Question My 10yr old son wants a gaming computer for Christmas, and I'm lost!

[Justin512]

Hello,

My son has been asking for a gaming computer for a couple years now, but I cannot justify spending thousands of dollars on a computer for a 10 year old.

So the last couple of nights after he has gone to bed, I have sat up and researched how to build an entry level gaming PC. I've found everything is cheaper to build, rather than buy it. But, every video I watch and every website I go to they promise one price but when I go and price it, I'm right back at around a thousand dollars.

With 2020 being such a... "great" year, I would like to get him what he is asking for but I can't break the bank. I am just looking for something that we can build together, and will let him play his Minecraft and Fortnite. It doesn't have to have the best graphics, or the most memory. I just want to be able to upgrade it as time goes on. I understand that gaming PC's by nature are expensive, but I would like to stay around $500 or lower if possible.

I am not too worried about the peripherals, as he already has a monitor, and being a 10 yr old boy he will most likely destroy any keyboard and mouse I buy.
Sceptre 30-inch Curved Gaming Monitor 21:9 2560x1080 Ultra Wide Ultra Slim HDMI DisplayPort up to 200Hz Build-in Speakers, Metal Black (C305B-200UN)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TXM7K4T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Can someone point me in the right direction?

Any and all advise will be much appreciated!

Justin

 

[thepersonwithaface45]

It needs to be noted that kids today are growing up with a very different internet environment than previous generations did...

And honestly, I don't think it's a better one.
They will definitely have different experiences than we did.

Just something to keep in mind.

I was born in 1998 so...
You know..

9th grade teamspeak sending 4chan links-
I think I grew up in it.

 

[Karadjgne]

Lol, got all of you beat. First pc I tinkered with was a Commodore Vic20, took 15 minutes to load Spaced Invaders from a cassette player. That was in 1981.

 

[USAFRet]

Lol, got all of you beat. First pc I tinkered with was a Commodore Vic20, took 15 minutes to load Spaced Invaders from a cassette player. That was in 1981.

ummmm......I still have my VIC20. Still in the original box.
And it still works.

 

[King_V]

TRS-80 in elementary school in the TAG program, then a Commodore 64 when I'd saved up enough of my allowance. I wanna say 1984...

BUT... another allowance-saving session, earlier, got me able to afford an Atari 2600 back in, I believe it was 1981 or 1982. After years of sitting in a box, I dug it up and hooked it to my Sharp Aquos TV.

Damn thing still works!

So, looks like there's a group of us we can call The Greys... though I think there might be a few members here who can legitimately tell even us "YOU DAMN KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN!"

 

[thepersonwithaface45]

So a little addition:
https://www.techradar.com/news/best-budget-gaming-pc-2018-top-gaming-desktops-for-less

I noticed there's some good choices on this list, such as this:
https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/cty/pdp/spd/g-series-5090-desktop

I havent looked at the rest but the HP Omen looks like a good starter too. If you haven't made a decision yet, that is.

 

[MorganPike]

So a little addition:
https://www.techradar.com/news/best-budget-gaming-pc-2018-top-gaming-desktops-for-less

I noticed there's some good choices on this list, such as this:
https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/cty/pdp/spd/g-series-5090-desktop

I havent looked at the rest but the HP Omen looks like a good starter too. If you haven't made a decision yet, that is.

Although I think these are solid choices. You're paying a bit of a 'name brand' tax on these. Can do better hardware wise elsewhere checking on Newegg yourself.

But if the child likes his Nike's and, ok I'm having a hard time thinking of another name you get taxed on LOL, then maybe he'd like to show off his new HP Omen to his friends. idk

I'd also caution to be a little careful with HP. I don't have any recent experience with them but I know they used to like getting a little proprietary with their builds. This may no longer be the case but I know smaller companies don't have the resources for this so you can be fairly confident their builds are pretty much like diy.

 

[MorganPike]

Lol, got all of you beat. First pc I tinkered with was a Commodore Vic20, took 15 minutes to load Spaced Invaders from a cassette player. That was in 1981.

An older brother, the one who gave me his old 286 when he bought a new 386, talked about his Commodore 64 all the time. He loved that thing. I was a late bloomer. I got the 286 from him when I was like 21 or 22 iirc. I remember going out and buying a dos 3.1 book, once again iirc, and chewed through that in my off work hrs in 3 days. There was no turning back at that point. I was hooked.

 

[nofanneeded]

Lol, got all of you beat. First pc I tinkered with was a Commodore Vic20, took 15 minutes to load Spaced Invaders from a cassette player. That was in 1981.

Well as a Kid I used to play with my fathers PC , he owned them all... at 7 I was using his Apple //e and later Commodore 64 and Atari 800 and later Amiga 2000

My first PC from my work was 486 DX2

ummmm......I still have my VIC20. Still in the original box.
And it still works.

You changed the capacitors for sure , 1980's capacitors dont live 40 years , I had to replace the capacitors on all my old machines.

 

[USAFRet]

You changed the capacitors for sure , 1980's capacitors dont live 40 years , I had to replace the capacitors on all my old machines.

I changed nothing.
The last time I cranked it up was around 2008. Along with its companion C-64.

 

[nofanneeded]

I changed nothing.
The last time I cranked it up was around 2008. Along with its companion C-64.

be careful of leak , if you want them intact check them now.

 

[USAFRet]

be careful of leak , if you want them intact check them now.

I have far more interesting projects to spend my time on.

Finishing the front porch on my house.
Building a gazebo for the back porch. Cedar frame and 2 tier metal roof. Then build a second.
Customized Christmas ornaments from my 3D printer.
Customized individualized Christmas cards for select people in a photography group I run.
Riding herd on recalcitrant idiots in forums I Moderate.
Designing several solar pool heaters, and modeling the flow rate and efficiency.

So, yeah....worrying about the absolute functionality of a VIC20 that I've not touched in over a decade is pretty far down the list.

 

[nofanneeded]

I have far more interesting projects to spend my time on.

Finishing the front porch on my house.
Building a gazebo for the back porch. Cedar frame and 2 tier metal roof. Then build a second.
Customized Christmas ornaments from my 3D printer.
Customized individualized Christmas cards for select people in a photography group I run.
Riding herd on recalcitrant idiots in forums I Moderate.
Designing several solar pool heaters, and modeling the flow rate and efficiency.

So, yeah....worrying about the absolute functionality of a VIC20 that I've not touched in over a decade is pretty far down the list.

I take care of my old electronics to show them to my children and maybe grandchildren and teach them how cool it was and how far we reached ... new generation dont know this ... and cant imagine it ... when a simple mouse needed a card to function and parallel ports cards were needed to print , and a Midi card was needed for low music...

When I show it to kids they love it ...

I also keep every old console from Pong to Atari 2600 to Japanese consoles . even original first handhelds game and watch series , I have them all .. Originals .

 

[MorganPike]

I take care of my old electronics to show them to my children and maybe grandchildren and teach them how cool it was and how far we reached ... new generation dont know this ... and cant imagine it ... when a simple mouse needed a card to function and parallel ports cards were needed to print , and a Midi card was needed for low music...

When I show it to kids they love it ...

I also keep every old console from Pong to Atari 2600 to Japanese consoles . even original first handhelds game and watch series , I have them all .. Originals .

Sounds like my house. Winding my way through piles of stuff trying to get to the restroom before my bladder explodes, while my pitbull in the front yard snarls at passersby so they don't get any ideas about touching any of my stuff.

 

[MorganPike]

So, looks like there's a group of us we can call The Greys...

Can I be Gandalf the Grey?

 

[artk2219]

From the time of intel 486 DX2.

and I am out of this thread . people are playing the downvote game here so there is no point staying here.

@op : good luck on your choices . take my advice and avoid buying old PCs.

Well as a Kid I used to play with my fathers PC , he owned them all... at 7 I was using his Apple //e and later Commodore 64 and Atari 800 and later Amiga 2000

My first PC from my work was 486 DX2



You changed the capacitors for sure , 1980's capacitors dont live 40 years , I had to replace the capacitors on all my old machines.

I take care of my old electronics to show them to my children and maybe grandchildren and teach them how cool it was and how far we reached ... new generation dont know this ... and cant imagine it ... when a simple mouse needed a card to function and parallel ports cards were needed to print , and a Midi card was needed for low music...

When I show it to kids they love it ...

I also keep every old console from Pong to Atari 2600 to Japanese consoles . even original first handhelds game and watch series , I have them all .. Originals .

Hah, you do have a few years on me, and I agree on checking the caps on your old equipment every now and again whole heartedly. Unfortunately there are tons of machines out there that are just rotting from leaky electrolytic capacitors and Varta batteries that have exploded and are eating through them. My first console was an Atari 2600, my sisters and i used to play Maze Craze and River Raid for hours, there was also a Vic 20 and and Odyssey, although they didn't get quite as much use. My first PC was also a 486, but i didnt start building them on my own until the Pentium MMX \ K6 era. Computing in general has gotten a whole lot easier since then, and thats with getting in during the "easy times" where plug and prey was a thing and you didn't have to mess too much with IRQ's etc unless something really didnt want to work.

 

[USAFRet]

OK....enough Old Guy reminiscing.

@Justin512 - Are you good for now? Anything we can clarify?

 

[MorganPike]

If you don't mind... let us know what you end up going with. I can't get any of the parts I want to build with for myself this season, so vicarious is all I've got right now!

 

[Zerk2012]

Good point. He will just be playing Minecraft/Fortnite, which I cant imagine would be too labor intensive, but if I have the funds available and everything is already open and on the table... might as well.

Looks like you have opened a can or worms here LOL.

More what I would buy and run windows without activating it till you can spend a bit more on the license.

More of actual gaming PC, 16GB of memory the 1050ti is a lot better than built in graphics. Not the best case but functions and for the price.

A bit over budget but not by much.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i3-9100F 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor | $109.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard | Gigabyte B365M DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | $74.98 @ Amazon
Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2400 CL15 Memory | $59.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Samsung 860 Evo 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $53.99 @ Amazon
Video Card | MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4 GB Video Card | $135.88 @ B&H
Case | DIYPC F2 MicroATX Mini Tower Case | $30.60 @ Newegg
Power Supply | EVGA BR 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply | $49.99 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $525.42
| Mail-in rebates | -$10.00
| Total | $515.42
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-21 09:05 EST-0500 |

 

[MiggyBroadfoot]

Honestly? He has an Xbox, get him a PlayStation or Nintendo switch if you really think that’s the way to go.
Gaming pcs look better with their flashing lights and all, so you could get him some led strips to stick on the console.
I get the same thing from my two ‘so and so has got this or that‘. I have learned to say ‘no’. They have learned that when I say ‘no’ I mean it
Good luck my friend. Parenting ain’t what we thought it was gonna be!
Stay safe.

 

[Flayed]

If you get him a computer over a console it breathes life into the fantasy he will become a modern-day Bill Gates

 

[Zerk2012]

Honestly? He has an Xbox, get him a PlayStation or Nintendo switch if you really think that’s the way to go.
Gaming pcs look better with their flashing lights and all, so you could get him some led strips to stick on the console.
I get the same thing from my two ‘so and so has got this or that‘. I have learned to say ‘no’. They have learned that when I say ‘no’ I mean it
Good luck my friend. Parenting ain’t what we thought it was gonna be!
Stay safe.

Can't really do school work on a Xbox.

 

[MorganPike]

Can't really do school work on a Xbox.

Who wants to do school work anyway?

 

[larsv8]

3400g is the way to go and then once you get to the point where it cant handle his games there is a clear upgrade path with a good discrete gpu.

 

[MiggyBroadfoot]

Can't really do school work on a Xbox.

If he wants something to do schoolwork on then a cheap netbook will do the job as all students get free access to Office 365 which is online.
Getting a gaming PC to do school work on sounds like you’re asking for trouble!

Scenario 1 - Son has been on gaming PC for hours
You: “What are you doing son?”
Son: (Presses Ctrl+Tab to switch back to schoolwork) “Schoolwork dad”

Scenario 2 - Son is on netbook for hours
You: “How’s the schoolwork going son?”
Son: “Can you help me with this please so I can finish it and go on my Xbox?”

Keeping things separate will be better IMHO

Even I have a dual boot system so when I’m in the studio I have no distractions!

 

[MorganPike]

If he wants something to do schoolwork on then a cheap netbook will do the job as all students get free access to Office 365 which is online.
Getting a gaming PC to do school work on sounds like you’re asking for trouble!

Scenario 1 - Son has been on gaming PC for hours
You: “What are you doing son?”
Son: (Presses Ctrl+Tab to switch back to schoolwork) “Schoolwork dad”

Scenario 2 - Son is on netbook for hours
You: “How’s the schoolwork going son?”
Son: “Can you help me with this please so I can finish it and go on my Xbox?”

Keeping things separate will be better IMHO

Even I have a dual boot system so when I’m in the studio I have no distractions!

Sounds like useful parenting advice. But this isn't really a parenting website/forum. People come here looking for tech advise, not to be told how they should be raising their kids. Sorry.