How to Convince My Parents to Let Me Build a Gaming PC

[AgentLOL]

I HAVE THIS QUESTIONS SOLVED, BUT I HAVE LEFT THIS THREAD OPEN IF ANYONE WANTS TO FREELY COMMENT OR TALK ABOUT SOMETHING



So, I'm 13, and its nearing my birthday. Right now I'm using a Mid-2012 Macbook Air to game, really only play Minecraft at 60FPS, and that's the only game cause' my parents think gaming is a huge time buster, leaving me with no console, except for the Wii with Mario games. That's my intro.

So, I first wanted to get a pre-built PC. Seeing how pricy they were, thought of building my own PC. Yearning to actually play other video games (my parents don't approve of violent video games sadly), I put together this really good PC for about $1,400, without peripherals. (Don't ask if they really have the money for that, cause my dad uses a giant iMac). So, I approach them ask my dad (he usually manages everything with electronics). He says that you will only save $50 by building, I won't let you build one, but rather purchase one, as it takes forever. They said that a $800 computer is good enough for school work. I explain that I want these components, and my dad realizes its for gaming.

So that pretty much ended the argument with a NO, and since then, been trying to convince him. I just don't know what's the right time to ask my dad. He owns a office and said that he would grab one from his office that's new, and left to go to the mall. Man, he just won't understand. While everyone else (my friends) sit back and play on their supercomputers and Xbox Ones, I get to sit here playing just Minecraft on my horrible laptop. With that being said, hopefully you read this all and give me a suggestion, and thanks for reading!

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/B4T9yc

 

[AgentLOL]

Yes, I do realize that. My only problem is actually getting my parents to do it. My dad will only buy a $800 pre-built PC, he doesn't wanna waste time building, and doesn't realize the educational value in building. And yeah, upgrading. My dad would ask me why I'm getting a random PC part, I'd say it's for gaming, and my dad says you have a good enough PC that doesn't need upgrading worth 200-300 dollars.

 

[USAFRet]

I was thinking about ordering online, my parents would never even think about shopping on black friday.

Online or in store, Black Friday is a concept, not a day.

However, if you are planning on buying between now and the end of the year, your revenue generating opportunities are limited.

 

[AgentLOL]

I was thinking about ordering online, my parents would never even think about shopping on black friday.

Online or in store, Black Friday is a concept, not a day.

However, if you are planning on buying between now and the end of the year, your revenue generating opportunities are limited.

Online during Cyber Monday, when supposedly everything online gets a heck lot cheaper. And yeah, during the end of this year. I mean, I've already ran out of space too! Where am I supposed to store stuff? Externals, I don't have any, and can't get any.

 

[AgentLOL]

I've started looking at the Vanquish 2 on ultimate, has whatever I need and want. However, it doesn't have nearly as good of parts I have. Haven't presented this to them, as this would probably cut off all chances of building a PC, which, I REALLY WANNA DO.

http://www.digitalstormonline.com/vanquish-ii.asp

 

[USAFRet]

I was thinking about ordering online, my parents would never even think about shopping on black friday.

Online or in store, Black Friday is a concept, not a day.

However, if you are planning on buying between now and the end of the year, your revenue generating opportunities are limited.

Online during Cyber Monday, when supposedly everything online gets a heck lot cheaper. And yeah, during the end of this year. I mean, I've already ran out of space too! Where am I supposed to store stuff? Externals, I don't have any, and can't get any.

No, it doesn't.
"Cyber Monday" arose out of an old concept.
People would return to work on Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday, and having a better/faster internet connection at work, they would go online and order whatever, rather than trying to do it via a crappy dialup connection at home.

That is mostly no longer the case.

"Cyber Monday" is simply a marketing term, just like Black Friday. Walmart, Amazon, TigerDirect...have all had 'Black Friday' sales going on for weeks.

 

[AgentLOL]

Huh, well, thank you for informing me on that. So, I think my dad's coming home at around 2:30 for lunch. So, great time to put some of these into action. And to ask my dad what type of PC's he has. What I would like to do is disassemble parts of the pc, then get s'more parts. And sell my laptop! BAM! Only like 400 bucks for what I want, and there it goes, cheap! Only that my dad won't let me do either of those things...

 

[zeyuanfu]

You should be able to get a healthy 500$ for your Macbook if it's in good condition. Ask your dad if you can buy off some of the parts of his work computer (at a discounted price, of course) like RAM or an HDD.

 

[AgentLOL]

Ah, its past lunch, and couldn't really talk to my dad. He sort of left too quickly. Now I've got to wait until tomorrow, darn it. I wonder what I have to do to convince. If you people have any more ideas, just post it right on here! I appreciate all answers.

 

[zeyuanfu]

Say you're coding? Game developing?
You could also say it's a money-management situation, where you have to save up money and not waste any.

 

[USAFRet]

Say you're coding? Game developing?
You could also say it's a money-management situation, where you have to save up money and not waste any.

Money management only comes into play when the son comes to me with 1/2 the money for a new PC.
'Future money' does not count.

 

[COLGeek]

Don't tell your parents that the rig is for something just to get it. If you don't use that way it will be an issue in the future.

They know what you want the system for. Be honest with them.

 

[AgentLOL]

I think they pretty much know it's for gaming right when it shoots above the $500 mark. But yeah, I guess I'll be honest. I don't really know how to program or develop a game, and I've been asking my dad to teach me. He doesn't say yes, and I'm using a Mac too. Do you think the knowledge of how a computer works can be useful, and someway to present it? I feel like it is, but I can't present it by just saying that it'll help me. So, I guess all I have right now is just to try to talk them into getting it. Well, that'll take a day or 2. Thanks for all the suggestions you guys are giving me!

 

[zeyuanfu]

You can build a simple coding machine for around 400$.
There are books and online videos that teach you step-by-step how to program.
Also, if your grades happen to rise in the near future, you can convince your parents to let you buy a GPU.

 

[AgentLOL]

Ok, I mean, cost or price isn't the issue. (Of course not something worth 5 grand obviously). It's just that they want to get a pre-built PC. So it's more of me convincing how building it is better, not really how to make it cheap.

 

[zeyuanfu]

Okay, well, for one, expansion might be an 'issue'' as you don't know what motherboard is inside the computer, so you don't really know anything you need to know to add a GPU, for example. Another issue is quality, as you don't know if the parts inside are good or will break in a month (unlikely).
Overall, though, it's just more fun to build a computer. IMO, prebuilts are boring. If you build a custom PC, you get to unbox everything, admire parts, and stuff like that. If you get lots of experience building computers, you can become something like a computer repair technician or an IT guy, which can be a part-time job to make money.

 

[tiny voices]

That's true I have had an IT part time job with ZERO real world training aside from building gaming computers and knowing what I am doing, by learning on the forums. I am a Geologist with a GIS minor in my last semester of college.

 

[tiny voices]

What I always told my kids for stuff like this:
Either take my old PC and like it, or you fess up 1/2 the money for something else. I'll put up the other 1/2. Be it a PC, car, or whatever.

But you have to come to me with 1/2 the money first.

Exactly what my parents did. Love it and think it is a great method for learning responsibility while still getting a quality end product.

 

[RazerZ]

Well from the looks of it they don't want to get you a gaming computer because they're worried your grades will start to fall. They're exactly right. Gaming, pc especially, can be a large distraction if you don't know how to manage your time wisely.

I don't know what to tell you. At the end it's ultimately your parents' decision as they know what's best for you. If you really wanted to learn programming you could do that from the pc you have right now.

 

[AgentLOL]

Oh, and if you want to refer to what I really wanna make, go to the top of the thread and open that link. So, basically having some knowledge of building computers can get me an IT job, giving me real money that I can use when I grow up. They've sort of said yes to the fact that it's for gaming, and the fact that I do take a lot of time playing games otherwise (really 30min each day, with the exception of friday and weekends).

The problem is my dad doesn't believe building a PC gives you any knowledge, and is a huge time waste building it anyways. I need to change his feelings about that. That's my problem. Not that he doesn't want to get my a pricy PC, etc. It's just that he doesn't want to build it. PS: Are there any good pre-built PC's at Fry's? My dad might get it there instead of online for some reason...

 

[USAFRet]

The problem is my dad doesn't believe building a PC gives you any knowledge, and is a huge time waste building it anyways. I need to change his feelings about that.

That you cannot do.
You need to build one first, and then show him.

Show me the money...

 

[AgentLOL]

Building it first!!!!! He's not even gonna get the parts cause of all that. And what exactly would I show him? Just ordering anything online above $100 calls for my dad or mom to get involved, I can't secretly order anything. So I have nothing to show. Our whole family uses Macs, which aren't PC's, so they don't have the box.

 

[USAFRet]

Building it first!!!!! He's not even gonna get the parts cause of all that. And what exactly would I show him? Just ordering anything online above $100 calls for my dad or mom to get involved, I can't secretly order anything. So I have nothing to show. Our whole family uses Macs, which aren't PC's, so they don't have the box.

I need to change his feelings about that.

This you cannot do, without concrete evidence.

You're thinking too large. You want an uber gaming PC, which costs a LOT of money. You want your parents to pay for the parts, with zero expectation of you being able to actually do that.

Find/buy some broken PC's. Take 3 broken ones, and make one good one.
Repeat that.
Repeat again.

Oh...now we know that my son, AgentLOL, can actually build a PC.

Will this happen between now and xmas? No. But everyone has to start somewhere.

 

[AgentLOL]

Thanks for the advice, I'll try doing that. I know that if I'm building a PC, my mom is going to make my dad help me... I guess that would reassure them. Where to find a broken PC? I don't think we have any, cause' this whole house runs on Macs. We might have 1, but it'll be so dusty that my dad/mom won't allow me to even touch it/open it.

 

[USAFRet]

Where to find a broken PC?

Craigslist. Goodwill. Pawn shops. Trash day on the side of the road.

 

[AgentLOL]

Wouldn't I have to buy all that?