I am a computer enthusiast, and work in the IT Industry so am generally a geek. But my missus has never once bought me anything computer related and I'm always happy. She just bought me a fancy haircut a cut throat shave at a barbers in Covent Garden, and I loved it! Was such a unique present and experience! I wouldn't spend £300 on him, especially if he is as disconnected as you say. Perhaps a gift could be you trying to get into some games he plays so you two can play together? My missus tries games, and generally she fails and hates it, but her just trying means a lot to me. But on the flip side, I am never going to read Perez Hilton for her, so she can sod-off if she thinks it's a two-way street!
A wicked sound system..I belive the Logitech Z-5500's are in your budget. If possible pair it up with a decent soundcard like the Asus Xonar range.
Take him on holiday. Book a couple of nights next to the beach (North Wales is a good spot) and have chips on the beach. Get him away from his computers for a couple of days. He'll soon realise there's more to life than computers. Turn your phones off, no laptops etc etc.
Lol dont ffs take him to north Wales lol Take him to Dorset Kimmeridge the water is so clean its like liquid glass.
WOW! Where can i find a woman like you?? Ha! Ha!, no Serious , it would help if you knew his current spec machine, but i would be very impressed if i got a Nvidia GTX 570! that would blow my socks of if my girl friend etc got me one of those!!
Not if he already has a couple of GTX580-s in SLI. Truthfully, a gift certificate is your best bet if you think computer parts might make him happy. But just because he's into computers, doesn't mean that's what he wants for his birthday. He might already have a kick-ass PC, so your voucher might go into something not really necessary. Talk to him and his friends. See what he was dreaming of doing/buying but instead chose to finish building his cool PC. He might have fancied a cool tablet, like the iPad, but your gift certificate will only cover PC parts. See my point? He might have liked a new phone, but opted to spend on his PC, leaving that mobile "itch" unscratched. Or, combine tech and gadgets with something that will better him in some way, something that will make him not read gaming forums all the time (nothing wrong with reading gaming forums, unless you think Hemingway is some cool pro-gamer dude that has an incredible APM). Consider buying him an ebook reader like the Kindle. I don't own one, but from what I've heard it's display is beautiful and a pleasure to read on. Get him a couple of titles that you would like him to read or think he might like. Edit: I don't think the Software section is where this thread should be. You might get a lot more answers and suggestions if you moved it to the General section.
A weekend with just the two of you sounds right, holidays like that can really bring couples closer. If he is not like that and just a complete computer geek, buy him a couple of PC games, some accessories like keyboard, mouse, speakers, or just give him the money so he can choose.
Tank driving day for £150 Weekend away to Dorset -> Bovingdon -> Tank Museum. £150 Does he like tanks?
what about a 32 gb usb stick? you can never get enough of them- especially if he's in school to put his homework on, ect.. and it won't cost you 300 bucks have money left for a gag gift like lipstick and maybe a gift certificate to a questionable massage parlor
I'd be like SOD THE VOUCHER! rofl Sounds like he's got all the things he needs for his PC already, soooooooo spend it on yourself AND him and go away for the weekend taking the aforementioned 'sexy' underwear mentioned in one of your previous posts. You can't lose if you do that And seriously ANY man worth his salt would choose a woman over his PC any day surely?? I bloody well would, except my other half is more interested in her damn ps3! She'd rather plug her controller into her usb than plug me into errrrrr.. Yeah you know what I mean I'm not frustrated though ohhhhh nooooooo Forget the little bits of magazines covering you, just cover yourself with various little nibbles.. Kind of like a finger buffet (steady now!!) lol and let him help himself WHAT A BIRTHDAY GIFT THAT WOULD BE, he'd never look at his PC again surely?? +rep for all the above, after all if you didn't do most of the thinking with the brain that's less clever than the one behind your eyes then you'd NEVER get anything other than cyber sex with miss i'm gonna popup when your halfway through browsing a possibly 'don't look now the missus is coming type website' rofl ........ I mean me and 'Nuts' magazine have become very well acquainted these last few months, even considered taking out a trial subscription! (and a trial separation from the missus to go with it...) to see how things go rofl
Tolley, personally I'm not one for giving gift vouchers, an actual gift, the right gift is always better. It's the look of "How the hell did you know I wanted ...?" that does it So, one other option for you to consider would be send him out for ice-cream + + +, whatever it'll take to get him out of the flat/house long enough for you to either power up his PC and check his configuration or if you cant do that for whatever reason, take the side off the case and check what he's got inside. Then you could come back here, list his config and the guys can then make informed suggestions. If you can't identify what's what, take pics and post on here and the guys can tell you what he's got so what he'll probably like to add/upgrade. Just an idea
Personally i hate it when friends/family buy me something for the PC. I'd rather them buy me something else. I was over the bloody moon when my gf bought me a model of Star Treks Enterprise-D AGT.
Its my 24th on friday and the mrs has asked me what i want, which is a smart move cause if she just bought me something for the PC theres a 99% chance i wouldnt need it, or want it. You could drop little subtle hints..but ide still vote for a voucher delivered in sexy underwear !
Ok I am going to take a different tack than most here: To the OP: Do you have access to your boyfriend's computer? If so we can probably direct you to run a software that will print out whatever hardware is in the computer (specs). Chances are that he already has something like Sisandra running. If not I am sure there are other easy ways to find out. Also, failing that you could perhaps take a picture of the inside of the computer, we can probably make up some of the specs from this. Does he have a username/nickname that he uses on forums like this one. He might have asked questions in the past and hinted at what he has. If we know what hardware he has then we can make a pretty good "educated guess" of what upgrade would most likely benefit him next. I join everyone in congratulating you. Most GFs would find his hobby "stupid" and would try and drag him away. You are genuinely one of a kind as you are trying to get him something he would love rather than some generic crap. I would be very very chuffed if my GF gifted me a 128gb SSD, or an extra 5870 for SLI. I may not have bought them myself, but I would be very impressed. So, see if you can get the hardware one way or another. Let us know if you can login to his computer, we can then fairly easily direct you to get the specs. I am thinking Sisandra but can anyone else think of a easier or foolproof way to get all his hardware? Kudos to you!
^^ All good ideas. You have to be careful though. My wife's only attempt at buying anything pc related for me resulted in the unwrapping of a shiny new copy of COD: Black Ops from GAME . Not only did I have to smile and politely play through that poor excuse for a FPS but I also had to cope with knowing she probably paid waaayyy to much for it. That said, considering she thinks I waste my time pc gaming I should probably be grateful she got me anything and TBH i did appreciate the thought!
does he use steam on his pc? Might be worth buying him a voucher for some games or the like. Is he interested in smartphones? Gregs idea was a great one, You are getting into dangerous territory buying PC parts
Hi Outside opf software I'd go for a decent SSD Mine has made the biggest difference to general PC usage
