Gaming pc under £500. Parent help needed

[inner city unit]

Hi there.

Okay I'm a parent in need of advice for a Christmas present I have no idea about.

I am a motorcycle mechanic so this is a blind area for me.

I was looking at pc world and curry's, however on my budget they offer a single 8gb system.

I've looked on ebay at fierce pc and ccl 16gb systems.

Please help with components or if you can see a set up on ebay show me what to look for.

I only need the tower as he will be using his current screen.

It needs to be wifi.
16gb
Fast processor speed
Decent cooling fans as he spends all his time on there.

By the way he is 11 going on 18.

Also wants an elgato to link to his ps4 as he makes videos for YouTube. ....
That's all I know

Please help

 

[TriplexDread]

Any preference of what processor is needed? AMD or Intel?

 

[V_R]

Welcome.

For the PC, I'd personally avoid eBay like the plague. PC world and Currys probably won't be that much better either to be totally honest with you.

£500 is doable, but tight.

For the PC something like this would be ok:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/tita...w-vpPd-)6pTO-/$rOjw@UrOkw?8rOlw?ZrOmw?.rOnw/3

Or better still this as its an i5 quad core rather than the dual core above.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/tita...+8)jjq+8'jjAw*(jjBw*'pOS-*9rNrw*vrNsw)1rNtw)3


You can change the spec to your needs and budget. They build it, install Windows and test it. Easy.

FYI 8GB of RAM will be fine and will save you a few quid or put it towards a better graphics card.


As for the Elgato, I don't know much of them, but there are two here...

This one installs into the PC: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elgato-Capture-PlayStation-Definition-Recorder/dp/B0082J1YCE

and this one is a stand alone unit: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elgato-Capture-PlayStation-Definition-Recorder/dp/B0082J1YCE

Which one is better, I have no idea, but would assume the PCIe card you install into the system (first link) would be better than the other one.

 

[inner city unit]

I have no idea on to processors so welcome any advice.

Thank you so far.

Yes £500 maximum budget.

Also would you use any keyboard or wireless controller

 

[inner city unit]

What firewall antivirus software while I'm thinking about it.

Thank you

Other pc suggestions welcome

 

[EvanDavis]

What firewall antivirus software while I'm thinking about it

Windows has it's own firewall which does as it says on the tin. No need for a third party one. As for antivirus, there are a few decent free ones about, BitDefender is probably the best and a few folks in the forum use it.

 

[floppybootstomp]

You mention you only need the PC tower as you already have a monitor, do you also have keyboard, mouse and loudspeakers for the new machine? The keyboard and mouse would need to be of a decent quality for gaming.

Most PC games are better played with keyboard and mouse but some games, such as motor racing games, benefit from a controller/gamepad, I can recommend the Microsoft wireless controller for PC. Also, a gaming software app named Steam have just released their own controller, I've no idea how good it is but I'm going to buy one shortly, they cost £40.

For processors, Intel currently rule the roost and a quad core i5 processor would be your starting point. AMD are their rival processor manufacturer, they're good, cheaper, but do lag a little behind Intel when it comes to performance.

Other free anti-virus apps are Microsoft Security Essentials, AVG and Antivir. There are others. I don't personally like Bitdefender, too invasive of Privacy imo but there again so is Windows 10 so...