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

[Tyler Bush]

None. Let him build

 

[Andrei Laptes]

All these people saying build it yourself. This is what I will say, unless you, your kid, or someone close in your family knows a lot about computers or just on how to work with electronics, don't do it. If you know nothing about computers, you won't learn much building a pc, instead you will get frustrated, bored, and eventually give up and go back to consoles. If you have some knowledge of pc's and enjoy this then go ahead and build your own. Pre built if bells best for people who don't know much about pc's because you don't have to do any work to source the parts and then assemble them. This is my opinion though.

 

[Lars Ose-Johansen]

The best way for him to learn is to build one himself. You learn so much about it, and you learn to fix problems yourself. Also you get the most for your money if you build yourself.

 

[Melih Çalıcı]

Prebuilts are guaranteed scams 100%

 

[Eric Larocque]

He may not understand, but how will he if he doesn't have the chance to gain said understanding? Birds must fall out of their nest to learn how to fly.

Nobody said the birds were going to have it easy learning such a thing either.

Besides, building a computer is actually not that hard to do. There's an absurdly overwhelming swarm of computer assembly tutorials on YouTube that you can watch and learn from in order to set up your system correctly.

 

[Eric Larocque]

While prebuilts aren't always a terrible idea, in this case he'd have to be spending $2000 to get a prebuilt that's actually decent enough in terms of reliability, performance and build quality all around whereas you can build a gaming PC that performs as well if not better for $1000 if you take the extra time to study with him how to assemble the system correctly and work together.

 

[Dylan LeFebvre]

You can buy him a prebuilt... or you can save money, get a better rig, and have some bonding time learning how to build together. It really isn't difficult to do, and there are nearly unlimited resources and enthusiast groups that will help you every step of the way. Just pay attention to what you're doing, don't force anything, and make sure that you're grounded when you're working.

 

[Justin Lipner]

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My build for some ideas. Around $1300.

 

[Spencer Taylor]

Its dumb to get prebuilt, when you have desire to build, you will be much more happy with you own* system you made yourself. And your budget is huge.

 

[Tommy Cains]

He's 13. He's not an idiot. If you buy him a prebuilt he wont learn anything. Buy the parts and then build it together. Good bonding and goof learning curve.

Give a man a fish, he eat for a day. Give a man a prebuilt rig and they will never understand the inner workings of a computer.

 

[Joseph George William]

Buying a prebuilt is the quickest way to waste his money on something he doesnt fully understand yet.

Definitely worth doing a build together if possible to get the most for his money, there are plenty of guides & even video tutorials available online.

IF you do decide to go for a prebuilt, at the very least get the specs which should include:

Processor(CPU)
Motherboard
Memory(ram)
Graphics card(gpu)
Powersupply(PSU)
Case

& Any extra peripherals & software;
Monitor, mouse & keyboard + Windows 10.

Use a good online site relevant to your country such as Newegg or amazon, check all the prices for the prebuilt and add them up to figure out how much premium you are paying & decide whether it's worth it.

You could even post the specs here along with the price for everyone to criticize. .

 

[Manuel Lisandro Anzola Lopez]

Build your own

 

[Umair Tariq]

Dont go for over thr counter pc.... Build ur own and for 13 year old u can build easily with in $800. Rest of the money can save for later upgrades and stuff over the coming years. A decent haswell built with gtx 1060 6GB will be more than enough for him for thr coming 3 years to play all AAA titles

 

[Dustin Gum]

Use YouTube jayztwocents, Paul's hardware, bitwit, linustechtips, decide if doing it yourself is something that you could do- much more value for your money and really not that hard to do at all- think about it

 

[Joe Craig]

You buy the parts, let him build it. Don't buy pre built, they're usually a ripoff. But if you let him build the PC, you are giving him more than just a computer. You are giving him knowledge, and there is no greater gift than that.

 

[Alain DeWitt]

I have owned Cyberpower PCs in the past and they are a decent value. I imagine that IBuyPower is similar. But the group is right. Building it yourself is the way to go. You get total control over the parts and you get to decide where to compromise.

Alienware is not worth the money anymore. They've come down in price ever since being folded into Dell due to Dell's supply chain but when you select RAM or hard drive you just don't know what you are getting because they don't know what they will have on their shelves fro day-to-day.

For gaming laptops, ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI are the way to go. Unfortunately, you still can't really build your own laptop.

 

[Quinton Banfield]

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[Brandon Hairston]

Build it yourself... That's the best rig

 

[Erik DePriest]

Prebuilts are not bad but I think the best thing to do would be to get all the stuff and you guys build a PC together. The feeling is so much more rewarding. I am sure there is a good hand full of people in here that would love to help. I would help too .. step by step if need be. Best of luck!

 

[Adan Trinidad]

your absolutely right !!