Tell my son hello.
Which raises another Christmas present question. My son decided he would build a computer and has been collecting parts. I think he's talked his mom out of a mother board, and then maybe he bought a power pack and some other stuff, but I know he hasn't bought the processor. I was thinking of buying the processor, and guess I'm supposed to buy some kind a dual processor, and some memory, but now we're talking real money.
Generally, I think it's great he wants to do it himself, but I'm concerned that maybe there's something to sticking stuff into a mother board, that maybe it's not something he can handle. He doesn't read directions. He doesn't look at books. Can a reasonably intuitive 16 year old put together a computer? are there websites that are good sources of information?
My wife and I recently built three top-end gaming computers. If it's a computer for gaming, then your biggest cost will probably be the video card(s). Also, one handy thing is that most places sell motherboards with the processor already installed. That way you know it's a match and don't have to fuck with installing it yourself. Also, the processors always come with a stock heat sink, but if he's going to be gaming or stressing it, it might need a beefier heat sink. These can be tricky to install, so if you go that route, you might consider downloading a free utility like SpeedFan that monitors your system's temperatures. You can fry the processor if the heat sink isn't installed properly.
The hardware will usually all go together pretty easily. The frustrating part is usually configuring the software, operating system, drivers, etc. He shouldn't expect to open everything Christmas morning and be playing online by that night. There will be unexpected issues that arise, extra things to buy that you didn't expect, shit like that. Especially if it's his first time to build one.
We built our own gaming systems because we had unbelievably shitty service from established manufacturers. We also tried using local stores to build for us, but they were all staffed by idiots who knew less than we did. We had a lot of fun building our own computers, but it's more frustrating and time-consuming than you'd think. Problems will arise. It's also very rewarding when you finally get it running smoothly and go online and start busting ass with your custom machine.
Oh, also, think about utilities you will need and download them on another computer before you go online with the new one. For example, it's a good idea to download a free virus-checker like AVG, put it on a disk or whatever, and install it on the new computer before you ever go online. Then, as soon as you go online, go to Windows Update and begin the massive patching process.
I'm by no means an expert, but if you run into problems give me a shout and maybe we can figure it out. (Actually, maybe my wife can figure it out ... she's better at this than I am.)
