building a computer with son

[Buffalo]

My son wants a computer for Christmas so that he can play Pokémon cobblemon. There are many ways we can do this, but I was wondering abut buying the computer components and us building it together. He's 9 yrs old, so in some ways building a computer is going to blow his mind. However, I get the feeling that if I just provide a computer for him, I'm doing him a disservice later down the line. My own experience with computers when I was young, was beg stealing and borrowing parts to build something that was unique and a ours. So part of me wants him to experience similar.

My questions are: Am I mad, should I just by him a Amazon fire Kindle thing and get on with it? Or of I go ahead, what bits should I buy.. ?

[Mr E]

Build em. It s fun and it means when he/you want to upgrade you know what you re doing.

What do you need the machine to do and/or how much money do you want to spend.

Be aware memory prices are pretty horrible at the moment.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/guide/

Edited by Mr E on Monday 19th October 23:34

[Mr E]

To add;
Money can be saved by finding used bits on eBay etc. there is the usual buyer beware attached.

[phil4]

I went through building my kid's computer with him. In fairness it was more him watching as we did things, as there's precious little he could actually effectively do.

That said, since then he's used it lots, but has zero clue how it all works, no inclination to find out and just asks me if anything goes wonky. So I don't think any of it rubbed off on him at all.

[mike9009]

I did something similar a couple of years ago. Originally I bought my lad a second user HP which allowed him to get on some simple games but with a decentish spec. (So it had an I7-9***, crappy graphics card (p620?), 32gb DDR4 memory, 250W PSU, 1TB SSD etc) With the idea we would upgrade over time. It only cost £230 delivered, so reflecting, it was a bit of a bargain.

What I failed to realise was the HP motherboard would not allow an easy upgrade to a more powerful PSU (form factor and weird but essential connection from PSU to motherboard). So when a graphics card upgrade came along we built with a SH motherboard (old I7 processor), new case (LEDs and fancy fans), new 850W PSU and a donated graphics card (1070?) from a mate.

My lad was 12 years old at the time and once I had helped the initial build stages I got him to complete the rest of the assembly with some supervision...... A year later he is still really happy with it for the games he plays with mates.......

[Murph7355]

Do it.

I did the same a few years ago with my now 14yr old. Didn't all sink in, but he helped research parts and put it together.

He used birthday and Christmas money and vouchers he'd saved over the year etc so it also helped him with saving/budgeting.

It still does everything he needs now...though a similar spec would be 60%-70% more now with the way prices have moved.

Far better IMO than just opening a box and playing.

[Hedobot]

There is no greater feeling than observing all the boxes on the kitchen table
and thinking where to begin.. well obviously get the MB sorted and get it in the case

[Russet Grange]

If you do go down this route (I would), invest a reasonable amount in a case and power supply. These things don't really go out of date and could quite reasonably give a couple of decades of service.

[sleepezy]

Definitely do it - did my sons with him when he was about 12 - just make sure you read up on how to, make sure you have time and patience (plenty of patience as he will want it all done in under 30 seconds) and keep earthing yourself before you touch anything. Great fun - still remember doing it nearly a decade later.

[Mr E]

Hedobot said:

There is no greater feeling than observing all the boxes on the kitchen table
and thinking where to begin.. well obviously get the MB sorted and get it in the case

In this case it was “build the frame to hang the components on”

[Xenoous]

Building is always better and I find it a lot of fun... That said, it's a nightmare out there for PC builders thanks to AI companies. Memory, SSD & GPU prices are at ungodly levels and show no signs of coming down. It's used or be prepared to spend well over a thousand.