Gaming PC for 9 Year Old?

[Loual]

Hi. My 9 year old son wants a Gaming PC and I have no idea about computers. Can someone please point me in the direction of a Gaming PC package that would be suitable for a 9 year olds needs and a parent that will just be able to plug the thing in! He has a laptop at the moment and mainly plays the usual, Roblox, Minecraft and Fortnite. However he says it is laggy and I can see that myself. He would like a Gaming PC so that it is faster to play those games and also there are games in Steam and also Forza Horizon that he would like to play. I would pay up to £800 for the PC (he already has a monitor, keyboard and mouse etc).

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[dfour]

would you not be better off with a console?? would be cheaper expecially as a lot of componants are hard to get hold off ATM.

 

[ninjag]

A console may be a better option for just now, it's just so much easier. My son is also 9 and he's had an XBox One S for about two years now and I can't get him off it. If just gaming then a console may be better as I believe there's a frame rate standard of 60 fps (not guaranteed though) so less chance of performance issues, plus connecting up with his mates over the headset is very easy and what with being in lock down it's good for him to be able to continue socialising. You do need to pay in order to play online multiplayer with mates, but the top package is like £10 a month or something and includes access to tons of games for free so it is a good deal overall. I've also got an SSD connected via the USB port as it's much quicker than the internal drive.

He is now asking about a PC so I bought him a decent case for Christmas and I'll teach him how to build one so he will appreciate it more. He'll be getting lots of components from my current build but unless his mates all move to PC then I doubt he will be in any rush to stop playing the Xbox.

 

[Loual]

Thank you. Yes I agree we would be better with a console. I wanted to get him an Xbox instead but he does not want one. There are a couple of games that he wants which is not on Xbox, he is really interested in computer coding etc plus he hates the console controllers. I did try and explain that he could use a keyboard with the Xbox and that most of his friends use Xbox but he has got it into his head about a Gaming PC. I would have loved to have started with a case and for him to build a Gaming PC. He struggles academically and has Dyslexia but anything to do with computers he has an interest and easily grasps it. However, I would not be able to help at all technically hence why looking to buy an all in one Gaming PC. Its a minefield

 

[MissChief]

Prebuilt but configured a little.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk...D3?6!bOaE3?6/bOaF3yXzbOaG3?6XbOaH3?71bObl3?9x

 

[McBadgers & Mash]

I would give him a couple more years before getting him a PC purely because any issues you will be his first port of call for help

He should be encouraged to continue his interest though, dyslexia is a curse and a gift, some of the best developers I know suffer from dyslexia but the way their brains work is something quite special and on another level from a technical / analytical point of view, my best friend cant read or write on any level but when it comes to lines of code he is a pure genius and is on the executive board at his company because of it.

I would also buy him a little raspberry pi to play about with, he can do some coding and play around with additional components

 

[varkanoid]

I would go for a gaming laptop you can get some fairly decent ones with a 1650 or more GPU in for around that price.

as an alternative -

My nephew (13) had same issue Intel HD Graphics on Laptop playing Fortnite etc. He got bought a Desktop PC for £650 for Xmas. Cant say where but spec was to give you an idea

MSI Computer
i5 9500
16gb RAM
GTX 1650 Super
240gb SSD
1TB Hard Drive

he can play Fortnite on max settings Roblox etc no problem and loves it.

That should give you an idea on a base Spec. For maximum Fortnite settings you need a RTX card like a RTX 2060 or higher for the Ray Tracing settings just in case you get asked by your son.

By the way all my sons mates have consoles and they are envious of my sons gaming PC's because "all the Youtubers use PC's not consoles"

My nephew and my son (10) both now do video editing of their own videos too which is self taught. My nephew also does stop motion animation videos out of lego, clay etc.

 

[IICIIEII]

If he wants to get into coding I would definitely grab him a PC, I was there as a kid and it was a big struggle until I finally convinced my parents. Now, the Raspberry Pi idea is great if you are in a tight budget, he will be able to code as much as he wants on it, and they are reasonably powerful these days .

 

[Eliagon]

Yeah, get a PC. That way you can get into computer science with cheat engine / DL games / steam discounts. You don't need to spend that much either to meet current console performance.