Building computer gaming system for my son, need help!

[gunsguy]

Hey all I am building a budget gaming system for my son. I have all the parts and we will build it together.

Question for gamers as I have ZERO idea about gaming...

Should I install windows 7 (which he is familiar with) or windows 8?

Any reason why? For what I use the computer for I prefer 7 but others prefer 8

I have access to both OS just need some advice.

Edited April 5, 2015 by gunsguy

[Gracii Guns]

My husband says Windows 7. Because Windows 8 is tailored more towards tablets, and they're trying to force their own store. There are also a few issue when it comes to controllers with Windows 8, so he tells me. He says these are very minor nitpicks, but avoiding them will make your life easier.

And now I've answered that question sensibly, I can't help but ask, does your son call you just Dad, or does he say Mum too, when he feels like it?

Seriously though, I admire you for doing all that for your son and I hope that you both have a great time gaming.

[bran]

i hate windows 8 it is just awful, windows 7 was superior IMO. i never had problems with game controllers or anything with 8 its just the layout sucks.

[Damn_Smooth]

Windows 7 and 8 are getting a free upgrade to Windows 10 which is going to be a major advancement in gaming with DX12 so go with whichever you can get cheaper.

Edited April 5, 2015 by Damn_Smooth

[Damn_Smooth]

On a side note, I personally prefer 7 to 8, but that's me.

[gunsguy]

I like 7 myself as I hate the metro interface and the way it made it look like apps. I just want to compute!

He wanted to build a system with me as he learns these things. It is nice to be able to do it ourselves with the new parts.

His birthday is next week and that's what he is getting, a project with Dad

Computer parts here in Canada cost more than most other markets but I managed to pull together some deals to make a system he can use for gaming

Edited April 5, 2015 by gunsguy

[Damn_Smooth]

That's pretty awesome man. It should be a great time for both of you and a good learning experience for him. Tell him Happy Birthday.

[gunsguy]

ive been a computer junkie for years, always build my own. I'm glad we are gonna do this

he is turning 13, Mom doesn't agree with the price ahahahaha even though I was able to get good deals it adds up.

He is interested so we gonna do it, the money you save putting it together is a lot compared to buying a built box. It is not that hard once you know how. besides this gives us a day together of windows updates lol

[bran]

I like 7 myself as I hate the metro interface and the way it made it look like apps. I just want to compute!

He wanted to build a system with me as he learns these things. It is nice to be able to do it ourselves with the new parts.

His birthday is next week and that's what he is getting, a project with Dad

Computer parts here in Canada cost more than most other markets but I managed to pull together some deals to make a system he can use for gaming

nice sounds like a great time to me. you have to post the specs in the gaming forum when your done.

[gunsguy]

I like 7 myself as I hate the metro interface and the way it made it look like apps. I just want to compute!

He wanted to build a system with me as he learns these things. It is nice to be able to do it ourselves with the new parts.

His birthday is next week and that's what he is getting, a project with Dad

Computer parts here in Canada cost more than most other markets but I managed to pull together some deals to make a system he can use for gaming

nice sounds like a great time to me. you have to post the specs in the gaming forum when your done.

Not all that great TBH but it will play the games he wants at full so we ok

For now here are some of the parts:

CPU:

Intel Core i3 I3-4150 Haswell 3.5GHZ Processor LGA1150 3MB Cache Retail

PSU:

Corsair CX430M Modular CMPSU-430XM

MOBO:

MSI H81M-P33 Socket 1150 Intel H81 Chipset

RAM:

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Dual Channel Kit

Graphics:

Sapphire Radeon R7 260X 2GB GDDR5

monitor:

BenQ GL2460HM 24-Inch LED, 2ms

We have the case already, not sure what it is but its new we bought it awhile ago.

Things can be upgraded, I had to cut costs a little, for instance the RAM, I can upgrade that later, for now its ok. The PSU was on a killer deal with a rebate so it was crazy cheap. The Graphics card again, not the greatest but fit my budget.

[Mysteron]

Windows 8 should be avoided at all cost. It is, hands down, the worst software ever written

[bran]

I like 7 myself as I hate the metro interface and the way it made it look like apps. I just want to compute!

He wanted to build a system with me as he learns these things. It is nice to be able to do it ourselves with the new parts.

His birthday is next week and that's what he is getting, a project with Dad

Computer parts here in Canada cost more than most other markets but I managed to pull together some deals to make a system he can use for gaming

nice sounds like a great time to me. you have to post the specs in the gaming forum when your done.

Not all that great TBH but it will play the games he wants at full so we ok

For now here are some of the parts:

CPU:

Intel Core i3 I3-4150 Haswell 3.5GHZ Processor LGA1150 3MB Cache Retail

PSU:

Corsair CX430M Modular CMPSU-430XM

MOBO:

MSI H81M-P33 Socket 1150 Intel H81 Chipset

RAM:

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Dual Channel Kit

Graphics:

Sapphire Radeon R7 260X 2GB GDDR5

monitor:

BenQ GL2460HM 24-Inch LED, 2ms

We have the case already, not sure what it is but its new we bought it awhile ago.

Things can be upgraded, I had to cut costs a little, for instance the RAM, I can upgrade that later, for now its ok. The PSU was on a killer deal with a rebate so it was crazy cheap. The Graphics card again, not the greatest but fit my budget.

thats not a bad little rig. the r7 260x is what my pc had when i got it, it will keep up with most modern games.

[Mendez]

IIRC windows 8 had some minor performance (in gaming) increases over win7

[Johnny Drama]

Definitely 7. Windows 8 has the world's worst layout.

[gunsguy]

Definitely 7. Windows 8 has the world's worst layout.

I agree with that I despise the layout on 8 myself.

[AxlisOld]

Not if you have a touchscreen laptop.

[OmarBradley]

Not if you have a touchscreen laptop.

The only good excuse for having W 8(or a tablet I guess). And tbh, one of my best friends has it on his laptop, and he hates it even still. I tried his laptop out too, it was deplorable.

[wasted]

I thought you were going buy a PS4 and XboxOne and use the same TV to play games.

[pugachev]

I really don't understand all the hate for Windows 8, I prefer it over Windows 7 in every way. Almost every hater cries over the start button which is easily remedied in about 30 seconds by downloading Classic Shell. For a kid gaming on a PC I would definitely choose Windows 8.1 over 7 due to some performance increases in gaming. I probably would've also bought the G3258 over the i3 and got a better video card. Sure, the i3 has HT but very, very few games use them and the extra $60 could've gone into a GPU worth something.

[Nosaj Thing]

Windows 8.1. I have never encountered a problem with it.

[OmarBradley]

I really don't understand all the hate for Windows 8, I prefer it over Windows 7 in every way. Almost every hater cries over the start button which is easily remedied in about 30 seconds by downloading Classic Shell. For a kid gaming on a PC I would definitely choose Windows 8.1 over 7 due to some performance increases in gaming. I probably would've also bought the G3258 over the i3 and got a better video card. Sure, the i3 has HT but very, very few games use them and the extra $60 could've gone into a GPU worth something.

Windows 8.1. I have never encountered a problem with it.

Well one of my biggest issues with W8 is the user interface (and no I'm not just talking about the Start button). It's terrible, it looks like the Windows Mobile interface from like 5 years ago with those stupid app blocks. A computer is not a tablet, I don't want "apps" (in the mobile sense) on my PC, Windows has essentially had the same method of interacting with the interface for the past 20 years.... and the improvements in performance and gaming are there, but aren't major - Tom's Hardware did a pro analyzation on this, I'll try to find

EDIT: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/windows-8-gaming-performance,3331-13.html

It does say that W7 is pretty much the same was W8 for gaming, but I did find some other studies that were of 8.1, showing that 8.1 does indeed have a decent increase in performance. Oh well, I probably still wouldn't get it, as it seems to be a general improvement of 5-10 fps, and 0.5% quicker loading times (if I read that correctly, lot's of computer terminology).

Edited April 7, 2015 by OmarBradley

[pugachev]

I really don't understand all the hate for Windows 8, I prefer it over Windows 7 in every way. Almost every hater cries over the start button which is easily remedied in about 30 seconds by downloading Classic Shell. For a kid gaming on a PC I would definitely choose Windows 8.1 over 7 due to some performance increases in gaming. I probably would've also bought the G3258 over the i3 and got a better video card. Sure, the i3 has HT but very, very few games use them and the extra $60 could've gone into a GPU worth something.

Windows 8.1. I have never encountered a problem with it.

Well one of my biggest issues with W8 is the user interface (and no I'm not just talking about the Start button). It's terrible, it looks like the Windows Mobile interface from like 5 years ago with those stupid app blocks. A computer is not a tablet, I don't want "apps" (in the mobile sense) on my PC, Windows has essentially had the same method of interacting with the interface for the past 20 years.... and the improvements in performance and gaming are there, but aren't major - Tom's Hardware did a pro analyzation on this, I'll try to find

EDIT: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/windows-8-gaming-performance,3331-13.html

It does say that W7 is pretty much the same was W8 for gaming, but I did find some other studies that were of 8.1, showing that 8.1 does indeed have a decent increase in performance. Oh well, I probably still wouldn't get it, as it seems to be a general improvement of 5-10 fps, and 0.5% quicker loading times (if I read that correctly, lot's of computer terminology).

App blocks? Care to post a screenshot of what you're talking about? If you're talking about all that Metro UI stuff when you hit the Start button, that all goes away when you download Classic Shell. It just replaces all that with the standard Windows 7 interface. You get the best of both worlds.

Check out this link.

http://www.classicshell.net/

ignore the shell icon in place of the Start icon, you can choose the original Win7 start, Windows 8 start, the shell icon, or any icon you want.

[OmarBradley]

I really don't understand all the hate for Windows 8, I prefer it over Windows 7 in every way. Almost every hater cries over the start button which is easily remedied in about 30 seconds by downloading Classic Shell. For a kid gaming on a PC I would definitely choose Windows 8.1 over 7 due to some performance increases in gaming. I probably would've also bought the G3258 over the i3 and got a better video card. Sure, the i3 has HT but very, very few games use them and the extra $60 could've gone into a GPU worth something.

Windows 8.1. I have never encountered a problem with it.

Well one of my biggest issues with W8 is the user interface (and no I'm not just talking about the Start button). It's terrible, it looks like the Windows Mobile interface from like 5 years ago with those stupid app blocks. A computer is not a tablet, I don't want "apps" (in the mobile sense) on my PC, Windows has essentially had the same method of interacting with the interface for the past 20 years.... and the improvements in performance and gaming are there, but aren't major - Tom's Hardware did a pro analyzation on this, I'll try to find

EDIT: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/windows-8-gaming-performance,3331-13.html

It does say that W7 is pretty much the same was W8 for gaming, but I did find some other studies that were of 8.1, showing that 8.1 does indeed have a decent increase in performance. Oh well, I probably still wouldn't get it, as it seems to be a general improvement of 5-10 fps, and 0.5% quicker loading times (if I read that correctly, lot's of computer terminology).

App blocks? Care to post a screenshot of what you're talking about? If you're talking about all that Metro UI stuff when you hit the Start button, that all goes away when you download Classic Shell. It just replaces all that with the standard Windows 7 interface. You get the best of both worlds.

Check out this link.

http://www.classicshell.net/

ignore the shell icon in place of the Start icon, you can choose the original Win7 start, Windows 8 start, the shell icon, or any icon you want.

Yeah exactly what I was talking about. Didn't know about the classic shell, that's interesting.