New to Gaming

[Emma McManus 33]

@GazzaGarratt- regarding the list of extras is there anything else you would recommend that could be added, either from uncles or birthday presents etc? 
 

ive been looking at webcams, gaming  microphones, wired speakers? Are these the type of extras we are talking about? 
 

also regarding games, I’m hoping my son will keep me right regarding this but how do you get games for a PC? I know for the PS/ switch/ Xbox you walk into smyths etc and buy one. As far as I’m aware there’s no section for a PC? Do you just download them and if so where from? 

[phil bottle 9,767]

For the most part, PC players get their games digitally. You can also buy the physical disks if that is a preference, from Amazon for example.

 

The games must usually be compatible with one of the big PC platforms like Steam. Pretty much most PC players have Steam, which organises their library of games. It's a platform much like the PlayStation one where you can see your games library, see your friends and play and join each others games. 

 

There are also many websites that sell games in keycode format that you can activate and use on Steam. Green Man Gaming for example are a great website and there's always a sale.

 

There are other platforms, Origin, Epic, GOG, but as I say Steam is the go to for the majority of PC players for playing the games.... but not necessarily the cheapest place to buy them. Green Man is good for that, as is Humble Bundle which I also recommend as it often sells games cheaper for charitable causes.

 

I'll leave it to the others to suggest peripherals.

 

 

[Emma McManus 33]

@phil bottlethanks a million for the advice! So is steam just a website you go onto and you download your games from there? My son spoke of Microsoft store this morning but he’s only 9 and never had a gaming computer before so I’m not sure he has a clue what he’s talking about lol. So any help in that department would be great so we aren’t like lost sheep on Xmas morning. 

[Tar-Eruntalion 511]

steam is both a site and a program you install on your pc, it's an electronic store where you buy games and then download and play them, you buy games like with any e-store by using your credit/debit card, it has an option to remember the card number or not too so you can control when and how often he buys games if you want so he doesn't bankrupt you😅, avoid if possible the microsoft store cause i have heard many problems with it and their discounts aren't the best, but in general the most complete store with the most games is steam, then you have uplay, gog, origin and epic, my advice is to install them all as they all give freebies from time to time, yes not all games are great but it doesn't hurt to try them, half the games i have were given for free

 

 

another thing, you should prefer digital for games because most pcs don't have cd/dvd player anymore and you would have to buy it extra, it's not expensive but it's unnessecary hassle and you have the boxes/discs taking up space

 

[phil bottle 9,767]

18 minutes ago, Emma McManus said:

@phil bottlethanks a million for the advice! So is steam just a website you go onto and you download your games from there? My son spoke of Microsoft store this morning but he’s only 9 and never had a gaming computer before so I’m not sure he has a clue what he’s talking about lol. So any help in that department would be great so we aren’t like lost sheep on Xmas morning. 

 

The Microsoft Store is a good one if your son has the Xbox games pass, as with some games you can choose if you want to play them on PC or Xbox. I wouldn't buy games from there though as it's often more expensive and the platform isn't as stable as it should be. I do use it myself though for certain games and Minecraft is a Microsoft game these days so your son will be aware of it I'm sure!

 

 

[Diddums 4,346]

Steam = Netflix for games, except that you purchase them outright rather than pay a monthly fee. Install on PC, punch in some card details and you can start buying games. Keep those card details under wraps though, kids have been known to bankrupt their families with in-game junk. 

 

There are other platforms which give you access to a plethora of games for a monthly fee but honestly that's Phil's bag, he's like The Wonderful Wizard when it comes to that.

 

I wouldn't worry about a webcam yet, maybe some speakers if you want. Loads of creeps on the internet and 13yo boys are very gullible so simply don't even have the hardware to snoop and it'll never be a worry.

[Emma McManus 33]

@Tar-Eruntalion @phil bottle@Diddums

again thank you all for

your advice!! I learned from my mistakes with the kindle/Amazon apps and storing payment details for the next time!!! Thank god the didn’t go too hard on me but still it could’ve been much worse and I shut that down pretty quickly!!! Lol. 
 

Yes I am very aware of internet safety and how “unsafe” it can be so that a relief to hear a webcam is not an essential piece of kit until he is much older ( if ever).

so I’ll steer clear of that thanks for the heads up. 
 

thanks again for the list of different platforms. At least we know where to start when setting it up. 👍🏼👍🏼

[Emma McManus 33]

Ps did anyone have a chance to look at the headset I posted above to see if it fits the bill? 

[phil bottle 9,767]

33 minutes ago, Emma McManus said:

Ps did anyone have a chance to look at the headset I posted above to see if it fits the bill? 

 

I didn't see in the photos what it uses to connect. If the headphones work with a mobile phone or if they use USB, they'll be fine for PC.

[Plumbers Crack 4,062]

31 minutes ago, Emma McManus said:

Ps did anyone have a chance to look at the headset I posted above to see if it fits the bill? 

Turtle Beach are a good brand, especially for a youngster on a budget. I can’t remember what the connection plug is though. 
Try Googling “Is the Turtle Beach <insert model no.> PC compatible?” You may need an adapter cable

[Diddums 4,346]

That's a Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 headset. It will likely have come with a little bluetooth dongle which you plug in to a PC (it might be plugged in to his playstation). 

 

If you have it, it'll work. Great headset too 🙂 

 

 

Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 review - SoundGuys

WWW.SOUNDGUYS.COM

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The Turtle Beach Stealth 600 was a great wireless gaming headset. Is the second generation version a worthy successor?

 

[Emma McManus 33]

Yes that’s the one!!  I just see those exact words printed on the dongle which I never knew existed until I just asked Danny if he had one and could he show me it!! Lol 

well that’s great news that they will do the trick! 👍🏼👍🏼

[Diddums 4,346]

Nice, that's gonna be one very happy 13 year old lad this Christmas, hope he enjoys it 😄 

[Emma McManus 33]

Thanks so much @Diddums, he’s only 9 turning 10 in January but nevertheless I know he is just going to busy with excitement when he sees this. He’s such a good wee boy and asks for very little but has had his heart set on a “gaming pc” as he’s called it for the last 2 years now. So I just know he’s going to love it! And if it wasn’t for you all, he wouldn’t have half the quality of things hes going to have so I honestly I can’t thank you all enough. I’ve no doubt I’ll have more questions along the way but I wouldn’t hesitate for a second jumping on here and I know I’ll be sorted in no time! Yous are a fountain of digital knowledge!! 🙌🙌

[Diddums 4,346]

I've no idea where the 13 came from, but I'm a bit odd like that 😛

 

You know where to find us, happy to help any time 🙂 

[BO7H B4RRELS 2,453]

I'm so excited for him!!!

[Emma McManus 33]

And the ball is rolling………. Thanks everyone!!! Never believed I’d actually get this sorted but you’ve all made it possible!! 🙌

[Diddums 4,346]

Nice, well done 😄

[Plumbers Crack 4,062]

Don't forget to have a look around the rest of the site as well Emma ..we do have a Minecraft section as well so you could start dropping names of enchantments, etc and being a real cool SuperMum 🤣

[Emma McManus 33]

@Plumbers Crack ive literally no idea what an enchantment is lol, it could be another part of the PC for all I know!! 🤣 but I’ve a funny feeling by the time we are ringing in 2022 plz god, I’ll be well versed in art of gaming!! 
 

sorry to be a torture guys but regarding the monitor is it possible to go slightly higher spec than the one suggested above? @Diddumsor maybe that isn’t possible with the PC we have selected? Hubby has been speaking to a guy at work who must game from time to time. I was happy to go with what you had originally suggested but hubby asked me to check with you how this one compares? If the original is still better then I’ll get it ordered tomo! 👍🏼👍🏼

Buy MSI Optix G24C4 Full HD 24" Curved LED Gaming Monitor - Black | Free Delivery | Currys

WWW.CURRYS.CO.UK

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Full HD 1920 x 1080p; Refresh rate: 144 Hz; Response time: 1 ms; Input: HDMI / DisplayPort; Can be wall mounted

 

[Emma McManus 33]

I think they had been looking at the faster/higher refresh rate? Is that important? Or is that higher refresh Rate something our PC will be fit to handle? 
as ever thanks in advance 👍🏼👍🏼

[Emma McManus 33]

ok another local company I had emailed a while back just got back to me with their bundle deals. And I have FOMO and I’m scared I jumped in too soon. Could you guys take a look at their deals and compare to what I’ve ordered? TIA

 

www.emerald-computers.co.uk/collections/new-gaming-pcs

 

[Tar-Eruntalion 511]

11 hours ago, Emma McManus said:

@Plumbers Crack ive literally no idea what an enchantment is lol, it could be another part of the PC for all I know!! 🤣 but I’ve a funny feeling by the time we are ringing in 2022 plz god, I’ll be well versed in art of gaming!! 
 

sorry to be a torture guys but regarding the monitor is it possible to go slightly higher spec than the one suggested above? @Diddumsor maybe that isn’t possible with the PC we have selected? Hubby has been speaking to a guy at work who must game from time to time. I was happy to go with what you had originally suggested but hubby asked me to check with you how this one compares? If the original is still better then I’ll get it ordered tomo! 👍🏼👍🏼

Buy MSI Optix G24C4 Full HD 24" Curved LED Gaming Monitor - Black | Free Delivery | Currys

WWW.CURRYS.CO.UK

---

Full HD 1920 x 1080p; Refresh rate: 144 Hz; Response time: 1 ms; Input: HDMI / DisplayPort; Can be wall mounted

 

you can definitely go with this option it's slightly better than the other that was reccomended, as for the systems that were recommended by this company only the most expensive one is altogether better than the one @Diddumsshowed you and it's more than double the price of what you ordered, so in my opinion you are fine

[Emma McManus 33]

Thank you so much @Tar-Eruntalion for getting back to me!!

 

And thank you so so much for the reassurance. As I’ve highlighted before, those numbers etc go right over my head and when this guy was emailing saying “this package is the best out there”, I couldn’t help but panic and just had to ask. 
although you’d think I’d have learned from before not to listen to a word these businesses are saying at times!!

 

and thanks for taking a look at the monitor too, that’s great to hear it would be a good option too. 👍🏼👍🏼

[Diddums 4,346]

8 hours ago, Emma McManus said:

I think they had been looking at the faster/higher refresh rate?

On 9/27/2021 at 7:08 PM, Diddums said:

Keep in mind that PC gamers are absolute nerds of the highest order and will bore you to death with refresh rates, panel types, response times etc.

 

 

Remember this? 😄 

 

Honestly for a 10 year old boy that monitor is more than enough.

 

However, there are a few ways of looking at this. The first being that you can buy him a nice fancy monitor, but he won't be able to use it to its full potential as his PC won't be powerful enough. In order to get the most out of it, you're looking at a £1500+ PC at minimum. Then factor in the £600+ or so for the monitor itself, and you're very easily staring down a £2.5k bill. Before all the accessories.

 

That said, you can buy a nice fancy monitor with all the bells and whistles with a view of upgrading the graphics card in the PC (the graphics card is what puts out all the pretty images, the stronger they are, the more images and better images they can put out) and use it as it is now, however it'll only be a matter of time before he goes "mum I want to play at 4k" and then you're looking at insane costs. You can very easily spend £2500 on a graphics card alone, which is like buying an engine for a car, and then still needing the rest of the car. 

 

If this is a one-time purchase that's got to last him a few years, then it wouldn't hurt to maybe spend a bit extra to make sure that's at least one component that won't need upgrading for a while. 

 

Tell us how much you'd like to spend, and more importantly how much space you have, and let's go from there.