So my son is asking for a gaming PC. I dont play and have no clue. He wants a desktop and not a laptop....

Anything good out there that wont break the bank. Hes turning 16 so i figure i can smag him one for his b-day.

Any info would be great...
Thanks

Expect to spend $1200~ for a halfway decent machine.

Do you know how to build one?  If not, if you have more brains than a monkey, you can do it, its really easy and plenty of videos to watch to do so.

Parts list for a decent build:  https://pcpartpicker.com/list/vfCrYH

Add another $35 for windows 10, and however much you want to spend on a monitor.

Urban Commandos is probably the better forum for this.

How much are you looking to spend? What games is he looking to play? What do you already own?

High level recommendations: Buy at the low-mid tier. Law of diminishing returns apply. Settle for 1080P gaming

Build or buy?

CPU AMD Ryzen 5 3600 or Intel I5-9600KF
GPU: GTX 1660 Super - 2600 Super - 2700 Super based on budget
16GB of RAM
1TB SSD

dont forget monitors, yes 2 of them
24inch at a minimum, 27" would be better, and 1440 would be better than 1080

it would be a good project to build it together

You don't need dual monitors to game.  If you're on a budget, a second monitor is absolutely the WORST place to blow a sizeable chunk of it.  I gamed on a 22" 1680x1050 for a decade.  24" 1080p is absolutely fine.  The biggest "upgrade" for monitors in my experience is higher refresh rates, but again not necessary for staying on a budget.

I haven't priced out SSDs in a long time, but 1 TB seems excessive for a budget build.  I have a 512 "system" drive and a couple 1-3 TB HDDs for storage.  But if they are cheap these days, then I guess.

Thanks guys for all the info...this is a strange world for me....
Going to start looking and thanks for the list

Any complete systems that are ok that i should look at...

I mean, the other guys aren't necessarily wrong but you're going to get a very wide range of answers without further info. It's akin to "I need a car, recommend one"

Do you have any idea what he might be playing on it?j
What is your budget?

Generally speaking it's going to be more bang for your buck to build one rather than buy one but if you're not at least a little technologically proficient it'll be difficult (People will tell you it's easy, and it is, but there's is also plenty that can go wrong/not smooth).

I saw this on slickdeals.Don't know how much you want to spend but it would work well.

https://slickdeals.net/f/13818485-skytech-chronos-desktop-ryzen-7-2700x-16gb-ddr4-1tb-ssd-rtx-2070-super-8gb-998-free-s-h?src=frontpage

He wants to transition to pc... play fortnight and some shoot em up games... nothing to crazy i guess

Id like to be below 1k.
Even 1k seems crazy to play video games...he has the xbox...

Best buy has prebuilt stuff from $700 to $1200...but i dont know what is good

A PC with these components would be a fantastic option in that price range. You can save some money by swapping out the SSD for something like a 2tb HDD ($60) and possibly switching the video card to a 5600 XT ($290). You can also save $60 by not upgrading the CPU cooler (one comes with the CPU). I just would not recommend overclocking the CPU with the stock cooler; which definitely isn't even necessary right now.

Getting into PC gaming is more expensive, but I think it provides a better experience. With this build, you won't have to upgrade anything for a long time. Particularly if you're using 1080p.

You're going to be spending a lot more for a prebuilt with that kind of performance (like $200-300 more). How to build a PC. PC building these days is very simple. If you can assemble legos, you can build a PC. Give him the parts for his birthday, and you can build it together as a project.

Do NOT buy a complete pre-built system from a big box store.  You'll drastically overpay for shit-tier hardware.  Online "gaming pc" retailers like Ibuypower or cyberpowerpc will still be overpaying vs building it yourself (sometimes drastically), but you can overpay for something that will work for a gaming PC.  An independent computer parts/repair store might have something, or build it for you, if you really don't think you can handle (or really don't want to and willing to pay someone else to do it, not judging) plugging everything in to where it goes.  If those even exist anymore.

I don't know how old your son is, but this could be a fun 'project' for him to build it out himself.

Get this GPU

You can definitely put something together or find something for less than 1k, especially if he just hooks it up to a TV instead of getting a monitor on the side. I'll probably get into online fisticuffs, but you CAN get a prebuilt within your budget. Tradeoff there like most will tell you is that you're getting worse components for the money. Generally with prebuilts they're throw in as many spec sheet fluffers as they can such as 16gb ram, 1tb harddrive, whatever hotshit gpu. They don't mention it's slow as shit bargain bin RAM, a slow as fuck janky HDD, the worst variant of that GPU, and the worst motherboard and least reliable power supply they could find (generally, every once in a while there is a crazy deal.

I personally wouldn't rule out building your own. It's very similar to slapping together an AR. Watch some decent youtube videos/read some guides, everything basically only fits into one spot. Pop a windows USB in (can be made on another computer), and you're in business. If your kid is good with computers he can do most of it himself although plenty of dads nowadays put PCs together with their kids.