Computers & Electronics

gaming desktop or laptop for 12 year old

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  • Apr 30th, 2020 10:51 am
Deal Addict
Aug 21, 2010
1613 posts
822 upvotes
toronto

gaming desktop or laptop for 12 year old

son wants a gaming laptop or desktop...
i dont have a clue on this gaming thing
looking at new ..built already
wants to play games
- not sure what min specs should be looking at
as well..wanted to budget approx 500 not sure if this is even possible for gaming new

thanks
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23 replies
Deal Fanatic
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Sep 12, 2007
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Greely
I just went through this with my 13 year old.

Short answer is you're going to have to increase your budget by a fair margin.
Sr. Member
Mar 26, 2008
563 posts
282 upvotes
500 won't let you play the latest games, especially if you have to buy a monitor with your desktop and gaming laptops are expensive. if your son is content with playing some older games or games that don't require the latest tech, that's possible. fortnite doesn't seem to have very high system requirements, for example. same with minecraft. if your son is younger, he might be interested in those games. for the latest games, perhaps looking into an xbox one or playstation 4 might be an option for a budget of 500.
Deal Expert
Dec 5, 2006
16792 posts
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Markham
OP, might be you just ask your son a few games he wants to play and list here, people might help you more
Deal Addict
Aug 21, 2010
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toronto
GTA 5 is a game he wants to play
he already has ps4 has monitor for that

thanks
smartie wrote: OP, might be you just ask your son a few games he wants to play and list here, people might help you more
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Deal Fanatic
Jul 26, 2004
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your best bet wrote: GTA 5 is a game he wants to play
he already has ps4 has monitor for that

thanks
GTA 5 is available for PS4 as well. Might be better and cheaper to play on a PS4 than on a $500 computer. That way you can save that $500 for the PS5 thats coming out at the end of the year.
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Jun 16, 2009
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GTA
your best bet wrote: GTA 5 is a game he wants to play
he already has ps4 has monitor for that

thanks
I don't think you'll get a $500 laptop that plays GTA5 decently. Also if you have a PS4 already, it would make more sense to get it for console, I'm sure you'd get it on sale pretty easily by now.
A half decent new gaming laptop is minimum $900. You could probably build a desktop for less if you do it yourself. If you don't have that ability, then expect to pay more for the labour. Getting a cheap gaming laptop would be a bad idea unless you are willing to pay more than you say. You'll be crippled by the video card, and those aren't realistically upgradeable.

If he just wants it to play games that already exist on his console, I'm not quite seeing the point. Go cheap and he'll be annoyed that it doesn't perform well within a year. Then you have an expensive paperweight.
c'mon get happy!
Sr. Member
Mar 26, 2008
563 posts
282 upvotes
your best bet wrote: GTA 5 is a game he wants to play
he already has ps4 has monitor for that

thanks
does he already have a desktop computer? if so, what specs? gta 5 is from 2013 and can be played on older computers and perhaps all you need is an expensive video card. i played gta with a gtx750ti that is well under 100$ on kijiji now. but as others have mentioned, gta 5 can be had for around 30$ now for the ps4. unless there are some games that are computer-specific that he would want to play like counterstrike, league of legends, etc. it's best to stick with the ps4 and save for maybe a ps5 later on or when the budget for a computer can be higher.
Deal Expert
Jun 15, 2011
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GTA 5 for a 12 year old... Sorry to bring it up, but you must be one awesome dad for your kid haha.
Blanka
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Dec 5, 2006
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djemzine wrote: GTA 5 for a 12 year old... Sorry to bring it up, but you must be one awesome dad for your kid haha.
Because age inappropriate?
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Jun 16, 2009
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GTA
smartie wrote: Because age inappropriate?
Well yeah. Rated M is recommended for 17+, and I assume the OP knows this. If the OP is fine with their 12 year old playing GTA5, well... Its his home. My kids sure as crap wouldn't be playing it.
c'mon get happy!
Newbie
Apr 19, 2020
20 posts
10 upvotes
for pc gaming...you spend alot more to buy the hardware...and then generally save money on buying the games
for a half decent gaming pc your going to need to spend 800$

you could buy a second hand pc on kijiji or ebay and then just upgrade it a bit so he can play the games

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-desktop-compute ... 1497089434
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Jul 11, 2003
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BernardRyder wrote: Well yeah. Rated M is recommended for 17+, and I assume the OP knows this. If the OP is fine with their 12 year old playing GTA5, well... Its his home. My kids sure as crap wouldn't be playing it.
Lol, same here! My 13 yo asks me every few months if he can play GTA 5 - "No way son, ask me again when you're 16".
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Oct 16, 2007
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whatever you do, dont get a laptop.
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Oct 3, 2012
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your best bet wrote: son wants a gaming laptop or desktop...
i dont have a clue on this gaming thing
looking at new ..built already
wants to play games
- not sure what min specs should be looking at
as well..wanted to budget approx 500 not sure if this is even possible for gaming new

thanks
My recommendation. Get your 12 year old a good laptop for school work, but lousy for games. You can watch just how quickly the grades drop if you do the reverse. A 12 year old does not need a gaming laptop. A gaming computer is only a good idea if you set a bios lock to limit times when it may be used.
Deal Fanatic
Nov 18, 2005
5111 posts
1546 upvotes
Kitchener
12 years old is a perfect age to learn how to build a computer. I just helped my 14 year old build one and she enjoyed assembling it. Picked up a used GTX1060 off Kijiji and all other parts from Amazon. Not good news for you, but it was more than $500, closer to $900
Sr. Member
Jun 9, 2012
505 posts
361 upvotes
Vancouver
If you have a budget of around $600, a new system + used graphics card would be possible, the gaming performance would be somewhere between 1440p to 1080p @ 60 fps on most newly released games on mid to high graphical presets. At $500 or less you pretty much have to go for a prebuilt refurbished system that has an outdated motherboard, but you could still add in a graphics card to obtain a similar gaming performance with very little difference.
Jr. Member
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Jul 21, 2005
133 posts
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building a desktop that can run at least gta 5 for ~500$ lets see, it'll probably not be using the most up-to-date hardware if we want to stay in budget, lets keep the future proof out of this scenario.

cpu -AM3+ core 6300 fx or 83xx series core used 80-150$ (discontinued might be harder to find new) or use an AM4+ core and get a ryzen 5 2600 for ~200$
gpu - rx 570 ~100-140$ used (depends if 4gb or 8gb)
mobo - 50-100$
psu - 30-70$ (evga 500w 80+ bronze was like $50ish on sale iirc)
ram - 70-100$ (2x 4gb)
storage - 50$ (small ssd) or closer to 100$ if small ssd + hdd (gta 5 might not fit on a 120gb ssd + windows)
case - 30-100$

these are estimate numbers based on my memory when i shop for parts from time to time.

ranging from $400 to 600+ and that's if we're really budgeting and finding deals. not factoring any taxes for store purchases. so it's not impossible for OP to build a rig capable of playing gta 5 with low to med settings.

the only reason i can think of why OP's kid wants to play GTA 5 on the computer is for the sheer amount of mods you can add to the PC version. otherwise why not buy the ps4 version? it'd save you a lot more money in the long run.
Sr. Member
Nov 14, 2008
857 posts
325 upvotes
it would be a mistake to buy into such old amd components, maybe if someone gave them to the op for free.
OP would be better buying entry level i3 9100F and basic motherboard and ddr4 or the low end ryzen system, faster / cheaper (not paying for rarity )

that said, i am currently using a 8320 with 7970 and it is quite capable
RyLeX wrote: building a desktop that can run at least gta 5 for ~500$ lets see, it'll probably not be using the most up-to-date hardware if we want to stay in budget, lets keep the future proof out of this scenario.

cpu -AM3+ core 6300 fx or 83xx series core used 80-150$ (discontinued might be harder to find new) or use an AM4+ core and get a ryzen 5 2600 for ~200$
gpu - rx 570 ~100-140$ used (depends if 4gb or 8gb)
mobo - 50-100$
psu - 30-70$ (evga 500w 80+ bronze was like $50ish on sale iirc)
ram - 70-100$ (2x 4gb)
storage - 50$ (small ssd) or closer to 100$ if small ssd + hdd (gta 5 might not fit on a 120gb ssd + windows)
case - 30-100$

these are estimate numbers based on my memory when i shop for parts from time to time.

ranging from $400 to 600+ and that's if we're really budgeting and finding deals. not factoring any taxes for store purchases. so it's not impossible for OP to build a rig capable of playing gta 5 with low to med settings.

the only reason i can think of why OP's kid wants to play GTA 5 on the computer is for the sheer amount of mods you can add to the PC version. otherwise why not buy the ps4 version? it'd save you a lot more money in the long run.
Jr. Member
User avatar
Jul 21, 2005
133 posts
79 upvotes
lostintransit wrote: it would be a mistake to buy into such old amd components, maybe if someone gave them to the op for free.
OP would be better buying entry level i3 9100F and basic motherboard and ddr4 or the low end ryzen system, faster / cheaper (not paying for rarity )

that said, i am currently using a 8320 with 7970 and it is quite capable
ya after doing some googling, looks like the AM3 cores are out of the question. the cheaper ryzen 5 cores will def do the job. mainly why i suggested a 2600.

i have a dated rig and im pretty sure i could run gta 5
phenom x4 965 BE
8gb ram = 2x 4gb ram
rx 580 4gb (replaced a 7950)

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