New build for my son

spikerules

spikerules

spikerules

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24 May 2011
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Hi all,
I am building a cheap system for my son who has taken an interest in my pc. He loves the case I have (corsair 540) and started to pay an interest in using a PC at a relatively young age... he's almost 4!

I wanted to build him a version of mine with the corsair 240 case and have chosen these components: -

Gigabyte Z97N-WIFI Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £78.29 1 £78.29
Corsair Carbide Series Air 240 High Airflow PC Case - Black (CC-9011070-WW) £58.29 1 £58.29
SuperFlower Golden Green HX 650W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £49.99 1 £49.99
Intel Pentium K Anniversary G3258 Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £46.66 1 £46.66
Silverstone LED Light Strips - Red

I already have components from another system that has been sitting unused; which include a CD drive, 8GB Memory, 670GTX and a Corsair H100i.

I'm guessing this system will be ok for him? I just want to be able to teach him how to use a computer now. I remember that when I was a kid my parents knew nothing about PC's (they still don't - I managed to convince my mum that making the mouse work meant speaking into it!) so wanted to let him have something I never did as a child. I don't need anything fancy and in fact was thinking of others ways I can save on this system. Any advice?

Thanks
Spike
 
Looks like a it would be a great little rig.

The pentium will be a good introduction into overclocking, 4 is quite young for that though ;) Maybe a H97 board and a i3 might be worth while at this stage? (unless its you that wants to overclock the pentium ? :p



I think its a great idea though. I remember my first pc, i was at a similar age, maybe a little older. My dad managed to get me an old 286, b/w monitor, 3.5" floppy drive (no hdd..), but i loved it because he had spray painted it matt black for me. Worked out well for me, im 30 now and have been working in IT since I finished school.
 
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The specs looks great, but I would suggest switching from the Mini-itx motherboard to a Micro-ATX board instead (Corsair Air 240 will take Micro-ATX board).

The extra slots of the Micro-ATX will allow more flexibility in the future with the extra PCI slots (for example dedicated soundcord) and memory slots, and more USB slots. They usually don't cost anymore than Mini-itx board, and sometimes cheaper.
 
RobCrezz said:
Looks like a it would be a great little rig.

The pentium will be a good introduction into overclocking, 4 is quite young for that though ;) Maybe a H97 board and a i3 might be worth while at this stage? (unless its you that wants to overclock the pentium ? :p



I think its a great idea though. I remember my first pc, i was at a similar age, maybe a little older. My dad managed to get me an old 286, b/w monitor, 3.5" floppy drive (no hdd..), but i loved it because he had spray painted it matt black for me. Worked out well for me, im 30 now and have been working in IT since I finished school.
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haha yup you guess right. The overclocking is for me;)

Marine-RX179 said:
The specs looks great, but I would suggest switching from the Mini-itx motherboard to a Micro-ATX board instead (Corsair Air 240 will take Micro-ATX board).

The extra slots of the Micro-ATX will allow more flexibility in the future with the extra PCI slots (for example dedicated soundcord) and memory slots, and more USB slots. They usually don't cost anymore than Mini-itx board, and sometimes cheaper.
Click to expand...

Yes the motherboard was actually the hardest part to choose for me. I was thinking of this one : - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-500-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2811

It's a similar price to the Mini ITX, but I thought that the extra space in the case would be easier for placing components as well as the H100i RAD which will go in the front. I also don't think he will need that many options. By the time he is old enough to ask for more it, and know enough to ask for more, it will be time for him to help me build him a new one!
 
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calliusmaximus said:
My daughters 4 but she prefers the Ipad, perhaps she needs a pc to learn how to use them. Or perhaps her dad wants a new one, and needs an excuse :)
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He had an iPad mini last Christmas. He already knows how to access Amazon Prime and Netflix on it. He's even managed to mess with the settings on occasion. He's definitely IT literate!
 
Lol my daughter mainly uses iplayer for cbeebies. Though she prefers my ipad as its jailbroken and has inapp purchases for free. My wife has to keep telling her she has no more "ipad money" left lol.
 
I highly recommend you take a look at the Kano Computer for your child. It's an amaing toolkit that teaches young children how to build a simple computer based around the Raspberry Pi and it comes with a custom OS that has lots of pre installed software to teach kids how to program in fun and innovative ways using real programming languages. I was an original Kickstarter backer of the project and even I'm having great fun with it. Everything is gamified so as your child completes tasks or uses the OS they gain experience points. With the changes to the IT curriculum this will give your child a massive head start once they get into primary and secondary school. I'm currently teaching the new IT BTEC Level 2 diploma which has a massive enphasis on computer science, however most of my students are struggling as they have no previous knowlege or experience with building their own computers or programming, this kit is the answer to children gaining the knowledge required for the working world of IT.

Check out the following link for more details:

http://www.kano.me/

If you have any questions about the software or hardware let me know and I'll do my best to help.
 
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Hi all,
So I finally built my son's PC after having a few placement issues with the H100i! I also had issues with being able to change the H100i LED colour to red. I finally managed to gain access to the ability to do it by using regedit:)

A few issues remain however... getting 4.5GHz OC max on the chip. I have to go to 1.34v for it to stay stable. I also OC'd memory to 1600MHz from 1333MHz.

Temps are where I am really worried however. I think the NB on the mobo reaches 63c under prime95 stress test and the CPU can go from 60-70c too. I'm a bit surprised at this as the H100i should really be doing a better job cooling it, even at 1.34v! I used the thermal paste that came with the H100i, so I might try some Arctic Silver and try re-seating the H100i heatsink...

I might be being paranoid though and these temps might be fine. Any thoughts?

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Some updated pics of the build I made for my son! I decided to use red BitFenix Alchemy Extensions for the Power of the motherboard and the GPU's! I wanted to go that extra mile for him.

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Please keep images to below 1280px wide or post in
tags like I've done for you above - Rilot
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