Best PC rig/games for a 4 year old?

[ninja_gaydad]

Hello-
My twins are turning 4 next month (boy/girl) and I'm trying to think of what would be a good starter gaming computer for the pre-kindergarten age.

My instinct is to start off easy with an i7 core and a 3070 chip in a small tower with 32 gig of RAM and just a basic 512 HHD. Times two, obviously, because, you know two of everything.

Alternatively, I could be the parent I want to be and get my son a i9 core with a 4070 chip and a 1TB SSD with a back up 2TBHHD and a curved 42" monitor with surround sound, and get my daughter a i5 core HP craptop from Target.

So. What is your opinion on gaming computers for kids?

 

[Colif]

I think either system might be overkill for a child. They won't be playing doom any time soon (I hope) so its likely any games they would play won't need a lot of GPU power..
32gb of ram is a little much too... only time I ever used that much myself was running a windows 10 VM inside win 11. I doubt many pre schoolers will be doing that

Or are you going to use it also? As then it might change the specs a little.

 

[Alm]

I let my 4 year old niece play my Nintendo Switch. She likes Mario Kart with all the assists on and plays Alex Kidd on the Megadrive collection. She hasn’t ventured out of those 2 yet though.

 

[logainofhades]

I would say the 3070 is overkill. If you want something that can grow with them a bit, I would just go with an 8600g based rig. AM5 will be around a few more years, giving you upgrade options as they get older.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 8600G 4.3 GHz 6-Core Processor ($167.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($36.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B650M-HDV/M.2 Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard ($139.00 @ Amazon)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($88.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP44 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($68.98 @ Amazon)
Case: SAMA ARGB-Q5 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($58.89 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Enermax Revolution D.F. X 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($81.84 @ Newegg)
Total: $642.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-09-14 08:52 EDT-0400

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

If you have 4 year olds who can navigate Windows 11 well on a mouse and keyboard, they should probably be in some sort of elite program.

I'd suggest tablet or a Switch, play PC games together with them on your own system. We had a thread a little while ago on good games to play with kids.

Games that are great to play with your kids

Someone mentioned they might start a thread on this, but I don't see one. No worries. I'm never afraid to start a DOA thread :ROFLMAO: So I think we should divide this into the stages of a kid's life. You have 10 and under, during which most kids are fairly innocent and parents want to keep it...

forums.pcgamer.com

 

[ninja_gaydad]

If you have 4 year olds who can navigate Windows 11 well on a mouse and keyboard, they should probably be in some sort of elite program.

I'd suggest tablet or a Switch, play PC games together with them on your own system. We had a thread a little while ago on good games to play with kids.

Games that are great to play with your kids

Someone mentioned they might start a thread on this, but I don't see one. No worries. I'm never afraid to start a DOA thread :ROFLMAO: So I think we should divide this into the stages of a kid's life. You have 10 and under, during which most kids are fairly innocent and parents want to keep it...

forums.pcgamer.com

well my kids started learning assembly at age 2 and are working on PERL now so I'm not concerned about their prowess with navigating Windows 11. I'm concerned about whether I should spend a little bit now on hardware and expect to spend a little bit more in the short future, or whether it might be more cost effective to invest in higher grade hardware with the higher upfront cost now and then figure out how I'm going to build and rebuild in the future.

 

[Colif]

At least if they well behaved you won't be constantly replacing peripherals for the next 10 years.

 

[Brian Boru]

spend a little bit now on hardware

I'm guessing you don't have any older kids?

If so, never mind the specs, there's only one attribute which counts and that is pretty expensive, typically found in equipment used in mining and on oil rig underwater maintenance.

INDESTRUCTABILITY

 

[Why_Me]

Give them some shiny lights to stare at.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor ($182.12 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: *Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($35.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: *MSI PRO B650-S WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: *TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($88.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: *TEAMGROUP MP44L 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($105.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: *MSI RTX 4070 Ti SUPER 16G VENTUS 3X BLACK OC GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER 16 GB Video Card ($799.99 @ Amazon)
Case: *Phanteks XT PRO ULTRA ATX Mid Tower Case ($75.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: *MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($100.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: *Microsoft Windows 11 Home OEM - DVD 64-bit ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: *MSI G272QPF E2 27.0" 2560 x 1440 180 Hz Monitor ($213.46 @ Walmart)
Total: $1853.40
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-09-14 18:14 EDT-0400

 

[Brian Boru]

started learning assembly at age 2 and are working on PERL now

Oh, missed that. You need the LeapFrog LeapPad Academy, they have machine language for 3yo-and-up, plus a great game which teaches centrifuge design for 4-and-up.

Or a Switch.

 

[ninja_gaydad]

Oh, missed that. You need the LeapFrog LeapPad Academy, they have machine language for 3yo-and-up, plus a great game which teaches centrifuge design for 4-and-up.

Or a Switch.

I live in Wyoming so we have ready access to plutonium and uranium, the centrifuge idea is a good one