So, my kid has saved for a computer for a good while and has saved up about 19k SEK, which is aboutish 1.9k €.
I have had a Mac since 2008, I don't know much about modern computers. I'm looking into a pre-built computer during this years holiday sales, hoping to spend max 12-13k on the computer and then he'll have something left for keyboard, bluetooth headset, monitor and games.
He's 12 right now and has no concept of graphics or frame rate and so far most of his friends have hand me downs so I think any new computer will be ok in his mind. What I'm looking for is something upgradeable, it does not have to have 32 Gb RAM right now, or the best GPU, but I want to be able for the kid to upgrade it in three years or so if he wants to. So more important with a good motherboard and processor than the best GPU.
So, is this okish?
https://www.webhallen.com/se/product/386209-Webhallen-Config-Core-i5-14400F-RTX-5060-16GB-1TB-Win-11
https://www.webhallen.com/se/product/390071-Webhallen-Config-Core-i5-14400F-RTX-5060-16GB-1TB-Win-11
Or would this more costly one be more bang for the buck?
https://www.webhallen.com/se/product/386212-Webhallen-Config-Core-R5-7500F-RTX-5060Ti-16GB-32GB-2TB-Win-11
I would say they all offer good value for money (with prices being what they are nowadays).
I've had 32 GB RAM or more since 2010, but RAM isn't the amazing fix it once was.
The RTX 5060 will keep quiet and cool and nVidia still are better with drivers than AMD. What I might change, is a 2TB m.2 drive instead.
Just to point out this: The RTX 5060 will not manage 4k/UHD. Which will go a long way towards saving on a monitor. 1080p ones are reasonably cheap.
A minor niggle is the air cooling, I am not up to date on how warm the I5s run nowadays, but air cooling might be a bit noisy.
Thanks. The kid wants a curved screen which seems like a sensible future proof choice. Is that a problem? I was thinking this https://www.webhallen.com/se/product/391493-AOC-CU34G4-34-VA-3440-x-1440-180-Hz-0-5ms-2xHDMI-DP
At that price, it is almost a steal. :)
Excellent, thank you. I'm leaning towards the 15 k one, every component seems better and it has DDR5 RAM instead of DDR4, feels more future proof if he wants to upgrade it with better graphics sometime.
What kind of games does the kid like?
He's just into Fortnite right now, I haven't been able to figure out what kind of other games he likes. He's not into Paradox games unfortunately.
Quote from: Threviel on December 25, 2025, 06:18:20 AMThanks. The kid wants a curved screen which seems like a sensible future proof choice. Is that a problem? I was thinking this https://www.webhallen.com/se/product/391493-AOC-CU34G4-34-VA-3440-x-1440-180-Hz-0-5ms-2xHDMI-DP
You want to buy a monitor that supports only AMD Freesync with an Nvidia GPU that only offers G-Sync. That technology will not be supported for your monitor.
Also, not too sure about the brand. And the technology (VA), for gaming. IPS is better. OLED is freaking expensive.
Some comments here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ultrawidemasterrace/comments/1mmjzw2/aoc_cu34g4_opinions/?show=original
Not the exact same model, but review of a similar model by the same brand:
https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/aoc/cu34g2x
I dislike ultra wide monitors for gaming, they all seem buggy, but if it's what your son wants, try looking at these:
Dell AW3423DWF
Dell AW3425DWM (https://www.dell.com/en-ca/shop/alienware-34-gaming-monitor-aw3425dwm/apd/210-bpkx/monitors-monitor-accessories) (Budget, last resort)
Samsung Odissey G8 34".
Ideally, I'd go for a curved 32".
This site is excellent for reviews of electronics:
https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/best/curved-gaming-monitors
16gb is enough for Fortnite. However, there is a ram shortage. And prebuilt aren't as affected as ordinary consumers. I'd go for 32gb now if I were you, if you aren't too stretched in your budget.
Also, I double checked the specs for the first one. It's the 8gb 5060. The 16gb 5060ti will last a little longer with it's 16gb vram. At 8gb vram, the 5060 is already struggling in many modern games, even at 1080p.
Quote from: viper37 on December 25, 2025, 03:59:08 PMQuote from: Threviel on December 25, 2025, 06:18:20 AMThanks. The kid wants a curved screen which seems like a sensible future proof choice. Is that a problem? I was thinking this https://www.webhallen.com/se/product/391493-AOC-CU34G4-34-VA-3440-x-1440-180-Hz-0-5ms-2xHDMI-DP
You want to buy a monitor that supports only AMD Freesync with an Nvidia GPU that only offers G-Sync. That technology will not be supported for your monitor.
Also, not too sure about the brand. And the technology (VA), for gaming. IPS is better. OLED is freaking expensive.
Some comments here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ultrawidemasterrace/comments/1mmjzw2/aoc_cu34g4_opinions/?show=original
Not the exact same model, but review of a similar model by the same brand:
https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/aoc/cu34g2x
I dislike ultra wide monitors for gaming, they all seem buggy, but if it's what your son wants, try looking at these:
Dell AW3423DWF
Dell AW3425DWM (https://www.dell.com/en-ca/shop/alienware-34-gaming-monitor-aw3425dwm/apd/210-bpkx/monitors-monitor-accessories) (Budget, last resort)
Samsung Odissey G8 34".
Ideally, I'd go for a curved 32".
This site is excellent for reviews of electronics:
https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/best/curved-gaming-monitors
Thank you foor taking the time.
I did not know about that Freesync/G-Sync thing. Dell AW3423DWF is not available in Sweden and Dell AW3425DWM seems to only be Freesync. G-Sync seems to be a premium thing, the cheaper displays have Freesync it seems. How important is it? Are "VRR, FreeSync Premium, Adaptive-Sync" good enough?
I think I have decided on https://www.webhallen.com/se/product/383860-ASUS-GeForce-RTX-5060TI-Dual-OC-16GB as that seems to be the best bang for the buck of the computers I've been able to find. The second best is this: https://www.komplett.se/product/1325110/gaming/gamingdator/gamingdator-stationar/komplett-pc-advanced-gaming-a150-rgb?queryid=51353521a430de22887fe1a556c87bea&sort=None#custom-parts-list which has less RAM and an inferior GPU.
Also, WTF is this? "AMD FreeSync, AMD FreeSync 2, AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, AMD FreeSync Premium, VRR, FreeSync Premium, Adaptive-Sync". It's a god damn jungle out there, no wonder I went Mac.
A cheap display with G-Sync and a curvature is nigh impossible to find. I think Philips Evnia 5000 32M2C5501 32" is the best compromise right now: https://elektronikspecialisten.se/produkter/datorer-kringutrustning/skarmar-monitorer/gamingskarmar/philips-evnia-5000-32m2c5501-32-curved-gamingskarm?pjclid=cf656f55-2013-4d7a-bc00-aabf9235e9d6_9df79987d981499f
The budget is hard, so of the display goes above 4000 SEK that will have to come out of the computer, and the computer I've found seems, to me at least, to be very good bang for the buck.
If I understand what G-Sync does it seems quite important for low end systems, since it seems to make the GPU and display lag in the same frequency, and low-end GPU should lag more than high-end stuff.
Apparently the computer was a good deal and I hesitated for too long, no-one left and it's out of the sortiment.
Quote from: Threviel on December 26, 2025, 01:48:55 AMQuote from: viper37 on December 25, 2025, 03:59:08 PMQuote from: Threviel on December 25, 2025, 06:18:20 AMThanks. The kid wants a curved screen which seems like a sensible future proof choice. Is that a problem? I was thinking this https://www.webhallen.com/se/product/391493-AOC-CU34G4-34-VA-3440-x-1440-180-Hz-0-5ms-2xHDMI-DP
You want to buy a monitor that supports only AMD Freesync with an Nvidia GPU that only offers G-Sync. That technology will not be supported for your monitor.
Also, not too sure about the brand. And the technology (VA), for gaming. IPS is better. OLED is freaking expensive.
Some comments here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ultrawidemasterrace/comments/1mmjzw2/aoc_cu34g4_opinions/?show=original
Not the exact same model, but review of a similar model by the same brand:
https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/aoc/cu34g2x
I dislike ultra wide monitors for gaming, they all seem buggy, but if it's what your son wants, try looking at these:
Dell AW3423DWF
Dell AW3425DWM (https://www.dell.com/en-ca/shop/alienware-34-gaming-monitor-aw3425dwm/apd/210-bpkx/monitors-monitor-accessories) (Budget, last resort)
Samsung Odissey G8 34".
Ideally, I'd go for a curved 32".
This site is excellent for reviews of electronics:
https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/best/curved-gaming-monitors
Thank you foor taking the time.
I did not know about that Freesync/G-Sync thing. Dell AW3423DWF is not available in Sweden and Dell AW3425DWM seems to only be Freesync. G-Sync seems to be a premium thing, the cheaper displays have Freesync it seems. How important is it? Are "VRR, FreeSync Premium, Adaptive-Sync" good enough?
I think I have decided on https://www.webhallen.com/se/product/383860-ASUS-GeForce-RTX-5060TI-Dual-OC-16GB as that seems to be the best bang for the buck of the computers I've been able to find. The second best is this: https://www.komplett.se/product/1325110/gaming/gamingdator/gamingdator-stationar/komplett-pc-advanced-gaming-a150-rgb?queryid=51353521a430de22887fe1a556c87bea&sort=None#custom-parts-list which has less RAM and an inferior GPU.
Also, WTF is this? "AMD FreeSync, AMD FreeSync 2, AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, AMD FreeSync Premium, VRR, FreeSync Premium, Adaptive-Sync". It's a god damn jungle out there, no wonder I went Mac.
I'd tend to say it's a gimmick more than anything...
It gives you 1-2 more fps in games when enabled. Some people swear by it.
Imhave an AMD card so I always enable it. Freesync is the base version, 2 came after. Pro and Premium I can't remember.
I was just mentionning it in passing. It wouldn't be a deal breaker for me.
Basically, it's a an enhanced form of v-sync, your monitor refresh rate and your carrd refresh rate are absolutely sync, frame by frame and it works at above 60fps it supposedly eliminated stutteering in games.
But, it may not be a problem, even without these techs. But for some gamers, it's a necessity.
Most things right now points to this:
Windows 11 Pro Phanteks XT Pro Silent Mid Tower (svart)
Gigabyte Radeon RX 9060 XT Gaming OC
AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Tray CPU
Phanteks Glacier One 360M25 Komplett Edition
Kingston FURY Beast RGB DDR5 5600MHz 16GB
Kingston FURY Renegade G5 PCIe 5.0 NVMe M.2 SSD 2TB
Asus B650E MAX GAMING WIFI Motherboard
Phanteks AMP GH nätaggregat 850W gold (svart)
I's a modification of this: https://www.komplett.se/product/1325110/gaming/gamingdator/gamingdator-stationar/komplett-pc-advanced-gaming-a150-rgb
Focus is on a black case (that presumably is a bit more silent than a LED glass case), a faster SSD, more power and better fans for the processor.
This should be good enough for longevity (by running cooler) and upgradeability. I chose a more standard GPU and 16 Gb RAM because those are very expensive to upgrade and can somewhat easily be upgraded in the future, whilst a slow SSD is not something that one normally upgrades in my experience.
Ended up on this display
https://www.komplett.se/product/1322790/gaming/spelutrustning/gamingskarmar/asus-32-curved-gamingskarm-tuf-vg32qw3b
He necessarily wants a curved one and everything I found was balanced in a different way where every display was good at something. So I choose the cheapest one on the same site that the computer's from, it'll be good enough.
The computer is 18k SEK and the display 3k.
Windows 11 pro cost an additional 300 SEK so I plan on buying that, is that a bad idea for gaming? He doesn't need the corporate stuff, but if he goes full nerd he'll be able to do virtualisation, dockers and stuff like that.
Quote from: Threviel on December 27, 2025, 11:24:48 AMWindows 11 pro cost an additional 300 SEK so I plan on buying that, is that a bad idea for gaming? He doesn't need the corporate stuff, but if he goes full nerd he'll be able to do virtualisation, dockers and stuff like that.
Sorry, I forgot about this.
Windows 11 Home is sufficient.
If he goes full nerd, he can use open source software for virtualisation, dockers and stuff like that.
I suggest not waiting too much longer. RAM prices are already skyrocketing.
Thanks everyone.
The computer is bought and tested and i'm jealous. It's a monster compared to my M1 iMac.
It's very quick and responsive but from a user standpoint i'm reminded that Windows is horrible.
It's funny how the last two iterations have both made it significantly worse.
I was fine with Win7.
Microsoft decided it was too beloved by its users and have really doubled down on enshitification and refusal to allow you to even own a fucking license to use their shitty products.
If there weren't a million worse things going on in the world I would be bitching about them non-stop. If this was 1996 they would be enemy #1.
But its 2026 so instead Microsoft being horrible is just a minor annoyance.
One example of MS crap is that Chrome is automatically blocked by Family Safety if any kind of web filter is used and it's a bit of a hassle to fix that.
Conveniently Edge is not blocked.
And those kinds of Shenanigans are everywhere in every piece of the system. Pissing their users in the face in an underhanded manner all the fucking time.
There was a vulnerability on Chrome and they got overzealous, obviously.
Microsoft Family Safety blocking Chrome can be frustrating, especially when it affects all versions of the browser. This issue is often caused by content restrictions within Family Safety settings, which may be preventing access to non-Microsoft browsers. To resolve this, check the Microsoft Family Safety settings by visiting account.microsoft.com/family, selecting the affected child's account, and reviewing the Content Restrictions section. If the "Block inappropriate browsing" option is enabled, it may be restricting access to Chrome. Disabling this setting should allow Chrome to function normally. Another possible solution is to reset Chrome permissions. If Family Safety continues to block Chrome despite granting permission, try signing out of the child's Chrome sync account and resetting the browser settings. This can be done by opening Chrome, navigating to Settings > Reset Settings, and selecting Restore settings to their original defaults.
JFC. All of this for one browser. :rolleyes: I hadn't realized how bad it got.
Just download Firefox.
Also this:
https://superuser.com/questions/1013702/completely-disable-uac-in-windows-10
And I really like this script, you can see what it does at the bottom:
https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat
It's kiddo's computer, he wants Chrome so I guess that's what I have to fix.
Apart from security the computer is his responsibility. If he wants it optimised he can learn to do it himself and I'll gladly help.
In the meantime i'm very happy with my choice to use a Mac, Windows shenanigans infuriates me.
Quote from: Threviel on January 24, 2026, 12:11:54 PMIt's kiddo's computer, he wants Chrome so I guess that's what I have to fix.
Apart from security the computer is his responsibility. If he wants it optimised he can learn to do it himself and I'll gladly help.
In the meantime i'm very happy with my choice to use a Mac, Windows shenanigans infuriates me.
Point him toward Vivaldi.
https://vivaldi.com/
He'll like it. :)
Same base as Chrome (Chromium).