- Aug 23, 2014
- 19
- 0
- 4,510
Hello all,
My son and I thought it would be fun and educational to build our first computer. He’s 13, science/engineering minded, and likes building things—and I work a (non-computer) day job but have been using computers since the 90s. We currently have some pretty old budget laptops that are just too slow nowadays.
We’ve read a good number of posts here on TH and have seen some good builds, but we thought we would ask the pros for some quality advice on a good build based on current parts and prices.
We’re not looking for a super-high performance gaming rig, but a nice jack-of-most-trades home computer. My son will be using it for school work (documents, internet research, research, communicating with other students, etc.) and light gaming (currently he only plays Team Fortress 2 every now and again) and of course web surfing (YouTube, online games). I don’t see serious photo/video editing in the near future, but perhaps down the road. I tend to store pix/vids/music on external drives, so uber high capacity doesn’t seem necessary (1TB, perhaps?).
Approximate Purchase Date: Within the next two weeks-ish (but if sales/rebates or upcoming releases of good parts are on the horizon we can wait for that).
Budget Range: I put $600 as rough estimate. If we can do it for less, then great; at the same time, if spending more is justified to get a good machine, I’m all ears. We both realize that we don’t need a Ferrari when a dependable Honda will do.
System Usage: (1) School work (documents, internet research /watching videos, research, communicating with other students, etc.), (2) light gaming (currently he only plays Team Fortress 2), (3) of course plenty of web surfing (YouTube, online games). I’m sure our family needs will be evolving as our pre-teenage sons grow over the next few years, so it would make sense to have potential more taxing uses in mind as we build this today.
Are you buying a monitor: My brother has a flat screen TV he’s willing to give to the effort, so we’d like to use that and save the cash (unless you think that is not doable).
Do you need to buy OS: Yes. Thinking Windows, but not wedded to any particular version.
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Doesn't matter
Location: Glendale, California (very near Frys and not far from mwave I’m told, so traveling there could be a fun part of the project).
Overclocking: Not high on our priority list, but my son might want to go there in the future-–if that performance boost is desired.
SLI or Crossfire: I’ve read about it only generally here, but not sure we need do worry about that.
And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Current computers are old and slow, and we want to gain some understanding of how a computer works, what’s inside, and being geeky nerds about it.
As far a CPU, we're thinking an Intel i5 would probably make the most sense (overkill?), but not opposed to an appropriate AMD. Not sure if a separate graphics card would even be necessary. What do you all think? Save the cash since we're going high performance gaming?
Hopefully, we’ve provided the key facts to get some good builds and good prices. My son and I have really enjoyed reading the posts here on TH and learning about what is needed to build a PC.
We really appreciate this community—and especially the deep knowledge that so many folks have and the willingness to help noobs like us embark on a really cool journey. Props to you all.
My son and I thought it would be fun and educational to build our first computer. He’s 13, science/engineering minded, and likes building things—and I work a (non-computer) day job but have been using computers since the 90s. We currently have some pretty old budget laptops that are just too slow nowadays.
We’ve read a good number of posts here on TH and have seen some good builds, but we thought we would ask the pros for some quality advice on a good build based on current parts and prices.
We’re not looking for a super-high performance gaming rig, but a nice jack-of-most-trades home computer. My son will be using it for school work (documents, internet research, research, communicating with other students, etc.) and light gaming (currently he only plays Team Fortress 2 every now and again) and of course web surfing (YouTube, online games). I don’t see serious photo/video editing in the near future, but perhaps down the road. I tend to store pix/vids/music on external drives, so uber high capacity doesn’t seem necessary (1TB, perhaps?).
Approximate Purchase Date: Within the next two weeks-ish (but if sales/rebates or upcoming releases of good parts are on the horizon we can wait for that).
Budget Range: I put $600 as rough estimate. If we can do it for less, then great; at the same time, if spending more is justified to get a good machine, I’m all ears. We both realize that we don’t need a Ferrari when a dependable Honda will do.
System Usage: (1) School work (documents, internet research /watching videos, research, communicating with other students, etc.), (2) light gaming (currently he only plays Team Fortress 2), (3) of course plenty of web surfing (YouTube, online games). I’m sure our family needs will be evolving as our pre-teenage sons grow over the next few years, so it would make sense to have potential more taxing uses in mind as we build this today.
Are you buying a monitor: My brother has a flat screen TV he’s willing to give to the effort, so we’d like to use that and save the cash (unless you think that is not doable).
Do you need to buy OS: Yes. Thinking Windows, but not wedded to any particular version.
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Doesn't matter
Location: Glendale, California (very near Frys and not far from mwave I’m told, so traveling there could be a fun part of the project).
Overclocking: Not high on our priority list, but my son might want to go there in the future-–if that performance boost is desired.
SLI or Crossfire: I’ve read about it only generally here, but not sure we need do worry about that.
And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Current computers are old and slow, and we want to gain some understanding of how a computer works, what’s inside, and being geeky nerds about it.
As far a CPU, we're thinking an Intel i5 would probably make the most sense (overkill?), but not opposed to an appropriate AMD. Not sure if a separate graphics card would even be necessary. What do you all think? Save the cash since we're going high performance gaming?
Hopefully, we’ve provided the key facts to get some good builds and good prices. My son and I have really enjoyed reading the posts here on TH and learning about what is needed to build a PC.
We really appreciate this community—and especially the deep knowledge that so many folks have and the willingness to help noobs like us embark on a really cool journey. Props to you all.
. The PSU also isn't the best, but the Corsair CX series is a high quality PSU for the price. Pretty basic CD/DVD drive... Windows 8 performs better than Windows 7 in games, and also runs smoother, looks cleaner, and is overall a good improvement over Windows 7. 
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