I'm building a computer for my grandson and need some advice

[Flopper]

He's in high school and will be using it for school work but he does a lot of gaming, Skyrim and Minecraft. Any suggestions for a video card and power supply?

 

[TheOldSchool]

This looks like a pretty good resource:
How to build a computer. Overclockers Forums

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Videocards and performance in 3d gaming will come down to eiter ATI cards/chipsets or NVidia ones. Neithers superior objectively to the other except in specific games or applications. Which is better for Skyrim I have no idea but sites abound which'll put em through the performance ringer and tell you which is best.

Power supplies and high performance videocards have to be chose with care as the exceptionally high energy requirements for this cards may simply not get met with even very expensive PS. But again, sites like Tom's Hardware, AnandTech, or Legit Reviews will give you a good cross-section to help you decide.

 

[TemplarKormac]

AMD Radeon 7570 or higher or nVidia GTX 750 or higher, PSU of 300 Watts or higher.

 

[Flopper]

Videocards and performance in 3d gaming will come down to eiter ATI cards/chipsets or NVidia ones. Neithers superior objectively to the other except in specific games or applications. Which is better for Skyrim I have no idea but sites abound which'll put em through the performance ringer and tell you which is best.

Power supplies and high performance videocards have to be chose with care as the exceptionally high energy requirements for this cards may simply not get met with even very expensive PS. But again, sites like Tom's Hardware, AnandTech, or Legit Reviews will give you a good cross-section to help you decide.

Thanks, I'll check the site out.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

He's in high school and will be using it for school work but he does a lot of gaming, Skyrim and Minecraft. Any suggestions for a video card and power supply?

Absolutely!
None of the above.
Instead...a PS4 for gaming - $399
As for school - any reasonable laptop, a Lenova would be my advice.
Total...about $900

Or even better, an Alienware Alpha gaming console that is both a computer and a respectable gaming platform for Steam.
Alienware Alpha Gaming Console - Intel Core i3-4130T 2.90GHz 4GB DDR3 Memory 500GB HDD 2GB NVIDIA Maxwell GTX Windows 8.1 64-bit - ASM100-1580 at TigerDirect.com

$550...top that.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/skyrim-performance-benchmark,3074.html

"At ultra details with transparency anti-aliasing and 4x MSAA, only the fastest cards like AMD's Radeon HD 6970, Nvidia's GeForce GTX 570, and its GeForce GTX 460 in SLI provide playable frame rates."

"With the graphics benchmarks out of the way, let’s consider CPU clock speed scaling:

This game clearly relies on CPU power, and you need a Sandy Bridge-based Core i3 at 3 GHz or a Phenom II at 3.5 GHz to provide a minimum 30 FPS. Bear in mind that we're using the ultra detail setting here, and processing requirements drop significantly as you start stepping back. So, you can make due with a less potent chip when you dial in detail options appropriately.

Skyrim doesn’t appear to be optimized for more than two threads. Although this isn't a surprise, considering the original version of the game engine was developed prior to 2006, it’s a little disappointing that threading isn't more prevalent, since the title is so clearly affected by CPU performance."

When you look at PS, bear in mind it's not the total watts you need to figure out but rather whether the power supply's 12a videocard rail will give whatever videocard you're connecting to it enough power. Every vc's requirement will be different, as is every PS's available power on the rail in question.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

As to these sites emphasis on 30 FPS, I've played 3d shooters with ~12fps just fine. If you can't get 30/24, lower image quality until you get it. Also, just because you get 30fps in one place doesn't mean you will when 20 players are on screen and 20 explosions are going off. So while fps is important, it's not everything.

 

[Flopper]

AMD Radeon 7570 or higher or nVidia GTX 750 or higher, PSU of 300 Watts or higher.

Strange you mention the GTX 750 because he purchased that card and we put it in his old computer which had a 350 watt supply. Whenever he played the game and pushed the fps up to 50 or higher, the computer would power off. I'm pretty sure it was the power supply. The manufacture said they did not recommend a PS less than 400 watts. Since his computer had other problems we decided to replace it but keep the GTX 750. I'm thinking of getting a Corsair 600 watts supply. It might be a bit of an overkill but the price is right.

 

[TemplarKormac]

Well the higher the fps the better as far as graphics are concerned. If it was the power supply, then try 400 or higher.

 

[TemplarKormac]

AMD Radeon 7570 or higher or nVidia GTX 750 or higher, PSU of 300 Watts or higher.

Strange you mention the GTX 750 because he purchased that card and we put it in his old computer which had a 350 watt supply. Whenever he played the game and pushed the fps up to 50 or higher, the computer would power off. I'm pretty sure it was the power supply. The manufacture said they did not recommend a PS less than 400 watts. Since his computer had other problems we decided to replace it but keep the GTX 750. I'm thinking of getting a Corsair 600 watts supply. It might be a bit of an overkill but the price is right.

And Corsair is a good brand.

 

[Flopper]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/skyrim-performance-benchmark,3074.html

"At ultra details with transparency anti-aliasing and 4x MSAA, only the fastest cards like AMD's Radeon HD 6970, Nvidia's GeForce GTX 570, and its GeForce GTX 460 in SLI provide playable frame rates."

"With the graphics benchmarks out of the way, let’s consider CPU clock speed scaling:

This game clearly relies on CPU power, and you need a Sandy Bridge-based Core i3 at 3 GHz or a Phenom II at 3.5 GHz to provide a minimum 30 FPS. Bear in mind that we're using the ultra detail setting here, and processing requirements drop significantly as you start stepping back. So, you can make due with a less potent chip when you dial in detail options appropriately.

Skyrim doesn’t appear to be optimized for more than two threads. Although this isn't a surprise, considering the original version of the game engine was developed prior to 2006, it’s a little disappointing that threading isn't more prevalent, since the title is so clearly affected by CPU performance."

When you look at PS, bear in mind it's not the total watts you need to figure out but rather whether the power supply's 12a videocard rail will give whatever videocard you're connecting to it enough power. Every vc's requirement will be different, as is every PS's available power on the rail in question.

What do you think of an I5-3570K processor? I've got one in my wife's computer I built last year on a nice gigabyte motherboard. Since she doesn't use if for anything but email and occasional browsing, I could upgrade it and give it to my grandson. I would put in a video card and bypass the built in graphics in the 3570K, add some memory and maybe upgrade the power supply.

 

[Mr. H.]

Keep in mind that computers can get really hot, especially juicing them up like this.

 

[Flopper]

Keep in mind that computers can get really hot, especially juicing them up like this.

Which is a good reason to get a full size case with good ventilation. The heat sink and fan that come with the processor are pretty good until you driving them at 90 to 100% accompanied by power hungry video cards.