My nephew is turning 13 and will be in the 7th grade next year. He just recently got SBC Yahoo DSL for the 14.99 per month special. His uncle has determined that their old machine was just too slow and wants to update. Now I know we want the computer for surfing, gaming, and homework. The kid likes to play War Craft and Counter Strike type games, so I would also like it to accomodate the newer PC games (Doom 3, Half Life 2, etc.) but I dont want it to get too expensive. My nephew also has a gift for being "hi tech" and is very intuitive.He often explores to learn new things on his own. He will probably be better at using the PC than most people in the house. Given this, what would be a relatively good computer to purchase for him??? We dont want to spend a lot of money for top of the line, but dont want to be out dated in a few short months as he is an avid gamer. Most likely we dont want to build our own system, but are looking for a factory system. Thanks!
youwant a monitor with that? I just built a damn near state of the art machine for a client that will be upgradable for the forseeable future for right at 800. If you think the kid will be wanting a very upgradable machine, then we need to talk..(in the Houston area obviously) building to suit will give you many more options for future upgradability.
I dont really think its much cheaper to build your own PC these days. And with my past experience facotry built machines are usually more sturdy. What did this $800 machine contain???
I think this would be a very useful guide for you to look for a new computer that can handle Doom 3 or HL2. Those 2 games alone are very demanding. Computer Guide Guide #2 You can pick and choose to your liking, and you might not need all the components listed. Trust me, from someone who just put down 3 grand in all new computer parts, you're richer in the end for building a custom system. Factory systems dont use quality parts and the process is automated. Each system you build you'll know exactly what you want to upgrade later on. Hope I made some sense, and have fun with your computer.
It doesn't matter what kind of computer you get, just make sure that you get a good video card if you want to play those games. If you get dell, hp, etc then they won't last you as long and would just break down soon. I would suggest you build your own computer with good parts...like a maxtor or western digital HD.
Sorry forgot to mention that the sites I mentioned above are intended to save you money. But alas I go to the site everyday and there's so many good deals
It might just be who I used last time. Video Cards and sound cards get disconnected if I bump the tower. I also had the headache of frying a mother board in the process, but Frys took it back. Time is money and I definately dont have the time to build a PC. If I buy a factory built PC, I think I will just about break even on buying custom parts and paying someone to build it for me.
I know you don't want to build your own system. BUT he's 13. What a great age to start learning how to do things on his own. When I was that age, I have great memories about building my own computer (reading up on parts, how to put things together etc.) I just think it's a huge learning experience that might dictate his future interests/career choices. Plus, you can build a pretty kicking system with that budget.
$65.00 - Antec Solution SLK1650B Black Steel ATX Mini Tower Computer Case 350W Power Supply - Retail $86.00 - MSI K8N Neo4-F Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $162.00 - GIGABYTE GV-NX66T128D Geforce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail $146.00 - AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3000BPBOX - Retail $79.99 - CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model VS1GBKIT400 - Retail $62.00 - Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 ST380817AS 80GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM $45.99 - NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A - OEM Total: $646.98 I'm building this for my brother with newegg.com as my weapon of choice. I had ~$700 to work with but a $1000 budget could net you a larger hard drive or a better video card. You could also upgrade the case to the ultra sexy Antec Sonata. If he's a nerd like I was at that age building his own computer would be a great starting point in the world of computers and his knowledge would expand exponentially eventually becoming "that guy" that everyone runs to when their computer so much as hiccups at which point he'll grow to resent you for bequeathing this foul curse of a folly unto him. Keep in mind you'll need to add $90 for Windows XP if you don't have it. Also, my brother is using his old monitor, speakers, keyboard, and mouse so you'll have to adjust accordingly if your situation is different. If you'd rather not go down the do-it-yourself route I've had nothing but good experiences with Dell.
Learning how to put a computer together young doesn't mean he'll work tech support or IT. It could mean he'll be designing this stuff.
Just got my eVGA nvidia 6800 GT, Patriot 3500 1GB stick of ram, and AMD Athlon 64 3300+! I am now going to disapeare as I put it all together. Time for some fun on Battel Field 2! WHOOP!
I was thinking about building my own comp at summer's end. I'd have to get a bit more money first, though. Plus I already own a laptop (only 6 months old), but I'd like to have something I can actually play something like DOOM 3 on.
With that much of a cushion, he could probably even get a 7800 GTX (best card out there...for now). I also saw some pretty nicely priced, yet refurbished, video cards from Newegg recently. The deal may be off by now though. Personally, I would wait just a little longer before getting a PC, or at least a nice graphics card. Nvidia just recently came out with their new "high-end" card, while it sounds like ATI is getting ready to launch their card in the new few months. There are also rumors (with some good support) that Nvidia also has a higher end card than the 7800 GTX to counter the ATI card, basically using the 7800 GTX to milk all people who would be willing to spend $500-$600 for a card which isn't really their high-end card. But basically, I would expect a lot of competition and price cuts later in the year. That sounds awesome. I hope the graphics card works out for you. That reminds me about a story I read somewhere about some people who got Doom 3 to work on some really old card. Can't remember the name at the moment (think it was a Voodoo card), and I don't think it had any more than 64MB of ram. Of course, the game looked ugly, but it ran the game. Something tells me that you'll want some better results though.
