Best way to persuade parents to let me build PC

tomanders91

tomanders91

tomanders91

Permabanned
Joined
26 Nov 2006
Posts
3,955
Location
guildford, surrey
Not sure where to put this so its going in GD.

Im 15 (16 in like 2 weeks) Ive wanted to build a PC for ages, but when i last asked (about 10 months ago i think) my parents said no, you wont be able to do it and all the crap. But i am confident i could, and i have these forums if anything goes wrong. So they bought the pc in my sig.

Now the rig in the my Sig is the 'family' computer beleive it or not, its prebuilt, so upgrading it would be a pain because of crappy cheap parts and stuff (except the CPU/GPU), it has no overclocking potential due to crappy foxconn mobo and a psu i dont trust, plus poor ram, stock cooler etc. Im going to be selling my PS3 since i dont play it, plus my current £100, and my bday in a few weeks, i should have about 650-700 by the end of everything, which is perfectly enough for EVERYTHING, monitor, componments, mouse , Os etc.

I really want to build my own PC, not just so i can play games on my own like a geek, but the expierence of doing it, fun and learning of building it, benchmarking, upgrading it gradually through the year when things are cheap instead of having to replace every cheap part like a prebuilt. And ive worked out a spec over a highly overclockable C2D system, which i would use my current 8800gts in (and buy a 8400gs for the family one), but when i go to ask them to order it (with my own visa card and money) they are going to say no, you've already got one we bought and all that stuff, What sort of stuff should i say to get them to let me? Its really frustrating as its something i would really like to do, and continue to do in the future.
 
Doohickey said:
Your parents are telling you that you're incapable of building a pc?? :confused:

Why would they say that?
Click to expand...

i dont really no, because it no its not really that hard, but for people that dont no anything about computers, it would seem like an extremely daunting task i suppose.
 
tomanders91 said:
I really want to build my own PC, not just so i can play games on my own like a geek, but the expierence of doing it, fun and learning of building it, benchmarking, upgrading it gradually through the year when things are cheap instead of having to replace every cheap part like a prebuilt. And ive worked out a spec over a highly overclockable C2D system, which i would use my current 8800gts in (and buy a 8400gs for the family one), but when i go to ask them to order it (with my own visa card and money) they are going to say no, you've already got one we bought and all that stuff, What sort of stuff should i say to get them to let me? Its really frustrating as its something i would really like to do, and continue to do in the future.
Click to expand...

Your card - your money.

Tell them it's your mistake to make, even though it won't be a mistake.
 
Tell them it’s easy, I know nothing about computers and built the one I’m typing this on myself. :)
 
your 16... go open a bank account with a debit card and order the stuff yourself ?

edit - you own your own card so whats the problem ? why do you "need" them to order it
 
Doohickey said:
Your parents are telling you that you're incapable of building a pc?? :confused:

Why would they say that?
Click to expand...

Because like many people who have little interest in how a computer actually works, the concept of actually building one, not just pulling it out of some polystyrene probably seems massively complicated and probably largely pointless.

They'll likely view it as the same as a TV, DVD Player, Hi-Fi or fridge for example and you wouldn't reasonably expect to build one of those yourself would you?
 
Tell your parents to stop stifling your ambition!

They should encourage you, not decide that something is beyond you.

This is like the parents with their yound kids in a supermarket "oh, you won't like this, you won't like that".

Let them find out for themselves!!!

Hav
 
Perhaps show your parents a building guide on the internet, Corsair had/have a good guide somewhere on their website with pictures. If you can build a Lego model then you can almost certainly build a PC, they are really very simple now to put together. :)
 
divine` said:
Because like many people who have little interest in how a computer actually works, the concept of actually building one, not just pulling it out of some polystyrene probably seems massively complicated and probably largely pointless.

They'll likely view it as the same as a TV, DVD Player, Hi-Fi or fridge for example and you wouldn't reasonably expect to build one of those yourself would you?
Click to expand...

yeah exactly thats what there like :p
 
Tell them you're doing it. Some parents just worry far too much about stupid things. If they don't understand it then they're always right about it, as far as they're concerned...

Just do it and then be like "...see?".

I had to do that when I passed my driving test :rolleyes: Mum didn't want me driving ~30 miles to college every day. I ignored that 2 years ago, and I've not had a single accident - not even a little bump into another car :D Same goes for driving home at night from mates houses etc. Now my parents don't worry at all, and that's all because I didn't listen to them saying 'no', basically... lol. I knew I was a sensible driver and I've proved that, now :)

You know, sometimes you just have to be assertive or parents can really end up damaging their kids confidence. You get to a certain age where you can do things, but you have to be careful not to disrespect your parents - 'tis a fine balance between respecting parents and doing what you want to do ;)
 
Take the home computer apart and put it back together to prove a point :p

divine` said:
They'll likely view it as the same as a TV, DVD Player, Hi-Fi or fridge for example and you wouldn't reasonably expect to build one of those yourself would you?
Click to expand...



Well... actually I'm going to be making myself a portable amplifier soon :o
 
What it may be worth doing, which is what I did before I was 'allowed' to build the family PC, is get an old one out of a skip or something, and show them how easy it is to take apart and put back together again.

Added advantage there is it gives you practice, which can never be a bad thing and if you do make a silly mistake or whatever, you aren't going to break a £200 component doing it.
 
Heh, when I was your age (can't believe I'm saying that, I'm only 20!) my parents were apprehensive about me doing things like that too, but in the end it's my money. Same applies to you.
Save up, buy the parts, put it together (tell your parents it really isn't difficult at all as long as you're not ham-fisted, it's literally a case of slotting the parts in), show them that it works and job's a good'un :)

Also play the old "well at least I'm not on the streets doing drugs!!11!1" card ;)
 
thanks for the replys guys, tbh ive realised im pretty much an adult now (or nearly lol) and its my own money which i have saved, and its something i want to do myself, nothing to do with them.

Only thing else, is my mum might start saying "Your Dad bought us that computer, mainly because you wanted a new one, we could have done fine with the old one, and now you want to get your own?" Sort of thing, which i do feel guilty for :(
 
tomanders91 said:
Only thing else, is my mum might start saying "Your Dad bought us that computer, mainly because you wanted a new one, we could have done fine with the old one, and now you want to get your own?" Sort of thing, which i do feel guilty for :(
Click to expand...

You might be overthinking this, there is no harm in asking and little enough point in worrying that your mum might bring it up. See if she does and then you have to deal with it, otherwise you are concerning yourself over something that might not matter. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom