Newbie Needs Advice

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Hello all,

I would like to build a PC with my son who is about to turn 12. I am
reasonably knowledgeable about PC's in general, but am clueless about
what components would make up a decent computer for a young boy who
loves to play SIMS and NEED FOR SPEED games.

Are there websites that discuss stuff like this? Are there writeups
on how others have designed their own systems?

This homebuilt PC would hopefully operate with our wireless home
network for internet access and printing.

All thoughts and suggestions welcome.

TIA,

Douglas

 

[alex]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

In order to play those games and many future ones, I'd recommend at the
minimum level
First of all, a nicepower supply like a dual fan antec. minimum should be
around 400 watts. nicer video card, read the Requirements for that card.
Nice motherboard like asus or intel (supports AGP 8x, USB 2.0, (all AMD
boards will have onboard sound, for the P4's it varies. generally i
recommend buying a nice sound blaster PCI card like the basic audigy which
runs around 42 dollars on newegg.com)
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ or higher / Intel P4 2.6 GHz and up
512 mb of memory
Radeon 9600 xt / Radeon 9800 pro / Radeon X600 or for nvidia, geforce FX
5700 / geforce 6600 / geforce 6800
windows xp home / pro (I basically recommend service pack 1 with spyware &
antivirus software thats up to date)

I recommend buying these parts or nicer mainly because it's worth the
investment, and they'll run games in the future as well.

Good luck with the system, hope that helps. ps. newegg.com can't go wrong
with them.

"Douglas Fifield" <fifieldmccann@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:54anq053e0bumjrf1h2vl2pbr48cgdeuen@4ax.com...
> Hello all,
>
> I would like to build a PC with my son who is about to turn 12. I am
> reasonably knowledgeable about PC's in general, but am clueless about
> what components would make up a decent computer for a young boy who
> loves to play SIMS and NEED FOR SPEED games.
>
> Are there websites that discuss stuff like this? Are there writeups
> on how others have designed their own systems?
>
> This homebuilt PC would hopefully operate with our wireless home
> network for internet access and printing.
>
> All thoughts and suggestions welcome.
>
> TIA,
>
> Douglas

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Douglas Fifield:

> I would like to build a PC with my son who is about to turn 12. I am
> reasonably knowledgeable about PC's in general, but am clueless about
> what components would make up a decent computer for a young boy who
> loves to play SIMS and NEED FOR SPEED games.
>
> Are there websites that discuss stuff like this? Are there writeups
> on how others have designed their own systems?

http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/system-guide-200411.ars
http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/gaming-08-30-2004.ars
http://firingsquad.com/hardware/ultimate_guide_01.04/
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=Njg4
--
Mac Cool

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 04:10:24 GMT, "Alex" <blaghlakj@goaway.org> wrote:

>windows xp home / pro (I basically recommend service pack 1 with spyware &
>antivirus software thats up to date)

And also a good software firewall like the free version of Zonealarm or agnitum.
This is very important these days.