I am trying to build a Gaming PC for my 14 yr old son who wants to play Fortnite Competitively. My budget is $1500. Is this even feasible? Any and all advice would greatly be appreciated.
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Very feasible. I’m not sure if you’ll be able to get the latest and greatest processors. But I definitely recommend doing an AMD build you’ll get the biggest bang for your buck. Take my opinion with a grain of salt, but I think I would do something like. An AMD 78003dx and a 9070 XT GPU. Make sure the AM 5 motherboard has a PCIe 5.0 slot on it for the GPU, can support fast RAM and a fast M.2 slot for an SSD card. Stay away from all the RGB stuff. It will just soak up your money. And when it comes to the 9070 XT cards. You don’t need an overclock model just stick with a basic model. There is very little performance difference, It’s more aesthetic. Going with an AM5 system makes it highly upgraded over the next few years. You don’t have to spend a ton of money on a decent case just one that cool as well. This may even be a tad overkill for just Fortnite. But if he ever play something else, it’ll do very well. The difference between a 78003DX and a 98003Dx is something like 10-15% but you can save quite a bit of money by going with the 7800. Same applies to Nvidia cards you can save several hundred dollars by going to AMD and he’s not gonna be using retracing which Nvidia now has a slight advantage with in those class of cards. Also make sure you turn on smart memory in the bios. It’ll give a direct link between the GPU and CPU giving you another 5% to 10% more frames
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Strike what I said about a 9070 XT you might need to get a 9060 XT to keep it in your budget you should still be able to crank frames for Fortnite with that in the same applies for the basic models or the fancy ones. I’m sure you’re going to get some different opinions on what I said, and they may be correct. Just do your due diligence. Also shop around and find the deals. The biggest expense will be the GPU.
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Herer is a quick list i put together using Viracos Suggestions. 7800x3d and 9060xt 16gb. pci 5 baord and 2tb nmve. You for sure could lower or pic different case etc to better the price. Combo deal with mobo comes with 16gb ram but i put a 32gig kit in.
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Good, i couldnt figure out how to get a build list over🤦🏻‍♂️. But I had it around $1400 without operating system or peripherals. All black case no window and an air cooler.
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I came up with this. Maybe someone can adjust a little bit for a better performance than and I can. Or save more money.
Just trying to help because I didn’t have any when I built my PC after not doing it in 15 years
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I can’t get your list to come up, but I’m on my phone too so maybe that’s why
I’ll screen shot when I get home. It pulled up on PC but same as you not working on phone thanks for the heads up Viraco.
Rough list below lol
Corsair psu gold 750w for 89
2tb PCI 5 nvme
Monitech case with 6 fans
MSI 9060xt
Gigabyte mobo PCI 5 for 189
32gb 6400 cl32 ram gskil neo
7800x3d
Since it was for his kid I was trying to get the performance with some looks lol.
1489 total.
I think we’ve definitely proved he can do it for the budget. Great community here.
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would help but i cant rn
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There are some AMD motherboards that have Team Group ddr5 for free as a promo. And a discount on a AMD processor with motherboard combo. As you place items in your cart you can see the discounts coming off along with free promo items.
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yea, u can look for combo deals to try to save costs so you can spend more on the gpu as much as possible
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Then don’t say anything???
OP, I always recommend doing some serious deal hunting before buying parts, just to save some money. You can look on Slickdeals, Camelcamelcamel, open box deals, etc… All of these are decently helpful if you need to save a few extra bucks.
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Very true. I got my motherboard on Amazon open box.. saved $100 and it was barely opened. It’s like someone just looked inside and close it right back up again. Not sure if I was just lucky because I’ve heard horror stories too.
I thought the same thing to @assamualaykum.
Lol the PC I’m building is like $750
I’m broke
Can tweak this around watch videos on youtube to get a view you really dont need alot to run just Fortnite usually most moder pcs do 600fps (Pretty fast)
Most modern PCs can easily hit 240–360 FPS, especially if using an Nvidia GPU and enabling DLSS/performance settings.
Competitive players often cap Fortnite at 240Hz or 360Hz for smooth input response — this build can easily do that.
He’ll also be able to stream, use creative apps, and handle schoolwork or coding with no issue. Some Advice to Make the Most of It:
Here’s how to tweak around that budget smartly:
| Component | Suggestion |
|---|---|
| CPU | Stick with something like the Ryzen 5 7600 or Ryzen 7 7800X3D if future-proofing — great for gaming. |
| GPU | An RTX 4060 Ti (16GB) or even a used RTX 3070/3080 will dominate Fortnite at high FPS. |
| RAM | Go with DDR5 6000MHz 32GB (overkill for Fortnite, but great long-term). |
| Storage | A fast 1TB NVMe SSD is ideal — Fortnite updates are large, and fast load times help. |
| Monitor | Don’t forget to pair with a high-refresh-rate monitor (144Hz or higher). It’s crucial for competitive play. |
| Keyboard/Mouse | If he’s playing competitively, consider a lightweight FPS mouse and fast-response keyboard. |
Watch Build Tutorials on YouTube
Watch Build Tutorials on YouTubeThere are great step-by-step tutorials from creators like:
- pcbros
- Bitwit
- JayzTwoCents
- Gamers Nexus (for in-depth)
- Linus Tech Tips
These videos can really demystify the process, especially if it’s your first build. https://newegg.io/d726c24 i got gpu from bestbuy https://www.bestbuy.com/site/pny-geforce-rtx-5060-ti-overclocked-16gb-gddr7-pci-express-5-0-graphics-card-with-dual-fan-black/6630626.p
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I don’t know if I agree with the 2tb SSD, if he’s playing fortnite competitively, does he need more than 1TB or 500GB? The only game he’s going to be playing is fortnite, maybe a few others, but primarily fortnite.
Let me know what you think. I can be very wrong.
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I am sorry you are broke.
I am too.
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