First PC

[Fathergamer]

Sorry guys, i dont know where else to turn to. I’m sure that this has come across tou all prob way too many times but i’m looking into buying a gaming pc for my son. I have always been a console gamer and this area is progressing even as we speak. Whats a good pc(hopefully a link) to a good starter gaming pc for about $500. I’m sorry if this is a repeat question for you guys.

 

[Oussebon]

Always worth asking that question, as the answer can be different depending on the needs

What monitor will you / your son be using to game on?

Is it $500 for just the tower? Or are you expecting to get the PC and the monitor for that price?

What sorts of games are you wanting it to run? Any specific titles?

 

[Fathergamer]

Always worth asking that question, as the answer can be different depending on the needs

What monitor will you / your son be using to game on?

Is it $500 for just the tower? Or are you expecting to get the PC and the monitor for that price?

What sorts of games are you wanting it to run? Any specific titles?

Tower only at the moment, already have a planar pxl2470mw monitor or asus computer monitor. Plan on getting mouse and keyboard along the way, as well as any other additional needs. At the moment only playing low-res steam games like minecraft and TF2.

 

[Fathergamer]

And really $500 is a roundabout #, something close

 

[Zoid]

Sorry guys, i dont know where else to turn to. I’m sure that this has come across tou all prob way too many times but i’m looking into buying a gaming pc for my son. I have always been a console gamer and this area is progressing even as we speak. Whats a good pc(hopefully a link) to a good starter gaming pc for about $500. I’m sorry if this is a repeat question for you guys.

No worries! We're always happy to offer advice to anyone trying to get into PC gaming.

The first thing I will mention to anyone looking to buy a gaming PC is that you will almost always get better performance for your money if you build your own PC rather than buying a pre-built retail gaming PC. This can seem intimidating if you have never looked into it before, but it's actually a fairly straightforward process and there are lots of resources out there to help you (these forums among them). If this is something you're open to, it might be a fun project for you and your son to do together.

Now let's get on to the PC itself. I should start off by mentioning that $500 is on the lower end of the gaming PC price spectrum. This isn't to say you can't get a competent computer for $500 - solid 1080p performance is definitely achievable - I just want to manage expectations.

Here is the kind of parts list I would recommend if you were building a custom gaming PC for around $500:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($129.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Asus TUF B450M-PRO GAMING Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($98.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston A400 480 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 570 4 GB RS XXX Video Card ($129.99 @ Best Buy)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12III 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ B&H)
Total: $508.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-19 00:16 EDT-0400

The only things missing here are a case and an operating system.

This would give you pretty good 1080p performance in most modern games. I'm happy to answer any questions you have about my reasoning for selecting various components, but I'll wait for another post to avoid making this a wall of text.