I'm trying to put together a budget-friendly PC for my son's upcoming birthday. I already have a 750W power supply and an XFX Speedster RX6800 graphics card, but I'm struggling to find a suitable case and motherboard. I came across a deal for a Z390A Pro motherboard, an i5 9600K processor, 8GB of RAM (unsure of the brand), a GTX 1050Ti graphics card, and a 2TB SATA hard drive for $250. Is this a reasonable price? Also, do you think this setup can handle the RX6800, or should I keep searching for better options?
5 Answers
Make sure that the RX6800 fits within the case you’re considering. Ideally, you’d want a setup with 16GB of RAM. An AM4 system could be a good option—something like a Ryzen 5 3600X or 5600 with a B350/B450 motherboard and 16GB of RAM would pair better with that GPU.
Is your son actually interested in building a PC? If I were you, I'd consider just buying him an entry-level gaming PC instead. Honestly, if you're sourcing parts for a low-end build, you might end up spending close to $1,000.
You really should aim for at least 16GB of RAM in today's gaming scene, plus an SSD would make a huge difference. If possible, see if you can upgrade parts from an old corporate computer and just add the new GPU.
Using a spinning hard drive is tough on performance—I wouldn't want my kid dealing with that.
I hear you! I would have loved a 7200rpm drive when I was a kid instead of the really slow ones I had to use.
Honestly, pairing that high-end GPU with a 2018-era CPU like the i5 9600K is going to cause some bottleneck issues. Plus, running on only 8GB of RAM is pretty tight. The RX6800 is a bit overkill for an 11-year-old; you might want to consider a used Ryzen 5 5600X bundle instead—it would definitely be a better match for the price.
That's my concern, too. I'm thinking of grabbing a Microcenter bundle and putting it all in a budget-friendly case, but I'm based in Seattle. Since I already have the 6800, I might opt for something like a 3060 instead for better balance.
I’m genuinely worried about fitting the 6800 in whatever case I end up with. It's significantly larger than my previous card, the 9070XT.