My 9-year-old son is getting more interested in PC gaming. His current system was built several years ago from spare parts and has an AMD FX-8350, 16GB of DDR3 memory, a GTX 660, a 250GB SSD, and a 450W EVGA Bronze power supply. The ATX case is newer and can be reused, and I have additional storage available.
He mainly plays Roblox under supervision, but the system sometimes struggles with that. I'd like to upgrade it enough for lighter games such as Fortnite and other social multiplayer titles to run smoothly. I'm hoping to spend no more than $300 and get roughly four or five years of useful gaming from the upgrade. He also has a Switch 2, so this doesn't need to run demanding new releases—just the games he plays with friends without hardware-related lag.
I was considering an APU because of current RAM and graphics card prices, but I'm open to suggestions involving a CPU, motherboard, memory, and dedicated GPU. Used parts are also an option.
2 Answers
A dedicated graphics card is likely the best place to spend the limited budget. A used Ryzen 5 system combined with a GTX 1660-class card should handle Fortnite and Roblox comfortably at 1080p, especially with sensible settings. The existing case, SSD, and 450W power supply may be reusable, assuming the power supply is in good condition and has the required connectors. There was also an offer of an older Ryzen 5 and GTX 1660 that could make this upgrade especially affordable.
For this budget, used parts may offer much better gaming performance than a new APU. An older AM4 combination such as a Ryzen 5 1600 or 2600 with a compatible motherboard and 16GB of DDR4 would be a solid starting point. Pairing that with a used GTX 1660—or even a suitable older 10-series card—should be a much larger improvement over the GTX 660. Most integrated graphics in this price range probably won’t provide a dramatic upgrade, especially for getting several more years out of the system.
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