First timer. Where to go from here?

Bill_R

Well, my 11yo & 10yo and I just put together our first budget gaming pc.  We started watching YouTube to even find out where to start, Jay and Kyle, thank you.  I would say thanks to Linus, but I didn't have a $10,000 budget.  So, I asked friends and family looking to see if a diamond in the rough PC was in a closet somewhere that I could harvest some parts from, it didn't really work out, but I now have 4+ disassembled old PCs in the garage.  We learned about the parts a got some familiarity with them.  So, this is a really long post that will eventually ask where I should upgrade first.  This is the warning I feel should come with PC building.  It is an exciting and addicting hobby.  I sold an old Xbox 360, my MTG cards (it wasn't that many) and all the books for an paper and pencil RPG ( The One Ring, it is awesome but very different from D&D).  With all that my budget was set.  
MB: MSI A-320M PRO (new $67)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3200 (new $90)
RAM: Gskill RipJaw 16g.....2x8g 2400hz  (used for $40) Blue
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 1050 ti (used  $120, added after about two months of using the onboard vega graphics)
SSD: Silicon power 128g boot drive (new $25)
HDD: Seagate 7200 1 TB (harvested)
PSU: 720W cheap off brand, no certification (harvested) with blue LED
Case: Rosewill Nautilus (used but NIB for $30)
Optical drive: Sony who knows... (harvested)
and added a couple more blue LED fans and done. 
Games we play: Ghost of a Tale, Styx: Master of Shadows, 7 Days to Die, Baldur's Gate EE, Exanima, Kerbal Space Program and some other indie games.  We will be getting Minecraft, Fortnite, and I am looking forward to Baldur's Gate 3.  They also want to start learning to program their own games.. Ideas?

Please let us know where we should upgrade first?  I have my thoughts but would like some insight from you all.  Thanks so much.

TSTonyV

I think the first order of business would be getting a decent PSU. I would absolutely not trust an off or no-name brand with no certifications or indications of quality. The PSU is the heart of your system and if the PSU goes, it will very likely damage other components as well. 

I'm not very familiar with most of the games you listed, but I'm pretty sure the 1050ti is probably fine to run most of those at 1080p, so I'd probably look at some other areas first. A larger SSD to store games on for better loading times for example, that'd probably be one of the first things I look at. Or, you could look at upgrading the CPU to something like a Ryzen 3 3300X and pairing it with a better board/faster memory. 

Bill_R

Thanks so much.  I see what you are saying.  Fixing the foundation before the sheet rock. 

TSTonyV

Yeah, if there's one thing you should absolutely not cheap out on, it's the PSU. You don't need a super ultra expensive 1500W 80+ Platinum PSU, but getting something that's at least reputable goes a long way. 

Felicity

don't bother with an optical drive, it's 2020
>PSU: 720W cheap off brand, no certification (harvested) with blue LED
is 100% the most egregious error in this list. I've had very few parts feel dangerous; I had a PSU catch fire and melt the cable. The memory you're getting is a decent deal except that you want faster memory for ryzen (afaik).
You may be able to get 20 series GPUs soon here for under $300... watch out for those. I know I'll be selling my 2070s for pretty cheap if I can get my hands on a 3080 right away. it won't pair with that cpu very well though even if you did find a good one.

TSTonyV

Felicity said:

The memory you're getting is a decent deal except that you want faster memory for ryzen (afaik).

This is correct, really for any CPU. Faster memory can have some very noticeable performance benefits. Ryzen does scale well with memory speed, up to about DDR4-3600. Intel also scales with memory, though it's not exactly the same. 

Bill_R

Yeah, I knew the optical drive was not needed, but have a ton of old cds to rip to library.  Buying a new PSU is a priority.  Thanks.

wrench_bender

Good luck finding a ryzen 3300x, I've been searching and only found "not available" or "back order". A good alternative, imo, a 3600 or 2600.

How ever you go, enjoy the time with your boys.

Bill_R

Well, just a little update.  I have a Thermaltake 600w 80+ white and got some Corsair Vengeance 3200 ram 2x8.  My 11yo daughter installed the ram and helped cable manage the new PSU.   What is crazy, is I was wondering if something was up with my boot drive, because it was taking too long to boot up.  I was worried.  New PSU and problem is gone.  So, that was a total waste of $ and now has to go into the recycling bin.  Gave old ram to my bro who was running same ram but only had 1 x 8.  Plays the old and indie games we like well.  Remember Spore, it was on sale on steam, my kids love it.  Sadly I think we are about to buy another version of Minecraft.  

SimiusV

Bill_R said:

They also want to start learning to program their own games.. Ideas?

@Bill_R

I know I'm pretty late now, but There are a few pretty good options there. Scratch is something I've seen done with kids at work and they seem pretty into it. I've also seen Blocky and Code.org, but they don't look as nice imo. We also do Lego Mindstorms, but that requires a bit of a buy in, and its more for robotics.

Bill_R

SimiusV said:

Bill_R said:

They also want to start learning to program their own games.. Ideas?

@Bill_R

I know I'm pretty late now, but There are a few pretty good options there. Scratch is something I've seen done with kids at work and they seem pretty into it. I've also seen Blocky and Code.org, but they don't look as nice imo. We also do Lego Mindstorms, but that requires a bit of a buy in, and its more for robotics.

Hey, thanks!  I am looking at them now.

DezygnHer

We had a less than a GOOD experience Saturday evening 1.16.21 with one of the staff members in the Wayne/Radnor, PA store.
Who, what, when, where, and how do we report the details.  It would be preferred to speak with someone about this negative situation rather than type it all here.    
Thanks 

Ian

DezygnHer said:

We had a less than a GOOD experience Saturday evening 1.16.21 with one of the staff members in the Wayne/Radnor, PA store.
Who, what, when, where, and how do we report the details.  It would be preferred to speak with someone about this negative situation rather than type it all here.    
Thanks 

Greetings. We would like to hear about this, we have sent you an email for further assistance. 

Paul_2

For what it's worth, the super cheap power supplies of only a 300W-400W that you get with the case for $40, at Microcenter, have worked incredibly well for (30+) basic office builds (ALWAYS Gigabyte UD, i5 with integrated graphics, 8Gb and a single SSD).

My general philosophy for non dedicated GPU builds, is to go REALLY cheap, so the PSU is the weakest link and destroys itself quickly before it can take other stuff out, or for anything with a GPU a REALLY nice one so it just never dies.  It's the high wattage middle of the road where you have the most problems (budget gaming with gpu).  They don't die quickly enough, but they do die slowly, and in that time you start getting issues to your connected devices.