How much do I need to pay for a gaming computer?

Cerro

I'm actually a hardcore gamer and I have no problems with spending £1500 on my PC to build it and get the best parts possible, but after that the only thing that needs to be touched is the graphics card because with the way things are just now processors do much more than required.

Once you build a solid PC it should take care of itself allowing you to play the best games for years to come, provided you keep drivers up to date and upgrade "when needed" - not just because you can. I'd say £100 on a graphics card is cheap these days, you're not going to get a decent card for less, that would be mainsteam. I'd spend £300 easily on a good card (not an over the top card). A £60 card would be old, out of date and probably no real upgrade over what you bought 2 years ago.

Dacarlo

boyse7en wrote: »

>Fear, Halflife, Quake4, doom3 and all the other common modern games

Those aren't exactly modern though, are they.
Doom3=2004, F.E.A.R = 2005, Quake4 = 2005, Half-Life = 1998

If he wants to be playing new games like Crysis, Bioshock, etc. then he is going to need something a bit more whizzy.

A console (even a PS3) will be cheaper but less useful generally, as he'll be able to use the computer for homework, writing essays and using your credit card to buy off the internet

Even if you spend only £800 on a rig, then you'll need to buy an awful lot of games for a PS3 to come close to the same cost, even if the games are £15 dearer (about 25 games)

Wow just coming back to this lol. I meant halflife 2 but I see your point. Without any DX10 games really out those listed above are often used as benchmarks for PC gaming ability but this will change. Fortunately most game makers realise not everyone will by the latest Gfx card and will have lesser resolutions and options available.

I've just installed Bioshock on my system listed above. If plays damn fine and looks really good. I still dont have my RAM or GfX upgrade and will probably leave it till next summer since the newer games I'm playing now are fine as is.

btw bit torrent ftw Saved me £25

davetrousers

I reckon consoles are the way to go for games.

A 'Gaming PC' may be a sly way of getting a PC so he can go online with it and look at loads of !!!!!!! And as a result get load of malware, spyware and viruses. Just a thought.

ants97

davetrousers wrote: »

I reckon consoles are the way to go for games.

A 'Gaming PC' may be a sly way of getting a PC so he can go online with it and look at loads of !!!!!!! And as a result get load of malware, spyware and viruses. Just a thought.

Only if you don't know where to get the good stuff lol

Dead_Eye_Jones

Just make sure it will run UT3 and you'll be fine. The last game he'll ever need ! Until UT4.

If he is a "serious" gamer he wont thank you for getting him a console. That said, one might suggest that at the age of 12 there are more important things he should be doing. Making friends and homework !

davetrousers wrote: »

I reckon consoles are the way to go for games.

A 'Gaming PC' may be a sly way of getting a PC so he can go online with it and look at loads of !!!!!!! And as a result get load of malware, spyware and viruses. Just a thought.

Nah, he's 12, he'll be smart enough to setup a virtual machine (to circumnavigate dad's feeble atempts to restrict his access). Something like vmware allows you to rollback the session. So if your vm catches something nasty - who cares! The host and vm wont interact (well depending how you network 'em!).

He'll prob use something like truecrypt to hide the vm/vhd and you wont have a clue. Making appropriate use of the plausible deniability built into the free software.

I suggest getting a hardware keylogger. That or dont put the PC in his room! Up to you !

Oh for the good ol' days of Monopoly!

D.K.

Press on-Put game disk in -Play-press off and go and do something useful.
Great,no booting up or down, no defrag,no anti virus,unwanted cookies,etc.
etc.etc. Why don't they make computer operating systems more like consoles?

I'm_With_Stupid

I think it's false economy when people compare the cost of a console to the cost of a gaming PC. The fact is that you will generally own a PC anyway, so the real calculation should be the cost of a console vs. the difference in cost between a new regular PC and a new gaming PC. You'd probably spend about £500 on a new PC, and you could easily buy a decent enough games PC for £500 plus the cost of a new PS3 in my opinion. £900 buys a decent enough games PC for the next few years afaik. But if you already own a PC that he can work on, then it is quite an outlay for a seperate machine just for games.

And like everyone else said, there's the issue of security. There's no chance that if you buy a 12 year old his own games machine, he'll want you going anywhere near it (incidentally, this isn't limited to kids either - my mother is fiercely protective of her computer). In fact the chances are he'll get it straight out of the box and set himself up as administrator straight away so you can't install any software. We all know that teenage boys are going to look at a bit of !!!!!!, and that's not the end of the world, but the internet isn't some cheeky !!!!!! magazine you stole from your dad's collection, or the 10 minute previews on Sky. It's infinite amounts of the nastiest stuff you can imagine, so bear that in mind when you make a decision. I seriously recommend that any parent should spend a night surfing !!!!!! sites before they let their kids have their own computers in their rooms (if you're going to do this, do it on Firefox, set it to block all cookies, and for god's sake delete your history afterwards - I have a lot of experience in this field ).

BillScarab

Personally I'd get a PC rather than a console, but then I like strategy games and they tend not to be available on consoles. Even if they are controlling them with a mouse and keyboard is a lot easier.

If you're looking for a cheaper games system get a low to mid range Core 2 Duo processor and a Radeon X1950 Pro graphics card (about £100). It won't play DX10 games but then there's no DX10 exclusive games out at the moment. You can always upgrade the Graphics in 12 months when the price of the current cards has come down, if you do want DX10 now you need to look at a Nvidia 8800 GTS 320mb as a minimum but they at least £175.

If you're worried about him looking at !!!!!! (and there is some eye watering stuff on the net), make sure you have the administrator password ans set him up as a standard/limited user. You could install something like Net Nanny or Cyber Sitter. If he is connecting via router you can also usually set it up to block specific IP addresses, I think lists of dodgy ones are available on the net.

Psychofly

The PC/console arguement is pointless. If you purely want to play games then get a console. If you want to play games, browse the net (oh no ! !!!!!! ! He's 12. He'll have seen it all already no doubt.), learn how to use and to become familiar with the main tool in the majority of jobs these days and in the future and various other possibilities like programming then go for a PC.

I got a Spectrum when I was 6. My first PC when I was 18. My time with computers has made me more comfortable and familiar with them and I'm now 28 earning twice what most of my friends are earning. Personally I don't believe I would be in that situation if it hadn't been from becoming familiar with PCs from an early age.

PCs are a great learning tool as well as gaming machines and that's often overlooked. Consoles and PCs are also both excellent ways to improve dexterity and spatial awareness.

A 12 year old boy will find many ways of looking at !!!!!! if he wants to.. he's a 12 year old boy. If it really worries you then as suggested above there are ways of blocking it.