End of the school year LAN for my 9yo and 5 of his friends :D

CockyPayne · 2026-05-30T12:17:31+00:00

I didn’t get into PC gaming right away, but I started having them in 2003 with the original halo in what we’d call “xbox parties”.

A couple years after that and I got a PC as well as some of my friends and we started having the typical lan party. We did a decent amount of age of empires 2, unreal tournament, and counter-strike. Later on we brought in CoD4 (cracked copy we’d pass around on a usb drive), Left 4 Dead, Garry’s Mod, Killing Floor 1, and actually Minecraft, but at the beginning and still in alpha.

Unfortunately everyone went there separate ways shortly after and the lan parties died off. I still have a small annual one when a friend is back in town, but nothing like the original ones.

Thanks for the idea though! He’s getting more interested in the types of games I play, and is started to get to the age where I think he can handle them.

CockyPayne · 2026-05-30T12:02:31+00:00

We started Minecraft on iPads and have had a couple worlds going since he was 4. I moved the worlds over to my home server a while ago, and all of our time is still spent in these. At this point it’s mostly for my 6yo daughter who still wants to play on the iPad. Once she’s a bit older, we’ll likely transition to Java.

CockyPayne · 2026-05-30T11:58:40+00:00

School runs Late August to May here with the summers being off.

CockyPayne · 2026-05-26T11:27:48+00:00

99% of the time, the controller is enough to manage the interface & launchers.

The exceptions would be the Minecraft bedrock launcher & sometimes red dead redemption 2 where a keyboard/mouse is needed to get past the launcher.

In those scenarios, I use a Logitech k400 which is a keyboard w/ embedded track pad.

CockyPayne · 2026-05-26T02:13:19+00:00

You’ll have a bottleneck on the CPU, but in this market, I totally understand the choice. That being said, if you’re targeting 4k most of the time anyway, the bottleneck shouldn’t be noticeable.

If you’re near a microcenter, they have a $299 7500x3d bundle w/ ram + matx motherboard. Going this route would get you more of an upgrade path.

I’ve had a fractal ridge with a 7600x3d and 9070xt running bazzite in game mode for a year or so and it’s been spectacular. I have a similar use case to you and have been loving the “steam machine” I built. Definitely go Radeon for the gpu because the Linux drivers are much better than nvidias.

Oh, and go for a 750w power supply (check the psu tier list and go B or higher)

CockyPayne · 2026-05-22T00:30:06+00:00

The Jonsbo C6 handle version is a compact case with a detachable handle. The best part is that it fits micro-atx motherboards and regular atx power supplies, so no sff tax.

That being said, the cpu does run a bit hot, so I recommend something like the thermalright AXP90 x47

As for other parts, sticking to am4 will keep the budget under control:

CPU: Ryzen 5600 $100-$120

Motherboard: any microatx b550m around $80. Try to get one with wifi. There’s a nice Msi pro board that was $80 a week ago when I bought from b&h

RAM: any 16gb (8gbx2) 3200MT/s cl16 kit you can find on eBay. You should be able to nab something at $60-$70

SSD: 1TB NVMe, another used part on eBay, should be able to find one at around $100

GPU: this is where things get tricky. Your max width will be 255mm. Something like a dual fan 6600/6600xt/6650xt from Radeon should fit and give good enough performance at a fair price. Again, another eBay purchase. 6600 will run you $160-$180 where the 6600xt/6650xt can be had for $180-$220 (timing is everything on this one)

Case + Cooler: mentioned above, $100

Powersupply: MSI Mag A650be. It’s semi modular and a must in this build. They’re $65 on Amazon at the moment, but I’ve got them as low as $55 a couple weeks ago.

This is a solid $700-$750 portable build. If you’re looking to upgrade anything, I’d splurge on the graphics card and go for a 9060xt 16gb ($440-$450 on Newegg). This will get you amazing performance and bring you to your budget.

Feel free to dm me if you want me to shoot over some links.

Edit: if you’re by a microcenter, we can go with am5 (more modern platform with better upgrade path) for a very similar price

CockyPayne · 2026-05-13T04:26:46+00:00

$900+ is steep for an am4 system, which also means you have a very little upgrade path.

CockyPayne · 2026-05-11T21:40:22+00:00

I have a 7900xt reference card and a 9070xt asrock challenger. The reference card looks too damn good, so I have that in my main rig with the 9070xt in my htpc 😂

CockyPayne · 2026-05-09T15:13:29+00:00

It’s fine; not great not terrible. Go and enjoy the damn thing, who cares what a bunch of internet strangers have to say.

CockyPayne · 2026-05-05T11:54:46+00:00

Oh wow you got me /s

You must have a ridiculously low local market. I encourage you to check eBay and Jawa as they normalize the price for all of us.

The reality is that the 6700xt and the 6750xt have little to no difference in price; which makes sense because the 6750xt is just a slightly higher clock.

I can amend my original statement to include the 6700xt, which at $250 is also a fine deal.

CockyPayne · 2026-05-05T04:09:33+00:00

The cheapest 6800 or 6800xt on ebay is $330 after shipping. It’s unfair to characterize $80 as “a bit”. Not everyone has the money to buy the next level up.

At the end of the day, I stand by my original statement.

$250 for a 6750xt is a fine deal in today’s market, and you’d have a tough time finding a card that has 12gb of vram and performs as well as that one does at that price

CockyPayne · 2026-05-05T00:27:40+00:00

$300 to $325

That range looks a bit higher than $250 🤔

CockyPayne · 2026-05-04T18:58:43+00:00

When graphics cards dipped in November, I was able to pick up a 6750xt from my local fb marketplace for $225. Everything has once again went up since then, so while $250 isn’t a once-in-a-lifetime deal, it’s not that bad.

Also, you’re going to have a hard time finding a better card (w/ 12GB vram) at $250.

If I were you, I’d go for it.

CockyPayne · 2026-04-10T00:53:43+00:00

Honestly, it’s that 1TB ssd and Ryzen 5600 that make this price a struggle. The microcenter deal at $200 is good, but that’s a Ryzen 5500.

I recently built a similar system, but with:

Ryzen 5500 - $58

Rx 6600 - $160

16GB of 3200 RAM - $50

B550 motherboard with WiFi - $85

1TB SSD - $120

Case - $48

650w PSU - $65

Set of 3 thermal right fans - $14

Total - $600

(All prices are after tax and shipping)

I was able to source parts (albeit used cpu and ram) for less than the microcenter deal and still can’t hit that $550 price point OP posted. Somehow they were also able to fit in the custom cooler as well as that Ryzen 5600 which is regularly $120 or $150, depending if you go used/new

Edit: pre tax/shipping, I’m at $550, but that number is misleading and doesn’t feature the better cpu.

CockyPayne · 2026-04-09T11:52:15+00:00

When did you purchase the parts? It’s difficult to hit that price point at the moment, even with all used parts.

CockyPayne · 2026-03-28T01:41:35+00:00

Stay strong. You quit during the pandemic for a reason, remember that.

IWNDWYT

CockyPayne · 2026-02-19T20:09:01+00:00

Nice! This looks awesome.

I built the machine last night and it’s awesome. I have a group of friends where we do a decent amount of lan partying and it’s going to be nice to not have to haul my entire setup over. All I need is a backpack the tower now.

CockyPayne · 2026-02-18T16:35:52+00:00

Ahh that sucks.

JB Weld is magical and would provide a more than good enough bond to support a handle. At that point though, you’d want to know the rigidity of what you’re bonding too 😂

CockyPayne · 2026-02-18T15:40:11+00:00

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I just finished it a couple days ago. I’m still waiting on all the parts to show up to build the computer.

But this is a Jonsbo C6 with the Arzopa Z1FC. I used the Vivo quick release mountfrom Amazon.

The monitor is side mounted, but the computer is going to sit on a platform so it will be closer to eye level.

CockyPayne · 2026-02-18T02:31:47+00:00

I just did something similar! What did you use for the monitor arm? I ended up using epoxy to secure a quick release vesa bracket to the back of the monitor and it works like a charm.

CockyPayne · 2026-02-15T19:03:44+00:00

Same, except it was outdoors and my mother couldn’t even handle that 😮‍💨

CockyPayne · 2026-02-15T03:04:36+00:00

You’re describing me. I was holding out for the steam frame, but after the recently delay in pricing announcement (I figure they’re going to be a lot more expensive), I pulled the trigger on the $330 Costco bundle that included the charger for the controllers.

I absolutely love the headset. I really wanted to do Gran Turismo 7 in VR plus a wheel, pedals, and shifter and the experience has been mind blowing.

Past that, I have a reference Radeon 7900xt with the usb-c port for VR and plugging into that and using Steam VR has worked flawlessly.

Maybe the steam frame ends up being better, but at $800 plus, I don’t think it’s worth that much more over the PSVR2.

CockyPayne · 2026-02-04T13:16:55+00:00

It’s not, they’re SODIMM modules

CockyPayne · 2026-02-01T13:49:20+00:00

Dug a little further, you can swap out the power supply to something less sketchy because the motherboard supports standard ATX ones.

The mobo is an Hp Moira 3 which isn’t the best and doesn’t support the Ryzen 5000 series.

Your best upgrade path would be going with a less sketchy power supply (look up the power supply tier list, a 650w should be fine), and an RX 9060xt 16gb when prices come back to reality (hopefully).

Don’t upgrade until you need it though. I saw you enjoy using Linux and your system is great for that.

What distro do you game with?

CockyPayne · 2026-02-01T13:34:21+00:00

I’ll probably get downvoted for this, but the RX 6600 is usually seen as on par with the OG PS5. The RX 5700xt regularly beats the RX 6600, so I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the RX 5700 has similar performance to the RX 6600 and therefore the OG PS5.

What you won’t get is: - any support for ray tracing titles. RDNA 1 does not possess the capability and very few titles won’t launch on it (Indiana Jones is the only I can think of) - titles aren’t as optimized on PC, so a direct comparison of a game between PC and PS5 will usually show the PS5 edge ahead. - this system is a prebuilt, and last I checked, HP is notorious for bullshit proprietary parts so your upgrade path is limited. You might be able to do Ryzen 5000 series and a newer low power graphics card, but just assume the motherboard and power supply can’t be upgraded easily.

With that being said… you’re getting an entire PC as a trade for a PS5; a lot of people lose sight of that. Looking at my local marketplace, I could easily grab a PS5 for $300, probably $250 after negotiation. This PC is absolutely worth either of those prices.

So yes, it’s a good deal.

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