Hey guys I joined this group on behalf of my 13 yr son. He wants to get into PC gaming...

[Raynand Navarra]

I suggest linustech , have you watch that?

 

[Thiago Sousa]

I was 9 when I gave my dad a catalog and begged for $4300 worth of parts. After he asked someone that knew about PCs, they offered to help and we built my first PC together. I would pursue that option as your son will not only get more for his money, he will learn and understand his machine inside and out. It will be very beneficial to his skill set. I would consider it. It's not very difficult putting a system together. The software loading part can be a little tricky if you never have done it before, but I feel a weekend of reading and watching Youtube will get you there. Your son seems smart and so do you, I would consider it. I'm sure you may be able to find someone local to be there when you guys do it! I've done this for other first timers countless times! Good luck! I owe my career and life to that moment when my dad said let's do it.

 

[Curtis Jonesjr]

If building is the only issue then why not just buy the parts on pcpartpicker then pay someone to do it,also maybe ask the builder if they can do a special favor in letting your kid watch and help for a extra fee.

 

[Jacob Acra]

There isn't much to understand when it comes to building it, especially if he is a tech savvy young man. He will also enjoy a PC he built a lot more than one you can buy at a store. If you would like I have no problem putting a parts list together for a well rounded PC at that price range.

 

[Thiago Sousa]

He is building one. Yaaay! Now we all tell them.


RYZEN

 

[Casey Roush]

It's honestly really easy to learn and he'll have waaaay more appreciation for something he put together with his own hands and picked out components for, building from scratch also gives you the knowledge of parts and where they go which can help a lot with potential issues in the future

 

[Jack Clark]

Building a pc looks way more complicated than it actually is, I built my first one by just watching YouTube videos. I reckon you should let him build one but follow a step by step guide and take it slow and it shouldn't really go wrong. Building a pc is just like a big set of lego

 

[Nikos Antonopoulos]

Just get parts its literally just like Lego

 

[Angel M. Morales]

Don't doubt your sons knowledge be supportive and help him build it you tube is a valuable resource for information

 

[Nikos Antonopoulos]

I literally learned how to build a computer from youtube thats how eazy it is so i doubt that your son will fail infact it will be very easy for him to do it

 

[Manny Arenas]

For 1200 you can easily fit a 7700k 256 gb ssd, a 1070 z170 etc.

Buy the parts and build them father son style huge bonding experience and a better machine

 

[Chris Stiltner]

I'm 17 and I've been doing it since I was 12 I'm sure your son can do it and I'm dumber than a rock it takes me about 3 hours to put everything together but it's fun in the end

 

[Matt Magill]

Originpc has the only prebuilds I would buy but they are horribly overpriced

 

[Preston Elms]

Build it with him, it's not as hard as it looks. I built mine when I was 14 by myself. It would be a great bonding experience

 

[Brooks Michael]

Get an Ibuypower, great systems and probably cheaper than you could buy the parts for.

 

[David Rise Knotten]

I would wait for Intels Coffee Lake, the prices of the kaby lake cpus will go down, and the price/performance will most likely improve.

 

[Jose Ricardo Toscano]

You can go to partpicker.com and you would really only need to buy the following. CPU, Motherboard, Power Supply, Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), Case, Operating System (Recommend Windows 10 64-bit (Pro or Home Edition) The Pro edition lets you upgrade your ram to a higher capacity, and also the monitor, mouse and keyboard. You don't really need a fancy monitor, mouse or keyboard, and most parts are available at newegg.com ncix.com amazon.com tigerdirect.com or ebay. I recommend getting brand new components as the warranty will cover any DOA. Also, for the video card, you can start at a 1050Ti or an RX 560, but with at least 4GB of Video Ram in either graphics card. Also, I recommend at least 8GB of RAM. And of course, go to the Motherboard's Manufacturer website and read the manual. The manual will tell you what type of Ram you should get. The newest computers use DDR4 Ram, so if your motherboard uses this, I recommend either the 2133 or 2400 MHz DDR4 Ram, since they have almost the same price, but note that higher numbers are better, so if higher speed ram costs the same as the lower speed, get the higher speed ram. Also, as far as ram goes, GSkill, Corsair, Kingston Hyper X are good. I would never get Patriot though. Everything else might be cheaper, but the before mentioned have heatsinks, which help cool your pc and keep your pc running fast. If you need more help, you can ask any of us here or via message.

 

[Andrew Cobb]

I learned to build my own rigs by pulling apart my emachine and forcing myself to rebuild it

You can make a really decent gaming rig for $500 so a $1200 rig is plenty of space to make a legitimate gaming rig

 

[Marty Bann]

fail

 

[Marty Bann]

Built my own rig first at 13, went into it completely myself. This is asinine, let the kid follow his passions. Also, don't listen to him, you DON'T HAVE to pay for Windows, boom saved 100 bucks. Good luck, to your son.