What is the Best Computer/Electronic present?

[MrOldMC]

I am looking for a present that is Electronic based that can last and hold attention. The person I am gifting this tech present to is 16 and knows a lot about computers and electricity, he built his own gaming computer and many other computer based things so he knows what he is doing. I was thinking of getting him a MX blue mechanical keyboard since he is still sitting on a silicon keyboard but I feel that if I get him that it will go to use, but the fact of the matter is it is still a keyboard.....it's a keyboard.....you can only do so much with it other than typing and gaming. So that now leads me into, what is a good present that has a lot of potential and variables. For example, lets say you get a present and within a few hours or even a day or two you have already figured out everything you can do with said present and it just gets old and starts to collect dust, that is exactly what I want to avoid. Or do you think I should get him a MX blue keyboard since he does spend a lot of time on the computer and it would definitely not go to waste.

 

[ryguybuddy]

A keyboard would be a great present. A mechanical one, for example, doesn't wear as easily and the ones with cool backlighting and such are usually keepers. I got a Razer Blackwidow Ultimate over a year ago and I am still using it right now for gaming and everything else.

 

[MrOldMC]

A keyboard would be a great present. A mechanical one, for example, doesn't wear as easily and the ones with cool backlighting and such are usually keepers. I got a Razer Blackwidow Ultimate over a year ago and I am still using it right now for gaming and everything else.

Yeah I definitely think a mechanical keyboard would be a good but I don't want to rule out other potential options which is what I am currently looking for. Something computer related or robotics related would be nice but I don't want to be spending $500+ on robotics and stuff like that because it can get expensive. So I am still looking for options, for example someone recommended I get him a Raspberry Pi 3.

 

[elbert]

Any chance you can tell us the specs on his PC and a budget? What games does he play? A high end keyboard only means anything if the games he plays makes one important.

 

[MrOldMC]

Any chance you can tell us the specs on his PC and a budget? What games does he play? A high end keyboard only means anything if the games he plays makes one important.

His PC specs are i7 6700K, 16GB RAM, GeForce 660 SC, and 4TB total of storage. He plays some FPS games, Warframe, Borderlands series, TF2. He also plays some more casual games such as Unturned, and some other survival based games. And he plays a stupid amount of Rocket League and is super good at, that is the game he probably puts the most time into. HOWEVER, an important note is he is still in school and does do a fair bit of typing, so typing essays and stuff like that is very important too.

 

[elbert]

Any chance you can tell us the specs on his PC and a budget? What games does he play? A high end keyboard only means anything if the games he plays makes one important.

His PC specs are i7 6700K, 16GB RAM, GeForce 660 SC, and 4TB total of storage. He plays some FPS games, Warframe, Borderlands series, TF2. He also plays some more casual games such as Unturned, and some other survival based games. And he plays a stupid amount of Rocket League and is super good at, that is the game he probably puts the most time into. HOWEVER, an important note is he is still in school and does do a fair bit of typing, so typing essays and stuff like that is very important too.

O that is easy just get him a 1060 6GB for $250. It will let him play game at higher resolutions and increase his fps by a huge amount.
This is how much better his games will run without drawing any more power.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1771?vs=1778

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB SC GAMING Video Card ($244.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $244.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-23 10:33 EDT-0400

 

[ryguybuddy]

Any chance you can tell us the specs on his PC and a budget? What games does he play? A high end keyboard only means anything if the games he plays makes one important.

His PC specs are i7 6700K, 16GB RAM, GeForce 660 SC, and 4TB total of storage. He plays some FPS games, Warframe, Borderlands series, TF2. He also plays some more casual games such as Unturned, and some other survival based games. And he plays a stupid amount of Rocket League and is super good at, that is the game he probably puts the most time into. HOWEVER, an important note is he is still in school and does do a fair bit of typing, so typing essays and stuff like that is very important too.

O that is easy just get him a 1060 6GB for $250. It will let him play game at higher resolutions and increase his fps by a huge amount.
This is how much better his games will run without drawing any more power.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1771?vs=1778

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB SC GAMING Video Card ($244.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $244.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-23 10:33 EDT-0400

Yes, but if his FPS are good and he needs to type more... especially in Rocket League, a good keyboard is critical (i used to play it competitively, I can tell you first-hand it was hard to use a non-mechanical.)

I stand by the keyboard if he doesn't need to upgrade, if he wants to play a higher resolutions or settings, a GTX 1060 would be a good upgrade.

Benchmark: http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1060-6GB-vs-Nvidia-GTX-660/3639vs2162

It would double his performance and then some, so it is up to him....

 

[MrOldMC]

Any chance you can tell us the specs on his PC and a budget? What games does he play? A high end keyboard only means anything if the games he plays makes one important.

His PC specs are i7 6700K, 16GB RAM, GeForce 660 SC, and 4TB total of storage. He plays some FPS games, Warframe, Borderlands series, TF2. He also plays some more casual games such as Unturned, and some other survival based games. And he plays a stupid amount of Rocket League and is super good at, that is the game he probably puts the most time into. HOWEVER, an important note is he is still in school and does do a fair bit of typing, so typing essays and stuff like that is very important too.

O that is easy just get him a 1060 6GB for $250. It will let him play game at higher resolutions and increase his fps by a huge amount.
This is how much better his games will run without drawing any more power.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1771?vs=1778

At this point we have gotten wayyyyy off topic, my original question had NOTHING to do with his PC it plays everything he does 80+ FPS. I asked what a good tech present that will last and has a lot of variables and you can't just figure out everything it does in a matter of hours. And I said IF we can't find anything that fits that description then I would get him a mechanical Keyboard. So, there are TWO options either a tech, robotics, thing which I am not entirely sure what that would be, OR a KEYBOARD. NO PC parts!

 

[ryguybuddy]

Any chance you can tell us the specs on his PC and a budget? What games does he play? A high end keyboard only means anything if the games he plays makes one important.

His PC specs are i7 6700K, 16GB RAM, GeForce 660 SC, and 4TB total of storage. He plays some FPS games, Warframe, Borderlands series, TF2. He also plays some more casual games such as Unturned, and some other survival based games. And he plays a stupid amount of Rocket League and is super good at, that is the game he probably puts the most time into. HOWEVER, an important note is he is still in school and does do a fair bit of typing, so typing essays and stuff like that is very important too.

O that is easy just get him a 1060 6GB for $250. It will let him play game at higher resolutions and increase his fps by a huge amount.
This is how much better his games will run without drawing any more power.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1771?vs=1778

At this point we have gotten wayyyyy off topic, my original question had NOTHING to do with his PC it plays everything he does 80+ FPS. I asked what a good tech present that will last and has a lot of variables and you can't just figure out everything it does in a matter of hours. And I said IF we can't find anything that fits that description then I would get him a mechanical Keyboard. So, there are TWO options either a tech, robotics, thing which I am not entirely sure what that would be, OR a KEYBOARD. NO PC parts!

If you saw my post I did stand by my first keyboard recommendation if he got good FPS, so I feel you should go ahead with the keyboard.

 

[MrOldMC]

Any chance you can tell us the specs on his PC and a budget? What games does he play? A high end keyboard only means anything if the games he plays makes one important.

His PC specs are i7 6700K, 16GB RAM, GeForce 660 SC, and 4TB total of storage. He plays some FPS games, Warframe, Borderlands series, TF2. He also plays some more casual games such as Unturned, and some other survival based games. And he plays a stupid amount of Rocket League and is super good at, that is the game he probably puts the most time into. HOWEVER, an important note is he is still in school and does do a fair bit of typing, so typing essays and stuff like that is very important too.

O that is easy just get him a 1060 6GB for $250. It will let him play game at higher resolutions and increase his fps by a huge amount.
This is how much better his games will run without drawing any more power.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1771?vs=1778

At this point we have gotten wayyyyy off topic, my original question had NOTHING to do with his PC it plays everything he does 80+ FPS. I asked what a good tech present that will last and has a lot of variables and you can't just figure out everything it does in a matter of hours. And I said IF we can't find anything that fits that description then I would get him a mechanical Keyboard. So, there are TWO options either a tech, robotics, thing which I am not entirely sure what that would be, OR a KEYBOARD. NO PC parts!

If you saw my post I did stand by my first keyboard recommendation if he got good FPS, so I feel you should go ahead with the keyboard.

Sounds good to me, do you have any recommendations for a keyboard, more than one would be nice. Although I know he wants an MX blue keyboard with some sort of back lighting, I"m not sure how important RGB lighting is to him, but I know that he will not budge on a blue switch.

 

[ryguybuddy]

Any chance you can tell us the specs on his PC and a budget? What games does he play? A high end keyboard only means anything if the games he plays makes one important.

His PC specs are i7 6700K, 16GB RAM, GeForce 660 SC, and 4TB total of storage. He plays some FPS games, Warframe, Borderlands series, TF2. He also plays some more casual games such as Unturned, and some other survival based games. And he plays a stupid amount of Rocket League and is super good at, that is the game he probably puts the most time into. HOWEVER, an important note is he is still in school and does do a fair bit of typing, so typing essays and stuff like that is very important too.

O that is easy just get him a 1060 6GB for $250. It will let him play game at higher resolutions and increase his fps by a huge amount.
This is how much better his games will run without drawing any more power.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1771?vs=1778

At this point we have gotten wayyyyy off topic, my original question had NOTHING to do with his PC it plays everything he does 80+ FPS. I asked what a good tech present that will last and has a lot of variables and you can't just figure out everything it does in a matter of hours. And I said IF we can't find anything that fits that description then I would get him a mechanical Keyboard. So, there are TWO options either a tech, robotics, thing which I am not entirely sure what that would be, OR a KEYBOARD. NO PC parts!

If you saw my post I did stand by my first keyboard recommendation if he got good FPS, so I feel you should go ahead with the keyboard.

Sounds good to me, do you have any recommendations for a keyboard, more than one would be nice. Although I know he wants an MX blue keyboard with some sort of back lighting, I"m not sure how important RGB lighting is to him, but I know that he will not budge on a blue switch.

What is your budget for this present? Spending more than $100 on a keyboard is kinda null unless you really need it, so here is a good $100 keyboard: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WB9N1OA?ie=UTF8&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&tag=gkb-top-2015-20&creativeASIN=B00HZE2PJS&th=1

 

[MrOldMC]

Any chance you can tell us the specs on his PC and a budget? What games does he play? A high end keyboard only means anything if the games he plays makes one important.

His PC specs are i7 6700K, 16GB RAM, GeForce 660 SC, and 4TB total of storage. He plays some FPS games, Warframe, Borderlands series, TF2. He also plays some more casual games such as Unturned, and some other survival based games. And he plays a stupid amount of Rocket League and is super good at, that is the game he probably puts the most time into. HOWEVER, an important note is he is still in school and does do a fair bit of typing, so typing essays and stuff like that is very important too.

O that is easy just get him a 1060 6GB for $250. It will let him play game at higher resolutions and increase his fps by a huge amount.
This is how much better his games will run without drawing any more power.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1771?vs=1778

At this point we have gotten wayyyyy off topic, my original question had NOTHING to do with his PC it plays everything he does 80+ FPS. I asked what a good tech present that will last and has a lot of variables and you can't just figure out everything it does in a matter of hours. And I said IF we can't find anything that fits that description then I would get him a mechanical Keyboard. So, there are TWO options either a tech, robotics, thing which I am not entirely sure what that would be, OR a KEYBOARD. NO PC parts!

If you saw my post I did stand by my first keyboard recommendation if he got good FPS, so I feel you should go ahead with the keyboard.

Sounds good to me, do you have any recommendations for a keyboard, more than one would be nice. Although I know he wants an MX blue keyboard with some sort of back lighting, I"m not sure how important RGB lighting is to him, but I know that he will not budge on a blue switch.

What is your budget for this present? Spending more than $100 on a keyboard is kinda null unless you really need it, so here is a good $100 keyboard: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WB9N1OA?ie=UTF8&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&tag=gkb-top-2015-20&creativeASIN=B00HZE2PJS&th=1

My budget is $200, personally if it was me and I know that he has the same opinion, our perfect keyboard would be the Corsair K95 with MX blue switches which as far as I know does not exist.

 

[ryguybuddy]

Any chance you can tell us the specs on his PC and a budget? What games does he play? A high end keyboard only means anything if the games he plays makes one important.

His PC specs are i7 6700K, 16GB RAM, GeForce 660 SC, and 4TB total of storage. He plays some FPS games, Warframe, Borderlands series, TF2. He also plays some more casual games such as Unturned, and some other survival based games. And he plays a stupid amount of Rocket League and is super good at, that is the game he probably puts the most time into. HOWEVER, an important note is he is still in school and does do a fair bit of typing, so typing essays and stuff like that is very important too.

O that is easy just get him a 1060 6GB for $250. It will let him play game at higher resolutions and increase his fps by a huge amount.
This is how much better his games will run without drawing any more power.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1771?vs=1778

At this point we have gotten wayyyyy off topic, my original question had NOTHING to do with his PC it plays everything he does 80+ FPS. I asked what a good tech present that will last and has a lot of variables and you can't just figure out everything it does in a matter of hours. And I said IF we can't find anything that fits that description then I would get him a mechanical Keyboard. So, there are TWO options either a tech, robotics, thing which I am not entirely sure what that would be, OR a KEYBOARD. NO PC parts!

If you saw my post I did stand by my first keyboard recommendation if he got good FPS, so I feel you should go ahead with the keyboard.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A378L4C/?tag=pcpapi-20&th=1 Here is a good cheap Cherry MX Blue keys along with blue backlighting.

Sounds good to me, do you have any recommendations for a keyboard, more than one would be nice. Although I know he wants an MX blue keyboard with some sort of back lighting, I"m not sure how important RGB lighting is to him, but I know that he will not budge on a blue switch.

What is your budget for this present? Spending more than $100 on a keyboard is kinda null unless you really need it, so here is a good $100 keyboard: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WB9N1OA?ie=UTF8&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&tag=gkb-top-2015-20&creativeASIN=B00HZE2PJS&th=1

My budget is $200, personally if it was me and I know that he has the same opinion, our perfect keyboard would be the Corsair K95 with MX blue switches which as far as I know does not exist.

Here is a good cheap board that has Cherry MX Blue keys and blue backlighting: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A378L4C/?tag=pcpapi-20&th=1

 

[Inkiad]

Some recommendation from me -

1. RGB lighting kit
2. Mousepads like Corsair Polaris or Razor Firefly
3. Good Keyboard(Corsair K70/ Steelseries Apex 500) + Mouse (Razer Deathadder/ Logitech G502), because in FPS, mouse matters a lot too.
4. Check out Randomfrankp youtuber, he does a top tech series under $$ and the featured techs are fantastic.
5. Or get him an Arduino Kit, maybe he will get interested in electronics and programming.

And i agree that a 1060 will be very good as his current gpu is a 660, which is literally 4 years old.

 

[MrOldMC]

Some recommendation from me -

1. RGB lighting kit
2. Mousepads like Corsair Polaris or Razor Firefly
3. Good Keyboard(Corsair K70/ Steelseries Apex 500) + Mouse (Razer Deathadder/ Logitech G502), because in FPS, mouse matters a lot too.
4. Check out Randomfrankp youtuber, he does a top tech series under $$ and the featured techs are fantastic.
5. Or get him an Arduino Kit, maybe he will get interested in electronics and programming.

And i agree that a 1060 will be very good as his current gpu is a 660, which is literally 4 years old.

Thank you for your help, this list is probably the best one so far. I will look into getting him an Arduino Kit, that seems like the best option. Criticism to everyone is, he is not looking for new computer hardware or accessories, the only exception to that is the keyboard which is my second option. Furthermore, he just spent a $1000 on upgrading basically everything else in his PC and he seems fine with the GPU he currently has, which it really isn't that bad considering its age. As far as I know he plays everything on Medium to Ultra at 1080p.

 

[Inkiad]

For arduino kit i suggest this - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CZTLHGE/ref=psdc_3015426011_t1_B01EWNUUUA or this - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EWNUUUA?psc=1#HLCXComparisonWidget_feature_div . These kits are the most complete and bang for your buck, come with literally everything a beginner would want. You can get him a arduino book separately. All beginner books are similar, so get a cheap one. Arduino has a very good community and online helps are easy to find.