My son has expressed interest in a gaming pc

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SAWYER

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
16,742
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He has been looking at Minecraft videos and was wondering about one. I think it would be a mistake since all he does is play the main games like COD, BF etc. He has the One right now and I just cant see him getting a similar or better difference for the price of his One. I told him I would not be buying it so he would have to try and trade his One for a gaming pc or sell it and use the money to build one. He would use his tv as a monitor and I have a Windows 7 disc. I think he would get tired of not just being able to say computer on and start playing like he can now
 
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smackababy

Lifer
Oct 30, 2008
27,024
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I suggest you nip that interest in the bud before he turns into an elitist, whiny butthole like most other PC gamers!

Seriously though, if he can get around retail for his One, he'd only need a few more dollars to get a decent PC.
 
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NickelPlate

NickelPlate

Senior member
Nov 9, 2006
652
13
81
Having just looked up the price of a fully loaded XB1 ($600) and assuming he could get 100% out of selling it used which he most likely won't. He could build a decent gaming PC for that. What kind of TV are we talking about here for his monitor? What's the resolution?

Personally I think before selling it he should develop a plan based on the following you'll get more informed recommendations from the community here. Is he going to be building it himself or you? If not that rules out buying the parts and doing it yourself.

I'd start shopping around and looking at gaming PCs to figure how much it's gonna cost before selling the XB1. Better to know how much you need before selling it off only to find out you don't have enough.
 
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Savatar

Senior member
Apr 21, 2009
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How old is he? Do you already have a 'non-gaming' PC? Does he have a personal PC that is 'his' that he uses?

That might be some important points to consider. If you don't, that may add a lot of value to getting a PC. If it's just to play the one game, Minecraft, I probably would not recommend it myself - but if you would use it for its other features (research/writing papers/calculations/programming/internet) then it definitely becomes worth it. Or, possibly, if there are lots of other PC-exclusive games he is interested in?

For a gaming PC that you don't build yourself, two companies that are worth a look are CyberPowerPC and iBuyPower. You can order direct from their websites, and usually can find a pretty good overall system for around 700.

Such a system would be able to play most of the PS4 and XBox One games today (that are released on PC, anyway), but would probably find itself needing a new graphics card in 3 years or so (as newer, more demanding games come out - and hoping that it has the power supply to support a new card)... whereas the XBox One will likely last longer b/c developers will target those specifications specifically. You should, therefore, get much more lifetime out of a new console (especially since they just released), but game purchases will cost a little more initially as well.

I don't recommend using a television as a monitor, though... televisions usually have much worse response times and lower resolutions than monitors can support, plus they may be too big to sit near (unless you have one that is <= 27"). I've seen a TV hooked up to a computer and it looked pretty blurry and difficult to read the text (but that was a few years ago). A good monitor is relatively cheap, you can find some decent 23" monitors for around 200 nowadays.

I hope this helps!
 
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SAWYER

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
16,742
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He is 12 and has had a laptop since he was small but his has a busted screen now. He has a 50" plasma in his room and if I would build the pc if that is what he decided to do
 
sweenish

sweenish

Diamond Member
May 21, 2013
3,656
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To address the actual topic, a gaming PC is hardly needed for just Minecraft. I'd just wait for the One version to release, unless the PC version allows for stuff the console version doesn't. I know very little about any differences there may be.

I imagine you can't hunt for or host servers in the same way, but I also doubt that's the kid's big draw.
 
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Savatar

Senior member
Apr 21, 2009
230
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SAWYER said:
He is 12 and has had a laptop since he was small but his has a busted screen now. He has a 50" plasma in his room and if I would build the pc if that is what he decided to do
Click to expand...

50" plasma might not look that great once a PC is hooked up to it - but I've never tried it so I'm not sure. Can you test with the laptop you have now to ensure that it will meet your display needs? With a PC you usually want to read the screen pretty easily... otherwise some simple things like browsing web pages become very difficult... =\
 
zinfamous

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,695
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50" plasma at 1080p..assuming it is 1080p, right? will look horrible with text.

..especially if it is HDMI only inputs. Does it have DVI inputs? Granted, imagery will likely be fine, but text when on desktop will be absolutely horrible. You would likely have to force overscan through advanced video settings to get the image framed as best as you can--it will never look perfect, tbh--and the resolution will simply be mind-numbingly bad.

Games should be fine (minus cropping at the edges of the screen--from overscan), but he will want to browse and do other things with the PC.
 
runzwithsizorz

runzwithsizorz

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2002
3,497
14
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OP IMO I would not advise selling XB1 to buy a PC for a 12 yr old. He's fortunate to have an XB1. There are many good games for XB1, and a decent gaming computer would be too expensive (built or bought) and you would need a monitor, not a plasma TV. If he were older, then maybe. I'm glad you told him he would have to sell the Xbox...let him understand what kind of PC he could get for maybe 500.00. Not saying a 500.00 PC is bad, but certainly not a good investment for future games. After spending 600.00 for the XB1, I would not be in any rush to "upgrade" to a PC just for one game.

The Wife (aka Mom and Grandma)
 
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lakedude

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2009
2,778
528
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The problem with using plasma as a display is burn in. Make sure not to leave a static display on any part of the plasma. Turn on "orbit" or any other anti burn in technology. Otherwise they are great! They have no lag/ghosting issues like LCD.

If the plasma is only 720p or less text might not look great...
 
zinfamous

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,695
31,043
146
lakedude said:
Pffft!

A 1080p plasma will look fine on DVI or HDMI. DVI and HDMI are about the same thing as can be proved by the fact that you can buy a non-active adapter cable to go between the two. Read all about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface
Click to expand...

well, I have to look into that, as I have been meaning to do recently.

problem for me is that I recently "upgraded" to a 27" that was on sale, but didn't really think about it being HDMI only. It came with a single DVI>HDMI cable.

It looks like pure donkey shit--overscan is a joke, but it's the best I can do. I have been hoping that replacing the cable with an actual DVI cable, and then just using a DVI/HDMI adapter will solve my problems, but I am not sure if that makes any sense...

I've also read a bit about the problems of HDMI vs DVI, especially when it comes to PC--essentially, HDMI (until very recently) limits you to 1080
 
sze5003

sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,304
675
126
I would not reccomend selling the Xbox one for a gaming pc unless he will use the pc much more, for more things other than minecraft.

Let him know that a 500 dollar pc will perform alright, but as time passes, he will need to upgrade it if he wants to play other games. The Xbox one will be able to play anything up until the system is defunct.

Of course there will be games on pc that you can't play on the consoles too. I think he would miss the Xbox once he get bored of the pc.
 
sweenish

sweenish

Diamond Member
May 21, 2013
3,656
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zinfamous said:
50" plasma at 1080p..assuming it is 1080p, right? will look horrible with text.

..especially if it is HDMI only inputs. Does it have DVI inputs? Granted, imagery will likely be fine, but text when on desktop will be absolutely horrible. You would likely have to force overscan through advanced video settings to get the image framed as best as you can--it will never look perfect, tbh--and the resolution will simply be mind-numbingly bad.

Games should be fine (minus cropping at the edges of the screen--from overscan), but he will want to browse and do other things with the PC.
Click to expand...

HDMI video and DVI are the same thing.

HDMI differs in DRM, audio, etc. But the video is IDENTICAL.
 
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lakedude

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2009
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zinfamous said:
It looks like pure donkey shit--overscan is a joke, but it's the best I can do. I have been hoping that replacing the cable with an actual DVI cable, and then just using a DVI/HDMI adapter will solve my problems, but I am not sure if that makes any sense...
Click to expand...
An "actual DVI cable" is not going to help anything. I'm thinking/hoping maybe you don't have something set just right.
 
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lakedude

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2009
2,778
528
126
zinfamous what is the native resolution of your new display? 1920x1080? Make sure your video card is set to the same resoluton as the native resolution of the display.

In CCC somewhere is a scaling option which might need to be changed to enable full screen viewing. You shouldn't need overscan on a digital panel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overscan
 
Stringjam

Stringjam

Golden Member
Jun 30, 2011
1,871
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91
I don't understand why there would be any difference between HDMI and DVI @1080.

You should NOT be overscanning. Run native resolution, and make sure the TV is set not to overscan (usually an HDMI input option like "Full Pixel" or "Pixel to Pixel.")

HDMI and DVI should be identical with the TV's inputs properly configured not to overscan.
 
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sweenish

sweenish

Diamond Member
May 21, 2013
3,656
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Like I said earlier, Minecraft will get released on the One soon enough.

It's not speculation, MS announced it. They just didn't give a date.
 
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