As others have said #1 will do the job, but their expectations should be tempered. Even people with extraordinary computers struggle with performance issues with that game specifically. The engine that game was designed on was not made for the type of game they made and it has been struggling since day 1.

I love the game, put many many hours into it, but even with a brand new rebuild that is closer to option #2 but a better processor, slightly worse graphics card, and more memory, my computer struggles a bit with it and I get noticeable performance drops.

Yeah option 1 should be fine and should be fine for almost every game until he gets older, gets a job, and buys a new rig himself or does upgrades.

Option 2.

Buying less expensive things can be more expensive in the long run. With option 1 you’re already behind the curve and will be needing upgrades sooner than option 2.

I'd suggest a little of both. A 7600x is $150. A 5600ti 16gb is $429. 1tb SSD is fine.

This will cost the same as option 1. It will last years and then you'll be able to upgrade the CPU, GPU and SSD.

There's no Ultra 7 as good as the best AMD for gaming right now. So in 5 years you'll definitely be able to pick up a better AMD for cheap but there won't be an equivalent cheap Intel without replacing the Motherboard.

Neither of the PCs you linked come with a monitor. These questions are hard to answer without knowing what resolution you want to run the game at. Running it at 1080p is very different from 1440p and 4k.

Option 1 will work for a while. The only thing you will need for the near-ish future is larger storage. Games nowadays take up so much space and 1 TB won't last long. Would recommend buying a 2-3TB HDD while you're at Microcenter. They may even be able to install it for you

First one is more than good enough to play this game, not sure why they mark the cpu as 1.8ghz but it can actually do 5.3.

That said, the second one will last a bit longer, maybe.

If you can afford option 2 go with option 2. That CPU especially is so much better, on top of the video card improvement.

Wilds specifically is poorly engineered, just look at the Steam reviews. If that's the main game he wants to play, every little bit helps make it run slightly less awfully, but also other demanding games will benefit as well

Option 1 is fine. It can run the game at 1080p

Either option should be able to run the game, I'm just referencing what you've got picked out versus the listed minimum specs on Steam. That being said, option 2 is a significant upgrade, hence the cost. Without knowing more about what your son's expectations are with respect to resolution and frame rate it's hard to speculate about what will "work". Hope that helps!

If you don’t want to have to buy a gaming rig;

https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/geforce-now-thursday-monster-hunter-wilds/

Basically you stream your games from a rig.

I'd argue option 2 is the better choice overall. It's going to hold up to new games better in the long run

either one meets or exceeds the requirements you posted for the game.

note that if you're able to shop in person at microcenter, many more options are available, including their own brand of prebuilts (powerspec) and custom-builds assembled in-store.

I can see very little difference between the two, then again my PC refresh period is roughly eight years.

Both will run Monster Hunter Wilds with possibly 15% difference in framerate, but very manageable whichever you choose. I've listed below some ideal components to look for in a PC - if you can find a desktop with most of them your son will be set for a decade:

CPU:

• Intel Core Ultra 265K/F or higher
• AMD Ryzen 7900X3D or higher (X3D > X)

GPU:

• Nvidia 4080, 5070 or higher (but if you can wait one month, Super variants are going to be released soon - October-November is always a huge time for tech releases)
• AMD Ryzen 9070XT or XTX

RAM:

• Minimum 32GB, DDR5, 5200MHz.
• Brands: Corsair, Crucial, Kingston and PNY are the top

SSD:

• Minimum 2TB, M.2 NVME, 6000MB/s sequential read.
• Brands: Samsung, Western Digital Black/Blue, Seagate, Corsair and, again, Kingston

PSU (Power Supply):

• Brands: Corsair, MSI

Preference: Performance over RGB lighting aha