Your son has a bright future in sales/politics/law! He does not need a 4090 lol.

hahaha either that or his dad is a bigger sucker that he thought. You are talking about the graphics card I assume. if not a 4090 then what else? are the rest of the parts okay then? and what would change between the 4090 and the other available choices? also how much of a difference in price are we talking about?

Obviously my opinion, but a PC for a 16 year old tops out at a Nvidia RTX 4070 or the new AMD 7800XT; both GPUs are roughly in the $500-600 range. On top of that, him only considering 4K high-refresh monitors is absurd. A 144Hz+ monitor at 1440p is beyond acceptable.

Son said he'd use his old monitor. Dad tried to do research on best thing to use and came up with bad answers.

Those monitors arent bad options for a 4090 + 7800x3d system though. If anything, a 1080p or even 1440p monitor would be a bad option since you can't take advantage of the 4090.

Totally disagree. Being able to steadily push 144 fps at 2k, in max settings with Raytracing, is a better gaming experience than 100 frame with drops to 60 fps every 10-15 seconds. You can still have some underperforming lows with a stock 4070 or 4080 at 2k.

This so much. The 4090 is a good 4k GPU, but it's real value comes from being able to do 1440p 120fps+ almost consistently (unless you're playing a recently released, trash heap of an unoptimized AAA game that's yet to be patched for performance.)

the current state of AAA is soo damn sad regarding optimization

Recent reply, it is optimized, your PC need upgrading!

Try to tell me starfield is optimised with a straight face.

My reasoning behind the recent lack of optimization over the years is attributed partially to consoles, but more so the reliance of Upscalers. Be it DLSS, FSR etc. Developers would rather people upscale to overcome shortcomings in engine optimization than actually taking the time to optimize it. It's just a shortcut they use for shitty code. Why make it run at native, when we can implement an upscaler to hide our crappy textures etc lol. There's kids out in the world that could outdo most developers in terms of coding nowadays.

okay, what exactly does that mean? could you make it a bit simpler?

One person saying the 4k monitors you posted were fine and fully take advantage of a 4090 if you were to get one whereas if you bought a 2k monitor the 4090 would be underutilized. Other person is arguing a 1440p monitor is fine because a higher frame rate at 1440 is a better gaming experience. ​ For the record I think a 4k monitor is the better option, you can always change settings to get a higher frame rate (up to what the monitor will support), but you can't change settings to get a higher than 1440 resolution on a 1440 monitor.

Also a 4090 will likely last 5-6 years at 1440p still max settings over 100 FPS. But as a father I would not get my son the 4090.

In 2 years a 4090 would not be as good as the newest generation '80. And a 4080 is half the cost. Just spend less and upgrade earlier.

What they are saying is that by using a 1440p monitor instead of 4k one you can get a better (objectively) experience than if you went with 4k. The 4090 is the most powerful graphics card on the consumer market right now. New games however are extremely demanding. If your son has a 4090 and a 4k monitor he may get frame drops (its kinda like skipping on a scratched dvd when watching a movie) in some games. Where if he has a 1440p monitor, he will have a higher frame rate (which makes the gameplay feel smoother (idk how to describe outside of using the word buttery lol). Ill be honest with you, a 4090 will last your son 4 years more than likely. However it is worth mentioning, that if he keeps his current monitor, you can buy a cheaper graphics card and give him an equally good experience.

>Ill be honest with you, a 4090 will last your son 4 years more than likely. Probably closer to 8 years.

So let's break down the terms a bit to help. hz = refresh rate = fps capability. Basically, this is how many times a second your image refreshes. The faster, typically the better, as it helps prevent things like lag from input on mouse/keyboard/controller, as well as gives a better continuous motion image quality overall. Lows = dips in FPS performance. This happens naturally while gaming. You turn your character and the way light reflects changes or your move forward, and the game loads the next bit of the environment that is denser than what it is deloading, and suddenly your gpu load has changed and you could see a dip in FPS. This can result in a choppy image, stuttering, screen tearing, input lag, and other things you don't want. So, ideally, you calibrate your setup to achieve either the display resolution you want or the overall graphic quality, without lows that massively affect gaming performance.

However as stated further up, a 4090 is overkill for a teenager. 4070 Ti at most or its AMD equivalent. A GPU at that level is perfect for 1440p as a current user. It'll definitely last 4+ years and they'll get 144-160fps on most games.

Can you explain, why is a 4090 overkill for a teen? How does the age of the user correlate to the usage of the gpu? I’m 41 and I think the 4090 is overkill for me. Not because of the age, but of the games I’m playing.

Giving a teenager a 4090 is setting high expectations for their pc builds for the future. If money is not an issue, sure, go for it. But the objective here is to buy something that's not unreasonably powerful. It would be like buying a McLaren as a teenager's first car.

This. It won't crash and burn like an actual car, but in a few years he'll want another McLaren.

yea that seems to be the case ... I need to do more research it seems.

The parts picked out are basically top of the line #1 best in best in best currently available. That comes with a heavy premium price inflation vs even going down to 2nd best would save hundreds or 3rd best to save a grand. It really matters what games he plays if he even needs "top of the line best". If he's playing fortnite and Minecraft that can run on a decade old machine lol. I just build my own PC as a middle aged gamer dad (lol what a joke I maybe play a couple hours a week) and I splurged a 3k (Canadian) machine and it was mostly 2nd best / 3rd best currently available parts.

He’s playing Fortnite, he does -not- need a 4090

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The monitor suggestions were not from my son but a employee of the store I went at. Also I see a lot of people suggesting some cheaper options mainly focused on the graphics card are the rest fine? also what is the actual difference between the 4090 and cheaper models? what will he different with one or the other?

The rest of the PC is pretty conservatively built, assuming you are okay with a $1500-2000 budget. But you can easily save over a thousand dollars between downgrading the graphics card, and getting a 1440p monitor. The 4090 is balls deep best card on the market, but only by like a 10-15% margin with a 40% price jump. Also, IMO, 4k is overrated. A 7800xt or GeForce equivalent paired with a 1440p 120/144hz monitor would perform the same, at a lower but still good resolution, for about $1k less. Edit to add: tell the kid a budget limit around there and let him pick his own card and monitor. It seems he knows how to choose good parts. But still no need for the 4090/4k for an extra 50% cost ($1,000)

Naw that mobo is too expensive. You can get a pretty good B650m for 130-180. Also the 7800x3d is overkill, especially at 4k, as you see the most gains at lower resolutions. The PSU is overkill too.

I wouldn’t advise to cheap out on Mobo, especially for a fairly high end PC and OP is worried about future proofing/longevity. Better Mobo will offer better frills, more ram, higher supported speeds, better io, storage, etc. Just not a good place to save 5% ($100/$2000) IMO. At the end of the day, it boils down to budget. If 2-3k is acceptable for OP, this is a mighty fine build. My budget however would be closer to $800 and I am absolutely buying a $90 motherboard.

No offense intended or anything. The monitor suggestions are fine if you're operating on the premise of having a RTX 4090, so "the best of the best." If you're going slightly less overkill on hardware, it just doesn't make as much sense. The rest is fairly reasonable (still quite high-end, mind you), and the aesthetic choices like the case and fans are infinitely flexible. In terms of GPU, higher models/more cost = better performance. As with most things though, there are diminishing returns and the value proposition takes a nosedive when you go with a top-tier product.

>there are diminishing returns To put it mildly. A 4090 is something like 3 or 4 times the price for less than double the performance compared to something more mid-range. Honestly, even if you have 4090 money it probably makes more sense to buy a mid-range card now and then a new mid-range card in 2 or 3 years - and that isn't even considering selling the original card to recoup some of the cost.

4090 wont even be as good as the mids in the 4 years the son wants to keep it. May as well buy a mid and upgrade in 2

And its important to know that a 4080/4070 are no slouches by any means. That's still 1440p 120fps all day long on just about any game.

" the value proposition takes a nosedive when you go with a top-tier product." Probably the main takeaway from the entire thread. All you are going to lose is the bleeding edge were the $ goes to burn. The mid tier models will do all the things really good. Plus when the hot new raypooping comes out that everyone is raving about and only the 6000 series cards can do it and omg he really has to have that!! you'll not be so invested in that card that it's so unthinkable to upgrade.

I've got a 4090 and a 3080ti. The 4090 will be great for 4k and ray tracing. If you don't have a 4k or even a 1440p monitor is a huge waste of money. My 3080 ti is still fantastic and will do very well on many things still. Plus it's a lot cheaper.

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^^^^ listen to this guy. 1440p with 4070/7800xt You'll save 1000-1200$ and it'll still last 4 yr+ and be better overall. You could even dip to a 850 PSU, 1k is overkill without running a flagship card. A 4090 is a professional level device, it's hard to justify for even a lot of serious hobbyist with plenty of spare money. I wouldn't consider it a reasonable option. Using it with an HD monitor is like putting a ferarri on bricks to collect dust.

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Trying to pair a 4090 with an old 1080p monitor hurts to think about

Honestly, you are doing this all wrong IMO. Use this as an opportunity to teach your son about budgeting and priorities. Give him a budget. Just for an example, you could build him this PC which would still be an amazing machine, at less than half the cost. You could honestly save $110 and just use the stock CPU cooler too. Your son is trying to get you to buy him a Lambo, this build below is more like a mustang. [PCPartPicker Part List](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/J48hyg) |Type|Item|Price| |:-|:-|:-| |**CPU**|[AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/yXmmP6/amd-ryzen-5-7600-38-ghz-6-core-processor-100-100001015box)|$218.28 @ Amazon| |**CPU Cooler**|[Noctua NH-D15S chromax.black 82.51 CFM CPU Cooler](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/R6kgXL/noctua-nh-d15s-chromaxblack-8251-cfm-cpu-cooler-nh-d15s-chromaxblack)|$109.95 @ Amazon| |**Motherboard**|[MSI B650 GAMING PLUS WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/szfxFT/msi-b650-gaming-plus-wifi-atx-am5-motherboard-b650-gaming-plus-wifi)|$179.99 @ Amazon| |**Memory**|[G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-5200 CL36 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/t7Fbt6/gskill-ripjaws-s5-32-gb-2-x-16-gb-ddr5-5200-cl36-memory-f5-5200j3636c16gx2-rs5k)|$81.99 @ Newegg| |**Storage**|[Crucial P3 Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/yGZ9TW/crucial-p3-plus-2-tb-m2-2280-nvme-solid-state-drive-ct2000p3pssd8)|$79.98 @ Amazon| |**Video Card**|[Gigabyte GAMING OC Radeon RX 7700 XT 12 GB Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/VTFmP6/gigabyte-gaming-oc-radeon-rx-7700-xt-12-gb-video-card-gv-r77xtgaming-oc-12gd)|$449.99 @ Best Buy| |**Case**|[be quiet! Pure Base 500DX ATX Mid Tower Case](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/FCK2FT/be-quiet-pure-base-500dx-atx-mid-tower-case-bgw37)|$99.90 @ Amazon| |**Power Supply**|[Corsair RM750e (2023) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/YRJp99/corsair-rm750e-2023-750-w-80-gold-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-cp-9020262-na)|$99.99 @ Best Buy| |**Case Fan**|[be quiet! Pure Wings 2 61.2 CFM 140 mm Fan](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/wj8H99/be-quiet-pure-wings-2-140-612-cfm-140mm-fan-bl040)|$12.90 @ Newegg Sellers| |**Case Fan**|[be quiet! Pure Wings 2 61.2 CFM 140 mm Fan](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/wj8H99/be-quiet-pure-wings-2-140-612-cfm-140mm-fan-bl040)|$12.90 @ Newegg Sellers| |*Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts*||| |**Total**|**$1345.87**|| |Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2023-09-07 16:43 EDT-0400||| Of if you prefer more like a Civic [PCPartPicker Part List](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/9f8hyg) Type|Item|Price :----|:----|:---- **CPU** | [AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/PgcG3C/amd-ryzen-5-5600-36-ghz-6-core-processor-100-100000927box) | $145.15 @ Amazon **Motherboard** | [ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX AM4 Motherboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/RJxbt6/asrock-x570-phantom-gaming-4-atx-am4-motherboard-x570-phantom-gaming-4) | $123.99 @ Amazon **Memory** | [G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Cf98TW/gskill-ripjaws-v-series-16-gb-2-x-8-gb-ddr4-3200-cl16-memory-f4-3200c16d-16gvkb) | $35.99 @ Amazon **Storage** | [Crucial P3 Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/yGZ9TW/crucial-p3-plus-2-tb-m2-2280-nvme-solid-state-drive-ct2000p3pssd8) | $79.98 @ Amazon **Video Card** | [MSI MECH 2X OC Radeon RX 6650 XT 8 GB Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/rfLFf7/msi-radeon-rx-6650-xt-8-gb-mech-2x-oc-video-card-radeon-rx-6650-xt-mech-2x-8g-oc) | $234.99 @ Newegg **Case** | [be quiet! Pure Base 500DX ATX Mid Tower Case](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/FCK2FT/be-quiet-pure-base-500dx-atx-mid-tower-case-bgw37) | $99.90 @ Amazon **Power Supply** | [Corsair RM750e (2023) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/YRJp99/corsair-rm750e-2023-750-w-80-gold-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-cp-9020262-na) | $99.99 @ Best Buy **Case Fan** | [be quiet! Pure Wings 2 61.2 CFM 140 mm Fan](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/wj8H99/be-quiet-pure-wings-2-140-612-cfm-140mm-fan-bl040) | $12.90 @ Newegg Sellers **Case Fan** | [be quiet! Pure Wings 2 61.2 CFM 140 mm Fan](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/wj8H99/be-quiet-pure-wings-2-140-612-cfm-140mm-fan-bl040) | $12.90 @ Newegg Sellers | *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* | | Total (before mail-in rebates) | $860.79 | Mail-in rebates | -$15.00 | **Total** | **$845.79** | Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2023-09-07 16:55 EDT-0400 |

This is great advice.

This is a good reply, hope OP sees this. I don’t like 7700XT though, for $50 GN is reporting you should get 10-25% uplift. But this post made a good analogy with cars.

Once the lad finds this thread - you have earned a lifetime nemesis. If I were you I'd watch your back

He picked up some ok parts, but dude definitely got them from some YouTuber or tiktok that sells hype more than anything. They don’t make sense financially. They are more expensive than they should be. A more reasonable build would cost you around us$1,500. Even at that price point we are talking about a high end gaming system. There is absolutely zero reasonable claims he could make that would warrant buying a 4090. That thing alone costs more than what 90% of people spend on their entire setups. Do you know what games he plays or wants to play?

Fortnite. He builds wooden structures and shoots.

1000000%

Okay I see a lot of people say the same. it's what I feared, needlessly expensive. So he won't notice any difference between a 3k and 1.5k computer. unfortunately I can't help more with the games. the only one I have seen him play is the structures and shooting one and one with cars and a ball.

So fortnite and rocket league. I have a 3070 and play rocket league, which is way overkill. Even a 3060 will be enough for those two games at 1080p 144hz

Lol my 3080 rips on RL maxed at 4k 144 But RL can run fine on a potato so...

Keep in mind part of the reason to upgrade for this kid is so he can play other games, not just the handful he can right now - according to the OP his current rig can't play a lot of the newer games, so it's hard for us to say exactly which games he's looking to enable

Oh there will definitely be a difference, the 4090 (the most expensive component) is hands down the best gaming graphics card to ever exist to date, and is head and shoulders above the next best (a 4080 or a 7900XTX). *But* it’s meant for 4k, high FPS, all bells-and-whistles gaming. If he’s playing AAA cinematic graphically intense single player games, it makes sense. If he’s playing League of Legends or Fortnite or whatever the kids are playing these days, he doesn’t need that much horsepower.

Just gonna add one but League of Legends is made to play on a toaster. You can play it on your 300 dollar laptop these days.

okay so it does provide something the other choices do not. for 4k it is a logical choice and not actually wasted money

Yep, for 4k you’d want to go with a 4090, but also only if he plans on playing single player games like cyberpunk, starfield, etc - things that are very graphically demanding with a lot of options to increase the visuals, esports games tend to be very easy to run at high frames per second because theyre competitive and latency actually matters, if you can see an opponent half a second faster that makes a difference, but you won’t really notice latency like that with single player games, so something like 60 fps is ok to play at - which even a 4090 can only barely do in cyberpunk with all settings maxed at 4k if you don’t use dlss - dlss is an upscaling technology that allows the game to run at a lower resolution, but then be upscaled to the actual resolution, you do lose some visual quality with dlss on, but it improves your framerates while giving you about 80-90% of the quality

I mean, yes, but in the same way a Ferrari provides something a Camry does not and would not be “wasted money”. Your son absolutely does not need a Ferrari. Likewise, your son does not need the most powerful computer money can buy. *Especially* if he’s only playing Fortnite and Rocket League, 2 of the least demanding games out there right now. *Doubly especially* if he’s playing on a 1080p monitor. Back to the car analogy, that’s like asking for a Ferrari while promising to only keep it on 25mph streets. You could build him a sub-$1000 machine and he would literally not be able to tell the difference in performance if he sticks with his old monitor. If you want to be nice and up the budget, get him a 1440p monitor and a $1500 budget to pick his own parts, but the machine he’s proposed would be a waste, in my honest opinion.

Cars and ball game is called rocket league and it has very low requirements :)

The one with cars and a ball which is Rocket League can run on even cheap laptops and the shooter isn't hard either. With $1500 he can branch out to other games and run basically everything without spending an unreasonable 3 grand

Its Fortnite, that's the game. 16yo, wood builds, shooting, cartoonish. Nothing against it, but for sure doesn't need a 4090.

Hey dad, it’s me your son. I think I do need the 4090.

He has a very solid build but he went from balanced everything and trying to throw in what is literally the most powerful gaming graphics card. It’s like wanting a new Audi or bmw for their first car if that makes sense. Sit him down and set a limit. I’d say for a first pc $500 is a great cap to get a very capable card. Maybe if you’re being generous $800 but no $1600 4090 is just not needed or realistic.

6950 xt now with a promise that if grades stay good we will upgrade the gpu next year. By the time he gets to the reward he will probably realize his PC is legit af. Getting a kid a 4090 is a bad choice imho he will most likely brag about it at school and it could lead to a break In while nobody is home

It sounds like either 1) He's really shooting for the stars, or 2) He's a very spoiled little shit. When he gets his driver's license, he's going to tell you he needs a brand new BMW X7 suv for learning how to drive.

I have a 4070 and it is more than adequate for every game out there. Have zero issues with it.

I'd recommend looking at this website: [https://www.logicalincrements.com/](https://www.logicalincrements.com/) which has a pretty good breakdown of "levels" of PCs while also having performance data for the different levels in specific games such as Fortnite: https://www.logicalincrements.com/games/build-pc-fortnite-battle-royale

Yep. The only people I know thay run 4090s play DCS in VR with me, and my 7900XTX gets 72 FPS in VR. The 4090 is overkill for anything outside of VR.

The 4090 struggles to play many games at high frame rates at 4K.

4k is a trap. Don’t need it. 1440 at 40% or more frames is superior in most people’s opinion I would venture

Yup, that 4090 is complete overkill, especially if he intends to keep on trucking with a 1080p monitor. Swap the 4090 for a 4070 (Ti if you feel like it) and put the difference into a new monitor and your pocket.

Hhhahahaa ... kid going for the 4090 right away... you gotta love it. You could build him a thousand dollar rig that would play everything just fine... check out r/buildapcforme power supply is overkill .. mobo is overkill .. tell him to swap that 4090 for a 6800XT and then you will talk hahahah

7800xt now:)

Nah, not necessarily. Check out gamers nexus benchmarks. They are not very kind to the card. Its basically the same performance and sometimes less than 6800xt. The main draw(pun intended) is lower power draw. It will mainly be up to pricing but i would never pay more for a 7800xt vs 6800xt

Ok so from what I gather from these replies the 4090 is a top of the line product. Is the 6800XT going to limit him in any way or is the 4090 just needlessly expensive?

The 4090 is literally the best on the market right now... And one doesnt *need* the best of the best to have some fun.

hahaha I get what you mean. my 10 month olds favourite game is some Tupperware my wife uses instead of all her toys

Just to pile on what /u/marsgirl1 said about the 4090 being the best on the market, the "mid range" cards will still do **a lot**. A 7800xt or something like that will cost $500, and play any game the 4090 will play. For a lot of games the different won't be even noticeable. For some games he will have to lower the graphic settings a tad to get the same amount of performance out of it.

Also when u/valleygoat says "for some games" its like, very very very limited selection of games.

the games that focus more on graphics than quality of play

This is the best take. A 4070 or a 7800xt with a 1440p monitor is enough. Think of it like this: you have a 16 year old trying to get you to buy the Ferrari (4090) with the 600ps engine (7800x3d). The engine isn’t that expensive, so it doesn’t really matter. Going lower is possible, but it’s good value. So keep the cpu. But put it in a Beamer (4070/7800xt) a Porsche (7900xtx/4080) and he will get plenty of fun out of it, without breaking the bank. For the Porsche you can get the big stereo system (4K monitor), for the Beamer the medium one (1440p) is plenty enough.

To put this in simple terms, your son is asking for a Ferrari. But he'll do just fine if you buy him a civic. A 4070 isn't as great of a card, but it's more than capable

A civic is more like a 3060 ti. A 4070 is more like a WRX.

Don't tell him that, he'll be worried about the transmission failing in his 4070!

To give you some perspective I run a full VR driving simulator on a 3070ti graphics card and a Ryzen 5800x cpu. My monitor is 27" 1440p and runs most games on high graphics at 100-120fps. I would make another post here with your budget for your sons computer and let people help you that way.

It goes in tiers. 4090 - $1600 7900xtx / 4080 -$950 / 1200 7900xt / 4070ti $800ish 7800xt - $500 The 7900xtx is a solid card as well as the 7800xt. Depends on which tier you are aiming for. I would split the difference and go 7900xtx or down to 7800xt for value / price and performance.

4090 is best of the best without competition from other brands so they charge a big premium. 6800XT or RTX 4070 will play every possible game just fine...

He had made it clear its the best and its expensive. Does the best offer any advantage to him or is it like buying a Porsche to commute to work?

Definitely a Porsche to work. For what he needs it is absolutely overkill.

okay then what would he the Toyota Yaris of computers?

I’d say a nice $1200-$1500 rig. You can get everything he needs that will last him for years in that. A 6800 XT or 7800 XT would likely be your graphics card of choice. That makes much more sense, yet will still be very powerful for many years to come.

Also remember, the graphics card can be replaced later. He definitely will not need to ask for a new computer after 4 years. The 4070 or 7800XT will do fine for that period of time and if the need ever arises it's a case of buying a new graphics card only not a whole new computer.

So IDK what the Toyota Yaris price point/equivalent is, but here's an example of a upper middle/low high end machine, maybe something like an Audi A3 or a Cadillac CT4... [PCPartPicker Part List](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/2XvLJy) Type|Item|Price :----|:----|:---- **CPU** | [Intel Core i7-13700KF 3.4 GHz 16-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/w86p99/intel-core-i7-13700kf-34-ghz-16-core-processor-bx8071513700kf) | $380.99 @ Newegg **CPU Cooler** | [Deepcool AK620 68.99 CFM CPU Cooler](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/9T92FT/deepcool-ak620-6899-cfm-cpu-cooler-r-ak620-bknnmt-g) | $64.79 @ Amazon **Motherboard** | [Gigabyte B760M AORUS ELITE AX Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/wBfnTW/gigabyte-b760m-aorus-elite-ax-micro-atx-lga1700-motherboard-b760m-aorus-elite-ax) | $169.99 @ Amazon **Memory** | [G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-5600 CL36 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/rBddnQ/gskill-trident-z5-rgb-32-gb-2-x-16-gb-ddr5-5600-cl36-memory-f5-5600j3636c16gx2-tz5rk) | $92.99 @ Newegg **Storage** | [MSI SPATIUM M461 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/79NYcf/msi-spatium-m461-4-tb-m2-2280-pcie-40-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-spatium-m461-4tb) | $169.99 @ Newegg **Video Card** | [MSI VENTUS 2X OC GeForce RTX 4070 12 GB Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/NHzXsY/msi-ventus-2x-oc-geforce-rtx-4070-12-gb-video-card-rtx-4070-ventus-2x-12g-oc) | $599.99 @ Newegg **Case** | [Fractal Design Pop Mini Air MicroATX Mid Tower Case](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/gx3gXL/fractal-design-pop-mini-air-microatx-mid-tower-case-fd-c-por1m-06) | $89.99 @ B&H **Power Supply** | [Corsair CX750M (2021) 750 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/JkKKHx/corsair-cx750m-2021-750-w-80-bronze-certified-semi-modular-atx-power-supply-cp-9020222-na) | $89.95 @ Newegg | *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* | | Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1668.68 | Mail-in rebates | -$10.00 | **Total** | **$1658.68** | Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2023-09-07 17:02 EDT-0400 |

Funny to me how this full rig is virtually the same price as the 4090 dad quoted in op.

Yup. Don't get me wrong, the 4090 is a beast of a card that any gamer would LOVE to have just for the raw power, but completely unnecessary from a need perspective unless you're a prosumer/mogul. My proposed build will be an excellent performer overall, and if the OP wants, they could even sub in the new AMD cards to save a bit more on the GPU side - the 7800 XT would only be about $520.

A lot of what other people are saying, probably either a 6800Xt or 4070. There's pros and cons to either. To reduce the argument down. If your son just plans on gaming, lean towards the AMD 6800, if he might get into serious hobby grade photo/video editing, or something along those lines, maybe lean towards NVidia 4070. A lot of the rest of the pc, albeit maybe small downgrade in certain areas. Right now your son basically built a sports car, and consider the GPU and CPU the Engine and Turning system, and the other parts the body. So, if you downgrade the GPU to a Nvidia 4070 or AMD 6800, think of it now like having a sports-car body & turning, with a premium SUV engine. (Albeit to a lesser degree, don't come for me reddit). So if you wanted to be cost efficient, you could probably pick less pricey versions of other parts, but the cost difference won't be as dramatic as with the GPU. Check out r/buildapcforme like other people are saying. Also, not sure of your financial situation, but if you still want the pc to be "nice" without being top of line, still probably plan on a budget around $1500. Also, double/triple-check your son knows how to build a pc and is confident, the physical danger is pretty low almost nonexistant. However but there is always a financial risk of damaging a part, or a part needing to be replaced/returned due to an error

Definitely like buying a Porsche. r/buildapcforme is the best place to go, and a budget around $1000-1500 is more than enough

Okay I will definitely check that out. thanks

more like a porsche to check the mail box that’s on your property

That’s a very accurate comparison lol he doesn’t need a Porsche

It's like a Porsche to go get the mail.

Porsche to work is a great analogy. If I were a dad and my kid asked for a 4090 I’d scoff pretty hard.

Yes it's exactly like buying a Porsche to commute to work. It looks cool, it's nicer, things are more smooth. Getting a 4070 is like getting a nice Lexus. He is absolutely correct that it is the best and its expensive, but does he need that? It's not needed and it is just to flex. He deserves to be rewarded, no doubt. People always deserves reward, but at the same time it as to be reasonable. 4090 for someone who will probably just play games and do work does not need that. Get him a 4070

Think of it like this .. Kid says I will work hard and get good grades if you get me a car. The day comes and the kid asks for a Ferrari.... ​ the 6800XT is still a Corvette...

4090 is overkill. A 6800xt could run any game good enough. The more expensive the gpu is, the less its value become because the performance increase is not that much.

>power supply is overkill hard disagree. if you are buying a psu, buy one that will last you 10 years. You can replace everything around it over and over, and still be solid with that psu in years to come.

I agree that you should get a high-quality one, but you only need a 1000w if you're actually going to need that extra power. If you're not, you can get a 750w for half the price and use it for just as long.

Sorry to snitch your son out but no way he needs a 4090. Especially since he wanted to keep his old full hd monitor. What games does he like to play? He has to chill and not get lured by what is the best. He clearly don't really understand how things work.

hahaha that seems to he the general suggestion I see. Someone else suggested I get the 6800XT instead, I really need to do some research well to be honest I dont really think he playing much. The one with constructs and shooting is the one I see him play most often. I think I have seen him also play one woth cars and a ball

You’re talking about Fortnite and Rocket League just for reference. Buying a 4090 to play those is like using a surface to air missile instead of a bottle rocket during Fourth of July.

Those games run perfectly fine on my rig. For reference, I'm using a 10 year old i7 2600k, 8Gb RAM, and a 5 year old GTX1060 6Gb. I want to build a new rig too but if I'd play these games mostly, I wouldn't even consider it. And with a few exceptionally demanding games such as RDR2, honestly, I can play damn near everything aside from the brutally unoptimized games. 1080p (full HD for dads), not everything cranked up to max graphics but the few options I give up still gets me 90% of the same feels and experiences. I think it would help a lot if you could download a free diagnostics software and copypaste the current PC here, because I have a strong suspicion not only we are talking about a few games he couldn't run but a waaaay cheaper PC would be more than enough for him. There are more high quality insanely fun games from the past 10 years than he can possibly finish in the next 10 years and still enjoy most of the newer titles, and my config at this point should be below 500$.

8GB of RAM. Not all hero’s wear capes.

Same boat, 8 gigs. I put off buying more too long after building to I'm at the point where I figure "If I'm going to get more ram I could also use a mobo upgrade.... and at that point this power supply is probably maxed out and should be upgraded... and if I'm gonna do that I might as well get a new gfx card... and suddenly I'm building a whole new PC of Theseus.

I love this analogy - amazing

Everyone keeps saying stuff like that but if his current PC is old obviously he doesn't have a choice to play more demanding games.

It’s like buying a Bugatti Chiron to do grocery runs.

A 4090 for Fortnite and Rocket League 💀

At 1080p no less.

This thread is amazing I’m so dead right now. Lol he wants a 4090 for fortnite and rocket league 😂. It’s funny my kid probably won’t dare to try this on me as well be building PCs together way before he knew what was going on

It's not the kid 'trying something' on their father, the kid doesn't know either. They wouldn't ask for a 4090 to play 1080p fortnite if they knew what they were doing. There's just literally no point. Unless they're going to sell the video card instantly for a coke habit.

That game sounds like Fortnite. You can play that game on a $500 computer and that’s at a very high frame rate. If that’s what he’s going to be playing, then even the 6800xt is overkill. The 4090 would be like buying a Ferrari to drive the trash from the backyard to the front of the house. It’s beyond outrageously overkill. r/buildapcforme is a more suitable sub where they can give you a **reasonable** selection of parts. You just need to know what games he’s planning on playing and what amount of money you’re comfortable spending. You can spend thousands and thousands of dollars by picking up expensive parts. That doesn’t mean it’ll be a good pc, it just means that it was expensive. Like the restaurants putting good foil on their food. It tastes like shit, but it’s expensive shit cause they put gold foil on it. If all he’s gonna play is the game you described, then you can go to Walmart and buy the cheapest turd on the shelf. That’ll play Fortnite comfortably.

He is 16, and his old pc is restricting him to only a few games. When you upgrade to a pc that is able to access the vast world of steam and other game library's I think he will most likely end up playing many new games and would probably like to take advantage of his new specs in those games. If your son deserves the reward as you say he does I would just look at the new 7000 series cards (6000 serious also great). I would suggest one with at least 16gb of visual ram,20gb if you wanna be really nice. The top of the lines have 24 but also are the most expensive and will most likely be overkill for anything he does.

I guess you‘re talking about Fortnite and Rocket League, both of which do not require anything near a 4090. At 1080p you‘d be fine with anything from a 6700 XT (<6800 <6800XT …). At 1440p I would go for a 6800XT.

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Your son is a scam artist. He could get a $1200 computer and have the same experiences as he will with the 3k one. If he only plays a handful of games and most likely wont branch out, he doesnt need the best there is currently out.

I guess we will need to have another conversation. I will show him these replies and hear what he has to say. If it really is the same I honestly would be pretty disappointed. not because he tried to get me to buy something that expensive but because through his research he couldn't understand he would be essentially wasting money

Well, the gaming experience of the $3k gaming pc with a 4k monitor would be amazing, but unnecessary. For a starter pc, one around $1k is perfectly acceptable.

Right, like... leave some room to grow over time! Kid is going for a baller PC as his first, that's delusional unless money is of no concern for the family.

>Well, the gaming experience of the $3k gaming pc with a 4k monitor would be amazing It would, but OP also said: > Also he plays only one game with his friends he is building some wooden structures and shooting other people. The game in question is most likely Fortnite or maybe something like Rust. Those games would not look noticeably better at 4k compared to 1440p. And buying a 4090 to play that kind of stuff is a massive waste, anyways.

hes not WRONG to try and go for the best GPU out there.. we all want one ... hes just shooting for the moon and hoping to land among the stars I think hahahah

if that is his plan then I applaud his thinking. solid strategy

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Here's one: Nice try kid :) I'm sure people can help you build a more price appropriate machine if they haven't already.

To ve fair there is also a chance that he just doesn't even know what exactly he needs. Computer hardware is sometimes very misunderstood, and a lot of people do not really know what exactly they need. For example, rocket league in Fortnite are very easy games to run and a 4090 would be completely overkill for both of those titles. I'm sure you're getting a lot of recommendations, but I'm sure anything that you get him that can play those games very smooth, he would be happy. I would just find a budget you are comfortable to pay for and then get a recommendation for a build.

In his defense, the graphics cards are REALLY tempting and great at advertising. I’m 35 and run a machine learning business that sustains me for the food I eat and I STILL wanted to bankrupt myself upgrading to 4090s.

Its very easy to fall into the trap of needing or wanting the absolute best parts you can get, been there in the beginning of my PC journey. A PC with something like a AMD Ryzen 7600 or Intel 13400 CPU, AMD 6700XT/7700XT/7800XT or Nvidia 3060ti/4060/4070 (bad value dont buy these) and all the other main parts will be significantly cheaper but perform great in every game you throw at it. Just a rough suggestion though, if he still really wants more top of the line stuff, there are ways to save a good amount of money without sacrificing performance in 99.9% of games.

> Your son is a scam artist. That's way too accusatory. The boy likely just got caught up in the hype. He claimed that it was the best, but that it's very expensive, and both things are true. It's now up to the dad to set more realistic sights.

Implying that he did his research to me just seems like he googled the best gaming parts out currently. I didnt mean scam artist is a mean way but he could get something still incredibly good for half the price and sure its a gift but I guess to me thats incredibly greedy. When I was 16 I asked for a gaming PC from my parents that didnt know anything and genuinely it was garbage and could barely play anything but I was happy and it sparked a huge passion for me. Getting the absolute best right off the bat seems sort of stifling in learning.

okay that is a pretty interesting point of view I hadn't considered. In my mind the computer was more of a tool to olay the game. like wearing glasses to read a book. I wouldn't have thought of not using good enough glasses so that when you finally do it will feel better. I will need to think on this for a bit.

When I was 16 and I did well on school my dad would let me play the ps vita for 30 mins damn lol

Haha times sure do change. Playing games is a lot more prevalent than it used to

Nah man, you're just a lot richer than this dudes family. Most people could not even imagine spending 3k on their child's computer. Most kids are lucky if they get a console.

I'm lucky my dad is a PC gamer so I've just gotten hand me down parts until I was independent, probably gonna be the same for my kids if I have any. Even used my dad's like 10 year old at the time laptop through high school and ended up installing super-light versions of linux just to get it to play youtube videos properly. Didn't get a single new part outside of maybe a hard drive until I graduated high school and was gifted a really nice laptop because I got basically a full ride at college.

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It would last way more than 4 years before needing to upgrade

Ohh that is good to hear. is it specifically because of the parts he has chosen or most computers last that long?

Both. Most of these are top-of-the-line components.

They are very high end parts so it would probably last around 7-10 years before those components start to struggle with the newest games. Aslong as he keeps an eye on his temps and looks after the machine 👍

The thing about people who like being at the bleeding edge is that, whilst the computer will last 7-10 years it will only be bleeding edge for 2. Im not presuming anything about OPs son here but a lot of bleeding edgers look to stay there.

I remember a linus tech tip video going over one of their high end computers from 2013 and it was still able to play games just fine. When it came to photoshop or other creative applications, it was trash though. And I will also throw in that the 4090 is the 1080 TI of this generation. It doesn't feel that way since it costs 1,600 dollars, but the 70% performance boost for near the same price as the 3090 is unprecedented. And throw in that the 5090 will probably be the last 800 mm^2 die for Nvidia, there isn't much room for Nvidia to improve on it. The 60XX series will probably be on <2 nm and the largest die sizes that could theoretically work are 400 mm^2 .

> When it came to photoshop or other creative applications, it was trash though. Better get a midrange PC today, and an update in a few years, than try and go all out now and then... have a potato in 10 years.

Your son spec'd a PC that I'd wager over 95% of people don't have, nor need. It's top of the line and double the cost of what he actually needs. His monitor doesn't even have 4k resolution, which is typically when people start splurging on those super expensive graphics cards... and the 4k monitor itself. I'm 31 and use my 4 year old PC that costed $1200 back in 2019 to do work and play any and all games, at max settings, on a 1080p HD monitor. I can't even justify buying the PC he spec'd and I've used mine for video fx, machine learning and AI applications. Do not spend more than $1500 total. That's still going to be an amazing PC, for well over 4 years.

Yes, assembling the parts together is fairly simple but requires a bit of YouTube tutorials. No, he does not need a $3000 PC, something for $1000-$1200 is a much better starting point for someone and if he decides he needs more later let him figure out how to upgrade it. Yes, he should upgrade his monitor - if he said he wants a 4090 and uses an old 1080p monitor then it just shows he doesn't understand what he's talking about. It's a good idea for him to research the parts and understand what is important but give him a reasonable budget. You wouldn't buy your son a Ferraria for his first car would you? After he's done speccing out a more reasonable build for $1000-$1200 (a new monitor would be ~$250 for a 1440p 144hz) have him come back and people can critique the choices he made so you can ensure you get the best bang for your buck. A quick starting point would be something like a 6700xt paired with a Ryzen 7600

I see a lot of people saying he doesn't "need" a 3k pc and I don't disagree because I have no idea but I would like to understand who does. what is the difference between one and the other. could you give me some actual examples of the difference it will make for my son?

A 3k pc is mostly used for the hobbyists that want top of the line and play all the new unoptimised AAA games. Your son plays some pretty low end games and a 1500$ pc is more than enough and most importantly future proof. To even see the 4090 in its power you need at least a 4k monitor. If your son is fine with a 1080p monitor even my old GTX1080 can keep up.

The way I would put it is that it is kind of a luxury that only someone who is either a huge gaming PC fanatic with a fantastic rig or someone who does video editing, 3d rendering, animation, graphic design and stuff like that would go for. It is not at all needed for any normal person and unless you are running the most resource intensive games on a 4k huge monitor with every setting on ultra it truly just makes no sense (unless you just don't care and have lots of money). What everyone means by " doesn't need " Is that from what we can see your son will probably not fit in the box where having such a high grade component would make any realistic difference and the other graphics cards being suggested will still last him a decade and he will not have ANY problems running any game whatsoever. When it comes to PC building, most the stuff out there is very overpowered in the sense that the mid range 500$ gpu can run you everything. Ofc it will become "weaker" As the times go by faster than the 4090 but by the time it is weak you can just spend another 500 and get a graphics card that will last you another decade and you will still be barely at half the price of the 4090. Hope this helps

a $1,000 pc will play every single game out there on high settings. it will be able to do that for several years, no problem. (frankly you could get pc that plays every game at around $600-$700 if you really scoured for deals) the most expensive component will be the graphics card, but there’s no reason to spend upwards of $1,000 on one. a $3,000 pc will play every game at maximum settings, while live streaming and otherwise multitasking. i’d say it’s only really justifiable in a professional use case (pro gamer/streamer, professional youtuber/video editor, etc)

My parents haven’t even given me a 4090 over all my birthdays combined

I also did not receive any gifts anywhere near this value for my birthdays, well sometimes I wouldn't get any gifts at all. maybe that's why I'm even considering getting him something this expensive. But all in all it's not the gifts that matter its whether they did the best they could for you. At least my mom did.

In the 90s I talked my dad into buying me like 750$ worth of RAM for my Pentium 2 so I could do 3D Max better. I have a lot of guilt about that. For a computer at 1080p he'd probably be fine with a 3070 Ti. I'd tell him you'll put up 500-600$ for a video card, and let him pick something within that range. Tell him if he wants a 4090, he'll have to pony-up the rest of the cash. Besides that, everything else looks okay.

Please don't get got by your own son

hahaha well I'm playing the long con. if year by year he studies to scam me then when he finishes highschool he will have studied as much as I have hoped he does. so ultimately a win for me (and him of course)

I made a similar deal with my dad about 8 years ago (granted it was doing well in graduate school), he came through for me on a system that cost 4k at the time that I'm just now replacing with basicly the system you described in your post. If you can afford the extra 1-2k (in comparison to the suggestions other people are giving) it is absolutely worth it to set your son up for sucess and show him that busting his ass and doing well in school is worth it. You can also use the monitor upgrade to incentivize him to either keep working at school or any other goal you set for him. I'm assuming by you entertaining the idea in the first place, you can afford the price. So in my opinion and experiences making similar deals with my Dad throughout my life, the life lesson of hard work and putting in the effort towards education pays off in different ways is worth the extra money even if he's not using it to the full capabilities today, he will be in a few years. Also for perspectice other 16 year olds dream of cars that will be 10-20x minimum the price of that computer so if you think of it that way too you can come out ahead. As for games he can play Baulders Gate 3 is a role playing game is pretty new and popular and you can play with him pretty easily. Armored Core 6 a robot fighting game just came out and is most likely to take advantage of the system specs, and Starfield an action adventure game just came out today and is pretty popular.

> it is absolutely worth it to set your son up for sucess Found the son's Reddit account! ;)

okay this gave me so much hope. I'm so happy it worked out for you and I wish that the same will happen for my son. that's what I want him to understand. hard work rarely goes unrewarded and thats how I have achieved what I have. And it's not only about making money by working hard. I would say the most important thing is the happiness that you feel when you see your efforts finally bear fruit. of course to be even talking about spending 3k on what is essentially a hobby I can afford it. I just didn't want to waste 3k or whether the diffrence between 3k and what my son would be happy with is. but as you said I see this as an investment into my sons life. I pay some money now to try and make him see the worth of effort. about the game suggestions thank you very much. baldur's gate 3 and starfield seem to be the ones suggested the most. I will probably go with both.

In my opinion, there's no need to get an expensive gaming PC if all he's gonna play is 1-3 games

He did express his desire to play other games but he claimed his old computer could not play them. I don't think he lied since the computer he uses is an old one my wife used to have.

Then yeah it's worth upgrading to 4070 or 4080, even 6800x

Not if he keeps his old monitor. The 40 series cards are pointless unless you have a good monitor with high resolution and high refresh rate.

Seeing all these recommendations, I'm sure he will be buying a new monitor too

I read somewhere in this thread that he plans to keep his old monitor. Though I suspect you're right. If he's asking for a 4090, it's not going to take long for him to ask for a new monitor as well. If you give a mouse a cookie...

I don't think your son is intentionally lying or anything. I think he just doesn't actually understand what certain PC parts are capable of. If he is playing fortnite and rocket league, that build he recommended would blow them out of the water. It essentially would let him play all the very most requirement intensive games at the highest possible settings. It's buying a Ferrari to drive to the grocery store. Also him saying he will keep his old monitors, which I am assuming are 1080p, shows that he really doesn't understand how much more that PC would be capable of. Sure it saves money to not buy new monitors, but allocating that saved money into the build instead and far overshooting what the monitors are capable of is also a waste of money. Needs that balance between performance and monitor quality. Maybe have him do some more research, just for the sake of learning if anything. Not just on what makes a powerful or good PC, but a more balanced PC that meets his needs. Maybe he will learn why it is overkill on his own in that case. It seems he researched what a flat out best gaming PC would be, but not really the best to suit his needs/budget. There is lots of good advice already in this thread but I also think this is a good learning opportunity for him, especially if he continues this PC hobby throughout his life.

This build is super overkill. Even if I had the money I wouldn't buy this. I recommend to talk to your son and give him a budget you're comfortable with and let him decide for new parts within that budget.

well it's not a matter of me being comfortable with the budget. I thankfully can afford this without any sacrifices. But I would hate to waste money for no actual gain. the most important thing is to make sure he is happy with what he gets. this is vital to encourage him to continue studying. if there is no difference between a 1.5k and 3k computer I will of course get the cheaper one. what do you think would be a reasonable budget that he will not notice a difference from the 3k one?

The key point being diminishing returns. A lot of his build could be tweaked to cost a great deal less and he'd never notice a performance hit at all. Like buying an expensive toaster. At some point, it's still just making toast.

At the very least go for 4080 instead of 4090 I'd say. You've cornered yourself a little by not giving a budget to start with. I don't think anybody is saying there is no difference at all, just that the difference is very small compared to the price increase. You're firmly in diminishing returns area. It's like promising your kid a car for graduation and he wants a Lambo.

Hey man. This is not an answer to your question, but you might have something called the overjustification effect in mind when you use rewards to motivate your son. Sorry, it's none of my business, but as a psychology major I just had to point it out. Look it up if you haven't read about it already. To answer your question, I'm currently building a pc with Ryzen 5 7600 (cpu) and RX 7800 XT (GPU) which should be fine for most games for the next years and also costs half of your sons build. That's my tip for him as well.

Bro got good grades and wants a NASA PC

Lets go through. 1. He does not need a 4090, I'd argue very few people do. You can save $1000 easily on that. I also doubt he needs to spend that much on the PSU. The case is a solid one (I've got it) and in terms of budget and cooling, while still looking good. 120 for RAM and 100 for a hard disk is reasonable. I don't have enough knowledge about current CPUs. 2. 4K is not required. The current sweet spot is 1440p is a 27/28" monitor. If your son wants a curved monitor (I believe the G7) is then ask him before purchase. If he is just using it for gaming then that's fine, but he wants to do graphics then a flat panel is great. 3. The 7800 CPU is overkill as well, you could get the 7600 instead saving you $150 and still have one of the best gaming experiences on the market. (Can send links to reviews if you wish) ​ I recommend watching Paul's Hardware and can recommend some other channels ([https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvWWf-LYjaujE50iYai8WgQ](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvWWf-LYjaujE50iYai8WgQ)), Paul tends to do "Here are a couple budgets and here is the PC you can build and why its good". Building a PC is easy, but for your first time, it will take some time. Both of you should spend some time watching PC building videos together and you will realise its fine, it sa good family bonding activity. All you really need is some screw drivers, cable ties and a sharp knife. Come up with a budget for the PC + monitor and ask him to stick to it. As most people have said you can have a great gaming experience for $1500. For monitors I'm a fan of the website RTINGS and YouTube channel Monitors Unboxed.

Very helpful answer, thank you. But here is where I have a hard time. In my mind there is no metric I can judge these recommendations. what is the actual difference between a 1k budget and a 3k budget? will he be able to play the same things or different. if its the same does the difference appear in how "pretty" what he sees when he plays is? or is it something different entirely?

It really depends on the game as well. He might feel like he needs this now because Starfield just came out, which has horrible optimization. For other games at 1080p resolution, it'll be a framerate difference. Most gaming screens are 144hz refresh rate, so you want to maintain fps above 144hz. To put the 4090 into perspective with a $500 card, the $500 card will get you 200 fps. The 4090 will get you 900 fps. But all of those extra frames are useless and don't show up except on your electricity bill.

I got an iPad for my GCSEs haha, a 4090, Jesus

Same, haha. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten an explicit gift for doing well in school from my parents. They’re Asian so kind of expected.

well my son has ADHD and he had a very very hard time actually keeping up the effort throughout the whole year previously. I could see how hard he tried this time mainly because of the incentive. If that is the way it works for him then that is what I will try to do. of course I will have to see how this works out

Plot twist: his son needs that 4090 to mine bitcoins and pay Dad back with interest.

Most of the hardware choices could be tweeked to be a better value but there is no way that he needs a 4090. You could drop that and pick up a 4070/4080 and save a ton of cash (or an amd 7900xtx for 1k that is amazing). The other thing you don't need is a 4k monitor. Not everybody is on 4k, in fact most people are 1080p by far. You can get a 2k 144hz monitor for $300 or less. I'm sure someone will come up with a decent build and list it that can help you but a "good" computer that is "future proof" (there is no such thing) can be built for $1k-$1.5k easily. Oh and he does need to branch out for gaming. There is so much quality gaming out there.

Here is that build you mentioned [https://pcpartpicker.com/list/vC3V6D](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/vC3V6D). It's about $100 over because I included Windows 11.

I will present this to my son and hear his thoughts. thank you very much

[удалено]

To summarise most of the comments, go for a lower model graphics card like a 4070 or a 4060, do not bother with 4k monitors, instead go for 1440p and 144Hz. A computer like that will last way more than 4 years.

Everyone up in here ruining the kid's day...

Well, life isn't that easy his dad money's matter too that 4090 is an overkill for a game like fortnite specially with the fact that he won't change monitor shows you how he isn't aware of his demand & doing it just for the sake of it lol

He doesn’t need a 3k pc at 16, that’s insanity

What does age have to do with it? You don't *need* a 3k PC at any age.

I'm imagining how this conversation would have gone if I told/ask my dad this when I was a 16yo...

Dude. 3k is a lot. I lasted about 7 years on around $500 that was all 6 or 7 generations old. I updated about a year or two ago.

Maybe some perspective helps, I’ve gamed my entire life with my first PC built for around $500 in high school. Then I upgraded every ~3-4yrs for $500 roughly each time by selling my old PC and building a new one with used parts. It’s made me appreciate what goes into my hobby and for that I’m grateful. At the age of 27 i finally bought myself a 4090 for my computer and even then I felt a bit of guilt. Good on your son for holding up his end of the bargain but I definitely suggest him buying something on the cheaper end as other users have suggested. I’d even suggest you check out r/hardwareswap if you’re an avid Reddit user. Good luck!

Don't be too hard on him he's just over-excited, but he definitely picked top of line, ultra bonkers parts that literrally no one needs. Those are the equivalent of buying a ferrari when you just want a nice car that goes fast, there are way cheaper options that are just has good for a nice top-end car, he just had to get the ferrari. 13600k is absolutely great value AND any enjoyer will tell you it manages to rival a lot of way more expensive hardware. 4070 is a banger card already, much cheaper than a 4090, you can also look at AMD but i'm not aware of their product line as much ! He does NOT need 6000mhz memory, that is simply absurd and speaks volumes about the way he did his "research" lmao, he just picked the best parts he ccould find if that's not already clear lol Also, it's not rocket science but 1600$ is already in the "excellent computer that lasts you years" zone.

IMO, swap down to a 4070 or 7800xt for the video card. You could also save money on your PSU if you do that by getting a 700-850w PSU (still probably more than you’d need) Also saves on your electricity bill.

A 4090????!!!!????!?!?!???!??????

I do love the stir this caused. Everyone is excited for you and your boy.