I'd look to something along the lines of a AMD 9700x (not x3d) on a B series mobo and pair it with a 5060ti 16GB, 32GB of ddr5 6000 cl30 and a 500-650w psu, use a 256GB boot drive and a 1tb gaming drive.

Don't bother with Nvidia. Get a RX 9060 XT and use Linux.

Originally posted by Electric Cupcake:

Don't bother with Nvidia. Get a RX 9060 XT and use Linux.

Yes, buy the notably worse product and use the OS with the most issues with gaming for his young son, what great advice!...

Originally posted by Monk:

Originally posted by Electric Cupcake:

Don't bother with Nvidia. Get a RX 9060 XT and use Linux.

Yes, buy the notably worse product and use the OS with the most issues with gaming for his young son, what great advice!...

the real question is if the 5060Ti 16GB is within his budget
where I live I've seen the 9060XT 16GB selling for 100-150 euros less

but yeah stay away from Linux unless your kid is old enough and willing to learn how to use it

Get with the 21st century.

Windows has far more unacceptable issues, not least of which is it's totally obsolete.

Hi,
I wouldn't bother too much about getting "lower end cards". It is what it is and if you have a budget, then stick to it.
I would assume you'd want windows, right? Is the windows within budget or are you willing to put in the extra money? What about office. It's always nice to have for work or school, but only if you need it. They can be expensive.

Would you keep the monitor or get a new one? What about mouse, keyboard, webcam, speakers, game controller...

Would you like to post the current computer? Might be worth upgrading.
You can install https://www.userbenchmark.com/Software, run it at the computer and post the link. On top of that, we would need to know what PSU you have.

I personally upgraded my 5 year computer. Kept MB, PSU, case and RAM (and case too). Got a new CPU (Ryzen 7 5700x), GPU (MSI RTX 5060) and added an m.2 disk. Only had 500TB so added 1TB. Also got a new monitor. Spent about 600 euros. I also chose parts from more or less decent manufacturers. I could have gotten a GPU from PNY or XFX or whatever but I like MSI. My MB is a 2019 model and they are still (as of 2025) updating the BIOS.

I have to say that even if they are not top pick parts, I don't really "need" more and I don't need to play the latest game at full graphs. I'm currently playing Days Gone and Alan Wake 2 with the new rig and with pretty graphics. Super happy. I do need to upgrade the case cooling a bit. Not much, but another 30 or 40 euros. It's the little things that add up...

Last but not least, chose your partner in crime well. I bought and installed the parts myself, I am capable. And I could have saved a few euros if I had gotten the parts off amazon, but a local shop wasn't that much more expensive and I know they are good for costumer support should anything arise.

I think the 1000 dollars will make a nice PC. Just not sure how prices are in the US now with all the tariffs.

You can also have a look at some "pre-built" gaming computers and tweak the parts a bit. But personally I'll always go AMD for the CPU. A good MB, 32MB RAM, a fast disk (as big as you need, I personally never store anything on the disk as I copy everything directly to a cloud server). I think the 5060 is a very good GPU. Or maybe get the 5060ti if it falls within budget. Depending on the games, you'd want to balance more towards the CPU or GPU.

honestly, see if he would be ok with a console
xbox series s or ps5 is fine for those games at about half the price

pc is much more versatile
but at $1000 now is not much more than entry level
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/XvdhzP

AMD Ryzen 5 7600X 4.7 GHz 6-Core Processor
Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler
ASRock B650M Pro RS Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard
Silicon Power XPOWER Zenith Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory
TEAMGROUP T-FORCE G50 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive
XFX Speedster SWFT 210 Core Radeon RX 7700 XT 12 GB Video Card
BGears b-Vortex-RGB ATX Mid Tower Case
be quiet! Pure Power 13 M 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

Base Total: $1013.73

Originally posted by ChickenBalls:

Originally posted by Monk:

Yes, buy the notably worse product and use the OS with the most issues with gaming for his young son, what great advice!...

the real question is if the 5060Ti 16GB is within his budget
where I live I've seen the 9060XT 16GB selling for 100-150 euros less

but yeah stay away from Linux unless your kid is old enough and willing to learn how to use it

Actually over here they are about the same price, but location matters for price.

Originally posted by Monk:

Originally posted by Electric Cupcake:

Don't bother with Nvidia. Get a RX 9060 XT and use Linux.

Yes, buy the notably worse product and use the OS with the most issues with gaming for his young son, what great advice!...

Nothing beats compiling drivers at 2 AM and chasing obscure error messages instead of just plug-and-play gaming on Windows. I
Best way to permanently turn that little boy off and shove him straight into console gaming. ^^

----------------------

Im with Monk regarding CPU&GPU.
9700X - 5060TI - SN580edit: typo/I meant SN850 - 32GB DDR6000 - B850 - Arctic Freezer - Corsair 650W

Should be doable with 1000 bucks. At least if youre living in the US or Western Europe.

Originally posted by x:

Originally posted by ChickenBalls:

the real question is if the 5060Ti 16GB is within his budget
where I live I've seen the 9060XT 16GB selling for 100-150 euros less

but yeah stay away from Linux unless your kid is old enough and willing to learn how to use it

Actually over here they are about the same price, but location matters for price.

guess in your country Lisa is the greedy bastard
while in mine its definitely Jensen

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/qP8tDj

thank you everyone for the input.
unfortunately the PC he has isn't worth or even possible to upgrade. it's an old x51 alienware someone gave me that i put a 3770 and a 1050ti in years ago. you could probably cook eggs on it and it needs the case open usually. :/

and yeah, i'm in the united states.

are you near a microcenter?
https://www.microcenter.com/site/stores/default.aspx

Originally posted by Schrute_Farms_B&B:

Originally posted by Monk:

Yes, buy the notably worse product and use the OS with the most issues with gaming for his young son, what great advice!...

Nothing beats compiling drivers at 2 AM and chasing obscure error messages instead of just plug-and-play gaming on Windows. I
Best way to permanently turn that little boy off and shove him straight into console gaming. ^^

----------------------

Im with Monk regarding CPU&GPU.
9700X - 5060TI - SN580 - 32GB DDR6000 - B850 - Arctic Freezer - Corsair 650W

Should be doable with 1000 bucks. At least if youre living in the US or Western Europe.

There is so much wrong with that, I don't know where to start.

Originally posted by Rumpelcrutchskin:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/qP8tDj

I think this one's pretty good for the price