Father and Son want to build gaming computer together but have no experience

[JasonSandeman]

Like the title says...

I've always wanted to build a computer system, and my 10 year old son has expressed interest as well.

He really wants to get into programming, and he absolutely loves playing games, especially like minecraft or Terraria.

We currently have an XBOX ONE, but we have both been itching to get started. There are a couple of problems though:

I have no experience in hardware besides putting in the odd RAM Stick, or maybe installing a PCIe video card.

Also, we have next to no budget. We are looking to start out with 600$, but we live in Canada.

We already have a monitor and computer accessories like mouse, keyboard to start.

We have a GeForce 610 as a graphics card to start.

I have no idea where to begin, and because we live in Canada, no idea where to order from (as the places on the PC parts won't ship to Canada.)

Also, to make matters more fun, I would prefer to also learn Linux.

Is there anyone who can point me in the right direction?

 

[kanewolf]

Newegg has a Canadian site (newegg.ca)

A G4560 CPU with a B250 motherboard is a good place to start. You will be able to upgrade CPU and video card.

Here is a how to article -- http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-your-own-pc,2601.html

Here is an article with some "best of" builds -- http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-pc-builds,4390.html

 

[WildCard999]

Canada PCPartpicker will help you find the lowest prices from trusted online stores.
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/
As far as building there are plenty of guides/tutorials online. Building IMHO is a really fun experience. Some of those games you could probably run off the iGPU on the Pentium G4560 (2 core with 4 threads) and save money towards a better GPU such as the RX 570.

Something like this would be a good starting point. Red/black theme with upgrade options such as increasing RAM to 16gb, adding in a SSD & adding in a dedicated GPU.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($81.95 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-B250M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($101.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($87.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($65.50 @ Vuugo)
Case: Deepcool - TESSERACT SW RED ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ Memory Express)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($117.50 @ Vuugo)
Total: $564.42
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-09 18:17 EDT-0400

 

[Dugimodo]

Ground yourself often, take your time and don't force anything, watch youtube videos. It's really quite easy for anyone who can confidently wield a screwdriver.

Brief version:
Place the motherboard on a firm surface, install the CPU, Cooler, and RAM, in that order. Next make sure the case standouts are in the right place and there are no extras that will end up under the board where there isn't a corresponding hole. Put the rear I/O shield in the rectangular hole making sure it's up the right way, then install the motherboard in the case, then the PSU, then connect the front case connectors and PSU, lastly install any drives and connect them up.

After that you can do some burn in tests and install an OS, really doesn't matter if it's linux or windows. I recommend running memtest extended tests through a few times and doing a CPU stress test while monitoring the temperatures, better to find issues before installing anything.