My 9-year-old son is getting more interested in PC gaming. His current system was built several years ago from spare parts and is now fairly outdated: an AMD FX-8350, 16GB of DDR3 memory, and a GTX 660. Roblox can stutter at times, and I'd like to upgrade it before Christmas so he can play lighter games such as Fortnite and other social multiplayer titles with his friends.
The case is a newer ATX model, and the system has an EVGA 450W Bronze power supply, a 250GB SSD, and some additional storage available. I'm considering an APU because of current memory and graphics card prices, but I'm also open to a used CPU, motherboard, RAM, and dedicated GPU combination. My budget is around $300 maximum.
I'm hoping for something that can provide roughly four or five years of decent performance for these lighter games. He also has a Switch 2, so this doesn't need to run the newest demanding releases—just the games he actually plays without hardware-related lag. What upgrade path would make the most sense?
4 Answers
It may be worth checking local used listings or asking around for spare parts. Older Ryzen 5 processors and GTX 1660 cards are common enough that a complete upgrade could come in under budget, and someone may even have compatible parts they no longer need. A dedicated GPU is likely the most noticeable improvement for this use case.
Keyboard and mouse use mostly comes down to the child’s experience and the games they play. If he’s already comfortable with the controls and enjoys PC games, age alone shouldn’t be a problem. Roblox also supports controllers for some experiences, so a controller can be an option if certain games are easier that way.
A used Ryzen 5 system combined with a GTX 1660 would be a practical target. The existing case, SSD, and 450W power supply should be usable as long as the power supply is in good condition and has the required GPU connector. Fortnite and Roblox should run comfortably at sensible settings, and this type of build fits the goal much better than chasing modern high-end hardware.
For this budget, used parts may offer much better value than a new APU. An older AM4 setup with something like a Ryzen 5 1600 or 2600, paired with a used GTX 1660 or another affordable 10-series card, should be a substantial improvement over the FX-8350 and GTX 660. Integrated graphics in many budget APUs probably won’t outperform a decent used dedicated card by enough to justify giving up the extra graphics performance.
That makes sense. I’ll prioritize finding a reasonably priced used AM4 combination and a dedicated graphics card rather than relying entirely on integrated graphics.