Gaming Computer

[steptoe]

might be one for Deke this,

but, the rest of you incompetents can throw suggestions in to, 

my lad wants a gaming PC for christmas,

but heres the thing,

he is 8 ,

his idea of gaming is minecraft and similar stuff,

I was think just get him an ordinary PC and maybe stick a cheapish graphics card in it, rather then the onboard stuff,

what thoughts do you slightly more technically advanced bods suggest?

 

[Essex1]

PS4. Nothing comes close and you can put adult controls on to restrict what he has access to.

 

[Lurch]

I was think just get him an ordinary PC and maybe stick a cheapish graphics card in it, rather then the onboard stuff,

Just done the same for a mates similar aged young'un. PC wasn't anything special, off the shelf Dell Vostro dual core that was surplus to requirements and a generic PNY 1GB card that was sat on the side. Did OK running on my TV at 1920x1080.

A decent off the shelf i3 with memory maxed out and a slightly better graphics card would be more than suitable.

 

[Andy™]

additional graphic cards are much better than on-board

 

[Blue Duck]

like above BFO processor and BFO GFX card the rest can be upgraded with time.

I had a modfied basic dell and it lasted years beyond its life expectancy and still played decent games!

 

[OnOff]

Got my boy's gaming pc from here, service was first class. He plays all that Minecraft, LoL, Starcraft, WoW etc:

http://www.arbico.co.uk/

Only thing I would have done is maybe got a physically "bigger" mobo. The graphics card cover the unused slots making expansion difficult. Here's the spec /price of of his from Xmas 2012 - appreciate a little dated in computer terms:

PC Case Gangster Bos02A Black ATX Case Fan 3 x Standard Case Fan Case Fan Controller Not Included Power Supply Xilence 580W 2x PCI-E Processor Intel Core i5 3470 IVY Bridge (3.20GHZ, 6MB Cache) - Included Heatsink & CPU Fan Standard Heatsink & CPU Fan - Included Heatsink Paste Antec Formula 7 Diamond Thermal Compound Motherboard MSI H61M-P31 (G3), 2xDIMM, Max. 16GB, M-ATX - Included Memory 8GB (2 x 4GB) Kingston PC10600 1333MHz DDR3 - Included Graphics Card ATI HD7750 1GB Passive Cooled - Included Primary Hard Drive 500GB SATA II Secondary Hard Drive Not Included RAID Option NO RAID - Included HDD Noise Dampener Not Included Main Optical Drive 22x Dual Layer DVD +/- Rewriter - Included Secondary Optical Drive Not Included Memory Card Reader Not Included Wired Network Adapter Integrated 10/100/1000Mbps - Included Wireless Network Adapter Not Included USB Ports 2.0 2 Front + 4 Back Ports - Included USB Ports 3.0 Not Included Fire Wire Not Included Sound Card Integrated 7.1 High Definition Channel Audio - Included TV Tuner Not Included PC Remote / IR Receiver Not Included TFT / LED Monitor Not Included TFT Dead Pixel Check Not Included Monitor Cable Not Included Speakers Not Included Headset Not Included Webcam Not Included Projector Not Included Keyboard Not Included Mouse Not Included Keyboard & Mouse Combo Not Included External Hard Drive Not Included USB Flash Drive Not Included Surge Protectors Not Included Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64bit Version) - Included Antivirus & Security Software Not Included Multimedia Software Not Included Office Software Not Included Warranty VALUE: 2 Yrs Return To Base (1st Yr Parts & Labor, 2nd Yr Labor) Performance Optimization Not Included. Build Service Expedited - 5 Working Days Build Time   Sub Total: £521.66 Delivery Charges: £20.00 Surcharge on CREDIT CARD: £8.12 VAT @ 20.00% £109.96 Gross Total Payable: £659.74

 

[steptoe]

Bloody hell,

I have very little idea what any of that means,

Apart from the price    

He will be getting something at half that price. 

 

[Lurch]

He will be getting something at half that price.

Yeah, was about to say that is twice as much as you need to spend. I've bought a few CCL PC's over the years, for myself and for clients, if you're looking for somewhere reasonably priced for decent budget PC's.

 

[NozSpark]

why not take a trip to Bowlers and buy the best you can to your budget?

however you could probably get a decent pre built PC for very little more

 

[M107]

If you want half that price then look at the PS4 can pick them up for £250 - £300 now, my lad uses my PS4 to play minecraft with his mates.

 

[steptoe]

Ye, my lad has a ps3, but, apparently you can't get 'mods' on it, whatever they are. 

Not, I may just do that, 

Lurch, what's CCL,? Is that a website, any links? 

 

[Lurch]

http://www.cclonline.com/pc/

 

[Blue Duck]

May also be worth looking at the new Xbox as its windoze based.?

Mods: 3rd party addons people create - maps, skins, models & different game modes.

 

[steptoe]

May also be worth looking at the new Xbox as its windoze based.?

Mods: 3rd party addons people create - maps, skins, models & different game modes.

Im almost in tears at him having a windoze based PC,

will have to partition it for sure,

deffo not having an XBOX , he knows that rule,

thanks for the heads up on the 'mods' thing though,

seems sort of settled, he will be getting a <£200 PC and whatever graphics card I can get at a decent price,

I'll post up a PC in a bit and see what you bods think, btw, I have a genuine W7 key from a laptop I wiped, so that should save a few quid on the OS

 

[OnOff]

We did originally just upgrade the cheap family pc with a better graphics card for our boy. I remember I also had to upgrade the psu in it as well to cope with the new card's demand - some have their own power socket.

That set up eventually became too slow for whatever modern games it is he plays. We couldn't by then add another card as the mobo graphics slot was old hat.

Worth checking as most games will have a minimum graphics card requirement and pc spec.

 

[Blue Duck]

fortunately the specs have slowed down somewhat I belive. You'd buy the latest GFX card and it would be out of date in a few months!

It may even be cheaper to build to your specs from computer fairs, ebay etc. you can then present it to him and peices and say there you go now you got to put it together! :lol:

onoff reminded me you will need a mobo with at least 2 pci-e slots! also worth checking what is the preferred GFX card (ATI or Invidia) for the games he wants.

 

[Lurch]

When you buy the graphics card you do not really need anything that has its own power socket/needs upgraded power supplies/is the latest thing going. All mine are £30 nvidia cards, there is no need to spend a fortune on the graphics.

 

[Richard-the-Ninth]

A thought or two, please correct me where I am no doubt in error.

Over the years I have built a few pc's mostly for my self getting the parts from computer fairs, and some shops, this has always worked out well............until a few years ago. The bi monthly computer fairs stopped (They did announce it, with warning) the shops still sold stuff at the same prices they did...........but then shops started selling just a working tower (No monitor / mouse / keyboard) For me it was cheaper to buy a tower than to build one and to a better spec too.

So my point / question is.......

I understand a "gaming pc" has to be "really good*" so would it not be cheaper to buy a dedicated games console (Which ever is the flavour of the month) than to build your own PC? What always worries me is being as its a pc, if some one then decides to load this programme or that programme and also do this while it is doing that, just because they can will it not slow it down over time, like it can and does happen to a normal use pc.

*Fast processor, fast graphics card, big power supply etc

I do not play any pc or console games, so as said, I am probably in error.

 

[Lurch]

I think calling it a gaming PC is maybe misleading. All he wants is a decent PC with a cheap graphics card in it. The end result will not be a gaming PC.

 

[steptoe]

I think calling it a gaming PC is maybe misleading. All he wants is a decent PC with a cheap graphics card in it. The end result will not be a gaming PC.

Lurch,

You have it about spot on,

He already has a ps3,  and, as I said, his 'gaming' is pretty much limited to minecraft,  and suchlike, he plays this on his ps,  but would like to play it on the pc so he can get mods and apparently some other stuff,

So, yes, it's more like a normal pc with a half decent graphics card in it, he has played it a few times on my ancient pc (about 10yo) that has a GEforce8400 (I think) graphics card and it looks fine, just the computer is really slow, and the fact my pc runs Ubuntu and mods aren't generally compatible with Ubuntu, so that didn't impress him,   :slap