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+1 that a proper gaming PC is by definition a custom built-to-order job; not one that you wander into a shop to try and buy. Knowing that you want one and why pretty much implies a certain level of knowledge that means you won’t be finding competitive examples in general stores that target their offering to those that know nothing about computers (anywhere from Harrods to Curries), and sales assistants there will basically know nothing about this market so can’t add any help.
I’ve had custom-built PCs from quite a few places (although these were specced for other uses, not gaming). Overclockers were fine. The best were Arbico (https://www.arbico.co.uk/) where they gave some useful advice when I put my built-to-spec order in which led to some changes for the better; although most recent reviews don’t seem as good. PCSpecialist were pretty decent too (https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk)
If you know exactly what you want then Scan can be well priced. (https://www.scan.co.uk/shop/gaming)
A high-level gaming PC can easily go WAAAY north of £5000. I’ve got to say it’s a bit like top-end hifi, in that separate components rule, people will have indvidual preferences and an £8k machine isn’t twice as good as a £4k one in real world differences – it’s fractionally better. You can spend huge amounts to get very marginal improvements in performance that 99.9% of people would not notice.
No way I’d be buying this for my similarly-aged kids; it’s like an 18YO asking for a Lambo after passing your driving test; almost absurd overkill (although without the almost-certain carcrash death at least) and I don’t care one bit if my kids’ school friends at their posh school all supposedly have them 😀 . A Playstation 5 is an excellent gaming machine at a tiny fraction of the cost.
So I don’t think the relationship between gaming and mental health is straightforwardly bad or good.
Plenty of research that show a strong connection between gaming and their negative effects. As with everything, a balance or a limit is necessary. Of course, if the person has special needs, it’s a different matter altogether.
In some cases, gaming can be unavoidable – like terrible weather or better than alternatives like tv or doom scrolling tiktok and Insta.
Within gaming, best to steer the kids towards strategy or empire building games, instead of FPS or GTA types.
Within gaming, best to steer the kids towards strategy or empire building games, instead of FPS or GTA types.
Anyone remember Sid Meier’s Colonisation (it was a sort of semi-sequel to Civilisation)? My brother still maintains he could only answer part of his history A-level because of knowledge gained playing it 😀
Don’t forget that Bin Laden was reportedly an avid gamer
My son stayed in touch with his friends and cousins via gaming during the pandemic – there were months when we weren’t allowed to mix with anyone outside our household – so I think that was one of the main reasons that his mental health didn’t actually suffer!
So I don’t think the relationship between gaming and mental health is straightforwardly bad or good.
Plenty of research that show a strong connection between gaming and their negative effects. As with everything, a balance or a limit is necessary. Of course, if the person has special needs, it’s a different matter altogether.
In some cases, gaming can be unavoidable – like terrible weather or better than alternatives like tv or doom scrolling tiktok and Insta.
Within gaming, best to steer the kids towards strategy or empire building games, instead of FPS or GTA types.
And there is also research showing that gaming can help mitigate stress, anxiety and depression. Whether the overall effect is positive or negative can depend on *why* the person is playing the game in the first place. See the below summary of a literature review covering gaming over the pandemic:
“From the results of this review, empirical evidence emerged concerning video games’ efficacy during the early stay-at-home period following the COVID-19 outbreak for diminishing stress anxiety, and depression among college students and young adults from the United Kingdom, the United States, and Italy. In particular, in line with previous literature AR and online multiplayer games had a beneficial effect in diminishing stress and anxiety.
Besides, studies that emerged from this review reported that the increase in the time spent using online multiplayer games during lockdown restrictions following the COVID-19 crisis had short-term relaxing effects, but resulted in long-term higher stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms, in problematic gamers,and in individuals with avoidant coping style (i.e., who experienced playing mainly as a way of escaping from unpleasant and stressful circumstances).
Such results appear in line with the compensatory model. While in general gaming represents a nonproblematic or even healthy coping strategy to alleviate stress, anxiety, and depression, it might turn into a maladaptive or problematic one when facing a difficult life situation in individuals more at risk (i.e., problematic gamers and individuals with maladaptive coping styles).
Contextually, when facing an overwhelming life experience such as the COVID-19 pandemic, gaming-related relaxation might even be counterproductive and lead to more distress in such types of players. According to the escaping-the-self theory, it can be speculated that problematic gamers and individuals with avoidant coping styles, by engaging in gaming behaviors to divert their attention from existing problems, may experience greater distress in the long run because the real-life problems remain intact.”
I am old school a bit about this, like @JDB.
Last time I played games I was at Uni and it was PS2. I seriously thought I won’t be finishing my degree, getting too much caught up with it. A friend took 7-8 years to finish her degree, playing Diablo (I guess..) So I quit.
One major pitfall about research in kids/teens is that you cannot really “experiment” on them for obvious reasons, thus the research is largely observational and non-interventionalist. I’d not trust it one bit in either way.
Anyone remember Sid Meier’s Colonisation (it was a sort of semi-sequel to Civilisation)? My brother still maintains he could only answer part of his history A-level because of knowledge gained playing it 😀
Yes, I do. I learned a great deal about early American history from it!
Age of Empires 2 was best for history lessons.
Really interesting debate here! OH is an avid gamer, has been all his life, did a PHD and is now a software engineer in big tech. He has a good mate who worked in big tech, was an avid gamer… built a game over 7 years (extra curricular to his job!!!) has launched it, and now it is a massive success. So much so, he quit his full time job to run it/manage it.
Brother also loves to game, and did so throughout his studies and is a civil engineer now. Now meets up with his gamer mates at weekend (he has lots of other friends by the way – but goes to show how important it is for some people socially).
I think it is by experience, and different by person. Getting a passion for gaming is no bad thing, especially if it leads off in to the direction of coding etc. Not that anyone knows how valuable that will be in time (completely separate debate!).
Thanks all, appreciate the feedback. I think my concern is that I’m paying but don’t really know what I’m buying, and my son is happy to churn out specs without (I guess) having a full understanding of what they mean – but perhaps I underestimate his 12 year old brain!
My wife has now come out against the entire project so let’s see ……!
You’ve got one of two choices, off the shelf or custom. Given what you’ve just said, I’d say only do custom with a trusted specialist because not all computer parts play nicely with others, e.g. internal Dell parts don’t always work with certain brands. It’s a minefield and I’m sure your son is smart but even professionals get caught out with odd behaviour sometimes.
If you’re doing off the shelf, get something from costco. Don’t get a touchscreen one, it sounds cool / novel until the touchscreen is the first thing that breaks and renders the laptop useless. I’d suggest a large plug in curved screen. More wires but the best overall
Are there any PC games Mrs B would enjoy when Master B is not at home?
As someone mentioned above. Currys on TCR, by Warren Street is the best spot. They have a full gaming section where you can use the laptops and towers. Also have a specialist gaming person to help you
Build it yourself Rob! It is so much more satisfying researching, buying the components and fitting it all in together, troubleshooting a bit. At least it will be custom to your requirements and cheaper
Build it yourself Rob! It is so much more satisfying researching, buying the components and fitting it all in together, troubleshooting a bit. At least it will be custom to your requirements and cheaper
Oh no, the build your own mafia have arrived!
Build it yourself Rob! It is so much more satisfying researching, buying the components and fitting it all in together, troubleshooting a bit. At least it will be custom to your requirements and cheaper
Likely true, if you have the spare time to do that 🤷🏻♂️
I’ll start by admitting that I don’t know anything about gaming computers, but I do wonder whether the custom systems discussed above aren’t way beyond the requirements, or spending power, of almost any 12-year old boy. Whether it is sensible or not is a different matter.
@Rob, what computer is your son currently using, what specs is he actually asking for, and what does he actually need for the specific games? Is it possible that a reasonably powerful higher end laptop (say recent generation Intel i5 or perhaps i7) with decent RAM, suitable graphics for games and a slightly larger screen might work as interim step for now? If so, a normal brand like HP might work. You still might have to order it directly from HP rather than John Lewis to get the right processor, RAM, graphics etc. included, but at least you could see and try out a very similar but less powerful model at John Lewis.I’m going to say as a now rather grey and aged IT professional with many years dicking-around-with-hardware experience: do NOT build your own.
Buy a complete, working, system from a “major” vendor, using a credit card with consumer rights.
Having the thing not work can be a MASSIVE frustrating time-sink. Debugging “it randomly crashes” issues is absolutely soul-destroying.
I’m also not very keen on “gaming” laptops – there are heat/fan noise/upgradability downsides to them. “Gaming” stuff, if you push the hardware hard, uses a lot of power and makes a lot of heat.
Do you need to buy in London?
I’ve had nothing but good service from quietpc.com, they’re happy to chat things through and will build it to your spec.
Yoyotech, would be my go to if you need advice and are determined to do it in London. They dont really do anything else but gaming PCs. And they’re central.
Computer Assistance in Oxford might give better advice and build for less. Very good service, even though its not their core business.
Yoyotech, would be my go to if you need advice and are determined to do it in London. They dont really do anything else but gaming PCs.
We’ve had a PC from them in the past. Was competitively priced, but more importantly their customer support was decent when we had some hardware issues.
I still think Rob should get a pre-built from a big-name (Alienware etc) purely out of convenience, especially if money isn’t a factor.
An alternate option would be to visit Wanyoo or Platform, where you can play on their gaming PCs to test them out, I’m sure they can share the specs of their PCs with you.
It’s not that difficult to build your own, if you purchase the parts once you’ve identified the specification, could be a project for you and your son.
I know several posts have gone on since it was mentioned, but it is really worth setting up an ID on Hot Uk Deals and posting on their ‘forum’ (actually it is a discussion). They are a really knowledgeable bunch who are always out for the best deal, but at the best deal for the xzy that you are after.
Discussion threads are here https://www.hotukdeals.com/discussions
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