My son is at Merrill and been happy there. He is a sophomore CS major and found many other friends. Yes they game but they also study and get good grades. Merrill wasn’t his top choice but he loves living practically in the woods. I really don’t think you can go wrong with any of the colleges.
I wouldn’t worry about one college being geeky vs. any other as Engineering is now one of the largest schools in the school and he will find friends anywhere.
Keep in mind in the college selection he won’t necessarily get his first choice.
I am a UCSC alumni and I went to Kresge for the apartments and honestly did very little with my college once I moved off campus. In my opinion the colleges don’t really live up to their hype.