~$55 (CAD).
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Miyazaki’s Slave
Gold Member
Great recommendation based on the cost ceiling!!
Mr Moose
Member
There's a 5060 for $40 less from MSI (free shipping).
HerjansEagleFeeder
Member
Build a system around the new RX 9060 XT with 16G VRAM. Maybe a 7600X3D to go with it, 32G RAM.
Trogdor1123
Gold Member
If it is really just those two games, wouldn't a series S fit the bill?
Fortnite is free so you don't need to pay for the online there and even if you did, a year of gold would be cheap and add a few more games for his consideration.
A used series s can be as cheap as 150$.
Fortnite is free so you don't need to pay for the online there and even if you did, a year of gold would be cheap and add a few more games for his consideration.
A used series s can be as cheap as 150$.
Holammer
Member
Pretty sure the kids wants the PC version of minecraft for modding.
The console's fatal weakness!
Hideous Snake
Gold Member
PaintTinJr
Member
That's a Raspberry Pi 4 2GB or better with active fan solution for under £/$100 to run a server with 10-20 player server on linux. No need to change the PC to linux just for that IMO.On the other hand, making your kid learn Linux, mess around with terminal, drivers and mods is a great learning opportunity!
OverHeat
As for the question. Without having a spare GPU, buying a GPU second hand or using integrated graphics I don't think I could build anything lower than this and still feel it gave him a level playing field for Fornite type games by CPU with all the other compromises and having baseline quality parts that gave him a fair shout to do a first build himself (Total: $872.27 CAD but only $328 CAD left to buy a GPU - like a RX 7600 or RTX 2060s/3060 2nd hand.
All said £668 is a smallish budget to add a brand new discrete graphics to.
Prices have already changed new total $826.87 CAD leaving just shy of $400($373) CAD for a discrete GPU.
So added a 3060 12GB at $400, new Total: $1225.87
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Trogdor1123
Gold Member
That's a very fair. In that case, I'd also recommend one of those mini pcs with a decent igpu. It will be useful after too and will only cost you like $5-600
Trilobit
Absolutely Cozy
"Father, can I please have ze Steam Deck so I kan play outzide in ze sun?"
"NEIN!!! You shall only play inzide in ze darkness, mein sohn! Now eat your sauerbraten!"
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Portugeezer
Member
According to Alex Battyman of DF, 4060 is a low end.
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FalconPunch
Member
OverHeat
Here's a build I'd actually buy. You can trim some money off here but it gives your son cheap options in the future in terms of cpu and gpu. If you already have a monitor, then this is an $1100 CAD build.
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iQuasarLV
Member
What about Minis Forum?
Most of the non AMD AIx CPUS are going for $500-$700 for a setup at this time. Basically figure a entry level gaming laptop in mini PC form.
Most of the non AMD AIx CPUS are going for $500-$700 for a setup at this time. Basically figure a entry level gaming laptop in mini PC form.
Crayon
Member
You might want to go a lower if it's just for all that. Money saving tips:
If you can find one for closer to $200 than $300, an 8gb card would be fine. Any more than $250 and try to get one with more vram just on principle lol.
Don't cheap out on the power supply! This is one part you really don't want fucking with you.
Ram is cheap so get at least 16 but let it fly if you want some more.
Sata ssd vs nvme for that kind of game - probably not going to care about the difference.
A larger case than a smaller one is generally more tolerant to neglect because airflow is naturally better. So dust and old paste don't catch up as fast. Much easier to build, too. The short tower cases already get you second guessing what parts to cram in there and the truly small ones can become a real project.
The concept of "future proofing" can pull you down a rabbit hole. If you really only expect him to play those kind of games, then that is the future. If he might get into heavier games, then that is the future you proof for. Not for the endless march of tech.
Almost all your esports games have really low specs and you can get away with games that look great (for what they are) at 60fps with some cheap kit.
If you can find one for closer to $200 than $300, an 8gb card would be fine. Any more than $250 and try to get one with more vram just on principle lol.
Don't cheap out on the power supply! This is one part you really don't want fucking with you.
Ram is cheap so get at least 16 but let it fly if you want some more.
Sata ssd vs nvme for that kind of game - probably not going to care about the difference.
A larger case than a smaller one is generally more tolerant to neglect because airflow is naturally better. So dust and old paste don't catch up as fast. Much easier to build, too. The short tower cases already get you second guessing what parts to cram in there and the truly small ones can become a real project.
The concept of "future proofing" can pull you down a rabbit hole. If you really only expect him to play those kind of games, then that is the future. If he might get into heavier games, then that is the future you proof for. Not for the endless march of tech.
Almost all your esports games have really low specs and you can get away with games that look great (for what they are) at 60fps with some cheap kit.
PaintTinJr
Member
The problem with the games he wants to play are that both are heavily single core bottleneck, so I'm not sure a base clock of 2.5GHz will cut it - which is the clock the the system will get when fornite and minecraft scale above one core - to six cores - they all get dragged down to base clock.
That was the reason why I felt even the cheaper AMD 7600 non-X was to slow at base clock.
FalconPunch
Member
If he has a monitor, he can swap out the 13400f for a 13600k and it'd be fine. It's only an extra 50 bucks bringing the total to 1150 without the monitor.
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delirium trigger
Member
Gaming at 4k on pc is how it gets crazy expensive. Consoles are kind of fake 4k.
OverHeat
« generous god »
Trying to convince the wife to get him a 9070 XT
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PeteBull
Member
This lil beast is as strong as ps5pr0 minimum in every possible aspect + it has great upgrading capability incase u/ur kid wanna get better rig few years down the line.
Steve Holt
Member
A ps5
bitbydeath
Member
Beware: Modding in Minecraft will give you grey hairs.
Most of the mods were built 20 years ago, are no longer supported and your kids will ask endlessly for them.
hououinkyouma00
Member
The good thing though is that his CPU won't matter nearly as much at 4K so you can slide some of that budget over to the GPU.
64gigabyteram
Reverse groomer.
a phone
GreatnessRD
Member
PCPartPicker Part List: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/CzJmHW
CPU: Intel Core i5-12400F 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor ($153.95 @ Vuugo)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($49.90 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: MSI PRO B760M-P DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($99.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Western Digital WD Blue SN5000 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($75.95 @ shopRBC)
Case: Montech AIR 100 ARGB MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($69.95 @ Vuugo)
Power Supply: be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($129.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Custom: RADEON RX 9060 XT 16GB ($485.99)
Total: $1200.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-05-28 23:21 EDT-0400
OR
PCPartPicker Part List: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/3gVGRV
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor ($167.86 @ Vuugo)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin X Refined SE ARGB CPU Cooler ($23.90 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: ASRock B550M Phantom Gaming 4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($122.20 @ shopRBC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($79.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Patriot P400 Lite 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($129.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Case: Montech AIR 100 ARGB MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($69.95 @ Vuugo)
Power Supply: be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($129.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Custom: RADEON RX 9060 XT 16GB ($485.99)
Total: $1209.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-05-28 23:30 EDT-0400
I'd ball up top with the Ryzen rig, lol (And I put the 9060 XT in there as a placeholder AND at fake MSRP of $349.99) But still gives you a rough idea in which ways you can go.
ReasonBeing
Member
I've been using GeForce Now since I've been away from home for the past couple of weeks. Crazy good experience. I'm a believer.
Black_Stride
do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
This has been untrue about Intel CPUs since forever.
They clock based on PL1 and PL2....when PL2 time is passed they will clock/watt down, not to base clock but lower than boost, lowering until they can maintain PL1(with simple workloads it could be at max boost while under PL1).
The 13400 has a PL1 of 65W..........its PL2 is closer to 150W(Intel doesnt even follow their own PL2s im sure it hits 200 easy work).
MY 12400 at 60fps barely touches 65W cept in the most multithreaded and heavy games.....if im only playing at 60 it actually seems like its borked because the Wattage is so low.
So the 13400 will be slightly higher due to having e-cores buts its not going load up all cores needing to lower clocks to hit 65W.
Base frequency is lowest the clocks should go when fully loaded, it can clock even lower when relaxing.
These are both really amazing builds.
I know modded MineCraft can get to 8GB of VRAM which is why I suggested a 4060Ti'16G or 4070'12G or their Blackwell equivalents, havent kept up on prices of the xx60s I always assumed they were under 500?
But if the 9060XT'16G can be had for that much, its a no brainer.
CrustyBritches
Gold Member
Depends on his age and budget. For the cheaper end of things get a Ryzen 3600, RTX 2060, 16GB RAM, and 1TB SSD.
PaintTinJr
Member
Well when I built and tested my nephews' (Intel 9th/10th/11th gen)PCs with games(minecraft was one) the Windows task manager frequencies say otherwise. The clock immediately drops to base under any mild multi-core load except for the 9th gen K model on a top tier mobo chipset set for high performance in the bios.This has been untrue about Intel CPUs since forever.
They clock based on PL1 and PL2....when PL2 time is passed they will clock/watt down, not to base clock but lower than boost, lowering until they can maintain PL1(with simple workloads it could be at max boost while under PL1).
The 13400 has a PL1 of 65W..........its PL2 is closer to 150W(Intel doesnt even follow their own PL2s im sure it hits 200 easy work).
MY 12400 at 60fps barely touches 65W cept in the most multithreaded and heavy games.....if im only playing at 60 it actually seems like its borked because the Wattage is so low.
So the 13400 will be slightly higher due to having e-cores buts its not going load up all cores needing to lower clocks to hit 65W.
Base frequency is lowest the clocks should go when fully loaded, it can clock even lower when relaxing.
These are both really amazing builds.
I know modded MineCraft can get to 8GB of VRAM which is why I suggested a 4060Ti'16G or 4070'12G or their Blackwell equivalents, havent kept up on prices of the xx60s I always assumed they were under 500?
But if the 9060XT'16G can be had for that much, its a no brainer.
