How to Build Your Child a Gaming Computer
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Are you thinking about building your child a gaming computer? Or just curious about what goes into building your own desktop computer? In Episode 11 of the Coder Kids Podcast, Jeff and James go over everything you need to know to build your child a gaming computer, or one for yourself! For the full podcast, check out the video below:
Why Build a Desktop Computer
The main benefit of bulding your child a gaming computer is cost. It’s much cheaper to build a desktop PC than to buy one or a laptop. You can build a computer at pretty much any price point!
Building a computer is also a great way to increase creativity, curiousity and problem solving for parents and kids. When you build your child a computer and involve them in the process, everyone has input into the design and learns about the different components of a computer much more than if they just read about it.
We’ll list some of our top picks for each section, but there a lot of options out there!
Motherboard
The Motherboard is where everything lives and connects to. It is the skeleton or the frame of your computer. It holds the CPU, RAM, processor, etc. When you’re choosing a motherboard, pay attention to the multi-display support (so it can put our more than one display). If you are going to buy a graphics card, then you don’t need to worry about the multi-display support.You’ll also want to pay attention to the rear panel connectors of the motherboard. This is for things like HDMI, USB , ethernet, headphone jacks, etc.
CPU
The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the brain of your computer. It does pretty much all of the work. How strong your CPU is, will determine (for the most part) how fast your computer feels. This is where the series of 1’s and 0’s are computed in your computer. The CPU is where the coding really happens! It gets hot because it works so hard and fast, which is why you’ll need fans (we cover that below). It also processes anything visual on your computer.
There are 2 major brands of CPU’s - AMD’s Ryzen chips and Intel’s chips (i3, i5, i7, etc). The higher the number on your CPU chip, the better. Deciding which chip to go with depends on what you’re looking for. Ryzen has a slight edge over Intel for gaming. Your motherboard will be different depending on which type of CPU you go with. Choosing which brand of CPU to go with mostly comes down to your personal preference and budget.
If you’re looking for a CPU and Motherboard Ryzen bundle, we recommend:
RAM
RAM stands for Random Access Memory. It’s like short term memory for your computer. It helps you do more than one thing at a time (like when you have 15 different chrome tabs open). The better the RAM, the better your computer will handle multiple tabs and applications open at the same time.
The minimum we recommend for RAM is 8GB (gigabytes). Aim for somewhere between 8-16GB. RAM speed has some level of importance, but the processor dictates the maximum RAM. we recommend a RAM speed of 3200Mhz (meagaheartz).
Here’s a good pick for RAM:
GPU
GPU is the Graphics Processing Unit. Anything that has to do with video games, video game animation, 3D animation, etc. is processed with the GPU.
Just like with the CPU, there are 2 major brands of graphics cards. AMD is one and the other is Nvidia. At this point, Nvidia is clearly winning the battle of graphics cards and has been for the last 3 or 4 years. If you are planning on doing any gaming on your computer, you will need a GPU and Nvidia is the way to go. They have recently released their new line (3090, 3080 and 3070). The 3090 will be the best GPU on the market. However, the 3070, which is the lower end of this line, is still better than the previous best graphics card on the market.
GPU is more expensive than CPU. If you are looking for a more budget friendly option, you can still by cards from their previous line and have a great experience.
The 3080 Graphics card:
Power Supply
All of the different elements of your computer will need energy. Basically the power supply is feeding all the energy to your computer. The total amount of power that your computer is generating can be calculated before you build it. 750 Watts is a pretty reasonable amount for your computer. You only would need more if you are using more than one GPU or doing some really intense work.
Cooling Your Computer
All of the components of your computer produce heat. There are different ways to remove the heat. For instance, you can have a fan or cooling system on the back of your computer. You can also liquid cool your computer. There are a lot of options for this (water, coolants, etc.). Your case and CPU should have cooling components.
A budget option works like a refridgerator. There is a metal plate that you put on top of your CPU. There are coils running up from the metal plate and a fan to cool down the coils. Options like this cost abour $40.
If you want to try a liquid cooling system, there are a lot a factors to take into consideration (budget, size of case, etc.). We do think this is a good option:
Monitors
Most of us have an HD screen (1920 x 1080).However, there are also QHD screens. There is a 2K and a 4K QHD screen. What that means is the 2K and 4K are displaying 2 times or 4 times the amount of pixels.
Another consideration for monitors is the refresh rate. That is somewhere between 30hz - 240hz. We recommend at least a 60. If you are planning to do gaming, we think you need a 144Hz monitor.
As far as sizing goes, 27 inches diagonally is the standard, but that’s up to you.
Case
Size matters in cases. You want to make sure it can fit your graphics card. Focus on breathability and what ports are on the front.
PC Part Picker
We love the website! It’s an awesome tool that really simplifies builing a computer. It goes over compatibility and pricing. And it’s FREE!
Conclusion
We think building a your child a gaming computer is a great way to bond, increase creativity, problem solve and save money! We hope this blog post and our podcast episode help you in your computer building journey! If you’ve decided that building your child a gaming computer is too much work, check out our blogpost “Best Gaming Laptops for Kids.”
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