Kid's gaming PC is pure chaos

And honestly, if we are going to be completely candid about this, one should also acknowledge that Intel's current success is largely a byproduct of rather distasteful business practices implemented at multiple levels. Back when things were relatively transparent, AMD was consistently undermining them, much like how ATI used to squeeze Nvidia. My contention is that over the next few years, AMD will likely seize control of the market precisely because they have managed to avoid making enemies in the corporate world—whereas Intel and Nvidia seem to cultivate a massive legion of adversaries, even if they manage not to provoke an outcry every single day. There is a very real possibility that AMD could eventually push them out of the picture entirely, clearing the way for those new yet familiar players who have been suppressed and marginalized until now.

None of these three companies are ever going to go bankrupt. They might scale back operations or pivot their strategy, but they aren't disappearing anytime soon. From a business standpoint, AMD is much smaller—Intel has about 10 to 11 times more employees—and since all three firms don't operate in the exact same niches, it’s all relative. Right now, AMD is seeing a massive resurgence, better described as a comeback. Nvidia is consistently growing and performing brilliantly, while Intel is facing some growing pains in specific sectors, like the server market and their manufacturing plants (due to current capacity issues and years of playing it too safe with process node advancements). Even so, Intel is still doing fine. They actually predicted their loss of CPU market share a few years ago and proactively laid off staff (nearly 1.5 times the size of AMD's workforce) and pivoted toward other areas to cover those gaps, so they remain profitable. Essentially, they grew beyond what was realistically sustainable because of their near-monopoly. As for the drama, history shows that Intel and Nvidia have often played the "villain" role, while AMD frequently played the victim. Recently, both giants have started acting a bit more predatory—especially in the deep learning and AI markets where billions are at stake—so it’s only natural that people feel more sympathy for AMD, especially considering the miracles they pull off with a fraction of the budget and manpower. We should welcome this comeback; stronger competition is always better for us consumers. You can see the proof in the CPU market: we went through an entire decade dominated by Intel quad-cores, followed by six years of hyperthreading at $2500-$1000, and even in the HEDT space, we were stuck with 8c16t from $3000 and such.

Regarding the fanboyism, that mostly comes from the general public—mostly teenagers or people who just don't understand the tech and act like brand slaves. Honestly, you should just buy whatever gives you the best value for your money. That's how you should look at things.

crimsonstag84 said:Well, I'm already paying off my setup in installments, so maybe it's too good to be true? 😬

Unfortunately, it really does seem too good to be true, especially coming from Best Buy.
Their pricing on that $3.00 setup just blew right past any reasonable ceiling, and honestly, I just copy-pasted your configuration. On top of that, they had this totally indifferent, half-hearted attitude, acting like I was planning to drop $25 instead of $2.50.

The guy over at the Uzi shop was actually great, and I’d love to work with them, but they’re a bit pricier, so I have to make some compromises.
Is it possible to mix your parts with Kimberly Gomez34's build? Specifically, I'd want to swap out:
- ASRock Radeon Phantom gaming D RX570 4

for this:
- VGA Palit G GTX 1050Ti 4GB StormX GDDR5, HDMI, DVI*2, DP, 2S.

They didn't have the specific cooler, case, or power supply you listed, so I'm wondering if I can just grab those from Kimberly Gomez34's link instead?

Before I confuse anyone else, will this combo actually run smoothly?

- AMD CPU Desktop Ryzen 5 6C/12T 1600X (3.6/4.0GHz Boost, 19MB, 95W, AM4) box
- Case LC-Power Dragonslayer LC-984B-ON, black without PSU
- VGA Palit G GTX 1050Ti 4GB StormX GDDR5, HDMI, DVI*2, DP, 2S.
- Kingston Technology A400 SSD 240 GB 240 GB 2.5
- 2x Apacer DDR4 2400MHz, 4GB
- Xilence M704 CPU cooler for Intel and AMD processors, 120mm PWM fan
- Toshiba P300 1TB, 64MB, 7200rpm
- Motherboard MBO Gigabyte GA-AB350M-Gaming 3, AM4, A350, D4, S3, U3mATX
- Cooler master MWE 500 w, 80 PLUS bulk
- Acer nitro VG240Ybmiix led monitor FreeSync

That would bring the total to roughly =$2453.

I'll just grab Windows 10 on eBay (thanks for the tips), so I should stay within budget.

What do you guys think?

Thanks again to everyone helping me out.

Man, that's a bummer. Amazon is pretty reliable too and their prices aren't bad... I'll probably just adjust my build list there.

EDIT:

ASRock Radeon Phantom gaming D RX580 8 GB AMD Ryzen 5 1600 Gigabyte GA-AX370M-GAMING 3 Toshiba P300 1 TB Acer nitro VG240Ybmiix led monitor LC-Power Dragonslayer LC-984B-ON
AMD Ryzen 5 1600
Gigabyte GA-AX370M-GAMING 3
Toshiba P300 1TB
Acer nitro VG240Ybmiix led monitor
LC-Power Dragonslayer LC-984B-ON, black without PSU
Kingston Technology A400 SSD 240 GB 240 GB 2.5"
G. Skill Aegis 8GB DDR4 3000Mhz
be quiet! system Power 9 500 w

7 $180 - Amazon

Damn, 😬 that's a bit steep, especially since RX 580 cards are pricey here in the States. But, you might still save some cash... if you pick up a GPU from ADM (CLICK) and bring it over to the shop to have them bundle it with the rest of the build, it should work out fine. That's where $100 the savings are.

With a budget like yours, I honestly feel it would be a missed opportunity to settle for a gtx 1050, as its performance is quite underwhelming. An RX 570 offers a significantly more substantial boost, especially since you also gain access to FreeSync, though if you could manage it, an RX 580 8GB would truly be the ideal choice for your setup.

My only hesitation lies with that specific ASRock phantom model, which, in my humble opinion, is rather subpar when it comes to thermal management and noise levels; you would likely find much better satisfaction by selecting a higher-quality version of the 570 or perhaps even a 580 4GB.

crimsonstag84 said:Man, that's a bummer. Amazon is pretty reliable too and their prices aren't bad... I'll probably just adjust my build list there.

EDIT:

ASRock Radeon Phantom gaming D RX580 8 GB AMD Ryzen 5 1600 Gigabyte GA-AX370M-GAMING 3 Toshiba P300 1 TB Acer nitro VG240Ybmiix led monitor LC-Power Dragonslayer LC-984B-ON
AMD Ryzen 5 1600
Gigabyte GA-AX370M-GAMING 3
Toshiba P300 1TB
Acer nitro VG240Ybmiix led monitor
LC-Power Dragonslayer LC-984B-ON, black without PSU
Kingston Technology A400 SSD 240 GB 240 GB 2.5"
G. Skill Aegis 8GB DDR4 3000Mhz
be quiet! system Power 9 500 w

7 $180 - Amazon

Damn, 😬 that's a bit steep, especially since RX 580 cards are pricey here in the States. But, you might still save some cash... if you pick up a GPU from ADM (CLICK) and bring it over to the shop to have them bundle it with the rest of the build, it should work out fine. That's where $100 the savings are.

Thanks crimsonstag84, I've rewritten the configuration and I'm about to send it to Micro Center, but one quick question before I hit send; do I actually need a CPU cooler? And maybe I'll swap out the graphics card after all, though I shouldn't overthink it.

Ashley Wood3 said:With a budget like yours, I honestly feel it would be a missed opportunity to settle for a gtx 1050, as its performance is quite underwhelming. An RX 570 offers a significantly more substantial boost, especially since you also gain access to FreeSync, though if you could manage it, an RX 580 8GB would truly be the ideal choice for your setup.

My only hesitation lies with that specific ASRock phantom model, which, in my humble opinion, is rather subpar when it comes to thermal management and noise levels; you would likely find much better satisfaction by selecting a higher-quality version of the 570 or perhaps even a 580 4GB.

Can I ask one more thing? How much (and what specifically) am I losing if I just go with the RX 570 4GB? I mean, I won't go broke over a hundred bucks, but I'm thinking about this from the perspective of a 13-year-old kid, and I'm working six days straight just to afford this GPU... 🕺

We were actually discussing the 1600X, which doesn't come with a cooler, unlike the standard 1600...

The performance gap between those two GPUs is roughly 10-15% in scenarios where memory capacity isn't the bottleneck. However, if you're feeling adventurous and want to buy the graphics card separately, you could order this instead. That one is priced at $255 (which would bring your $646 total to about $295 once you factor in standard shipping and US sales tax). It'll just take a little while to arrive
.

Kimberly Gomez34 said:We were actually discussing the 1600X, which doesn't come with a cooler, unlike the standard 1600...

The performance gap between those two GPUs is roughly 10-15% in scenarios where memory capacity isn't the bottleneck. However, if you're feeling adventurous and want to buy the graphics card separately, you could order this instead. That one is priced at $255 (which would bring your $646 total to about $295 once you factor in standard shipping and US sales tax). It'll just take a little while to arrive
.

Damn, I always assumed extensions like type x, s, or ini meant an improved, better, more advanced version. 🤦 Thanks for clearing that up
.
I'm definitely not ordering a GPU from Amazon because:
- My kid is expecting specific results / high scores (or whatever) in Fortnite next week
- A 10-15% "worse" experience is totally fine for a 13-year-old. So, we'll probably just go with the RX 570 4GB; maybe I'll bump it up to 8GB if he actually pulls off a grade of 5 on his history test.😬

The issue is that an RX 570 4GB at Best Buy is only $133 more, and since the 8GB versions are $33 cheaper than the RX 580 8GB there, the value proposition is pretty questionable.

This XFX RX 580 8GB over at ADM costs practically the same as the RX 570 at Best Buy, which is why I’d suggest going that route instead. I'd probably order this one first and then take it over to Best Buy to have them build the rig.

The Uzi components are compatible, so upgrading you for free shouldn't be an issue, though I’d definitely double-check with them just to be safe—even if the answer is almost certainly yes.

Hey everyone, just wanted to drop a quick update so you all know how this whole saga wrapped up.

Here’s the final build I went with:

Kingston Technology A400 SSD 240 GB 240 GB 2.5
Toshiba P300 1TB
AMD Ryzen 5 1600
LC-Power Dragonslayer LC-984B-ON
ASRock Radeon Phantom gaming D RX570 4
Gigabyte B450M DS3H
G. Skill Aegis 8GB DDR4 3000Mhz
be quiet! system Power 9 500 w
Acer nitro VG240Ybmiix led monitor FreeSync

Got a keyboard, mouse, and ethernet cable too, bringing the total to roughly $2.75.

Everything was picked up at Best Buy, and honestly, I am beyond happy with the service there.

I grabbed a Windows 10 Key on eBay for about $6.50.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me out.

Only problem is... I totally bombed my history exam, so the PC is stuck in hibernate mode until Sunday. What a bummer! 😬

Everything is great except for that last sentence—what a bummer! 😁

be quiet!'s Pure Power 9 500 w is a remarkably quiet unit, though its architecture struggles if you start putting uneven pressure on the +12V and 5V rails.
CONS
Cross Load performanca • performanca of The 3.3 V rail in Transient Tests • Power Good

I honestly feel like there were better options out there for the money.

Nicole Garcia43 said:Hey everyone, just wanted to drop a quick update so you all know how this whole saga wrapped up.

Here’s the final build I went with:

Kingston Technology A400 SSD 240 GB 240 GB 2.5
Toshiba P300 1TB
AMD Ryzen 5 1600
LC-Power Dragonslayer LC-984B-ON
ASRock Radeon Phantom gaming D RX570 4
Gigabyte B450M DS3H
G. Skill Aegis 8GB DDR4 3000Mhz
be quiet! system Power 9 500 w
Acer nitro VG240Ybmiix led monitor FreeSync

Got a keyboard, mouse, and ethernet cable too, bringing the total to roughly $2.75.

Everything was picked up at Best Buy, and honestly, I am beyond happy with the service there.

I grabbed a Windows 10 Key on eBay for about $6.50.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me out.

Only problem is... I totally bombed my history exam, so the PC is stuck in hibernate mode until Sunday. What a bummer! 😬

🤣

I feel as though I no longer have any need for university lectures; perhaps it would be more beneficial to unlock a small computer and finally learn something truly practical.

Nicole Garcia43 said:Hey everyone, just wanted to drop a quick update so you all know how this whole saga wrapped up.

Here’s the final build I went with:

Kingston Technology A400 SSD 240 GB 240 GB 2.5
Toshiba P300 1TB
AMD Ryzen 5 1600
LC-Power Dragonslayer LC-984B-ON
ASRock Radeon Phantom gaming D RX570 4
Gigabyte B450M DS3H
G. Skill Aegis 8GB DDR4 3000Mhz
be quiet! system Power 9 500 w
Acer nitro VG240Ybmiix led monitor FreeSync

Got a keyboard, mouse, and ethernet cable too, bringing the total to roughly $2.75.

Everything was picked up at Best Buy, and honestly, I am beyond happy with the service there.

I grabbed a Windows 10 Key on eBay for about $6.50.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me out.

Only problem is... I totally bombed my history exam, so the PC is stuck in hibernate mode until Sunday. What a bummer! 😬

Honestly, this isn't even funny, it's just brutal... I mean, come on, three strikes? It's not like we're talking about one. WTF.

Ashley Wood3 said:I feel as though I no longer have any need for university lectures; perhaps it would be more beneficial to unlock a small computer and finally learn something truly practical.

Bingo. Truth be told, practical experience has done far more for me in life than any damn formal education ever could. Honestly, some people are so naive—especially those wide-eyed young parents out there...

One ought to focus exclusively on mathematics, as all other disciplines—physics, chemistry, electronics, programming, and so forth—eventually branch out from that single foundation. There is quite simply no practical value in studying history, geography, English literature, or those various other forms of indoctrination used to cloud one's intellect.