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Okay, so my two nephews (10 and 11) want to build their first computer and their mother is willing to appease them since they have shown an interest and she wants them to learn more about it. They also needed a new computer anyway so she's just trying to kill two birds with one stone.
I have not had to deal with building a machine in over a year since I started working in our firm's networking department, so I have no idea what the best bang for the buck is and I know you guys do.
There is no set-in-stone budget per se, they're well off and they will be using the computer for practical purposes, but we don't need a monster machine here so I don't want them to break the bank.
1) What will you be doing with this PC? They are homeschooled kids so they'll be using educational software and games, they play the new Lego MMORPG I guess, research, Word and Powerpoint. Internet. Some picture editing and modeling software.
2) What's your budget? No specific budget, but I want something reasonable. As a starting point let's go with $750 but there's definitely leeway there if something quite a bit better is just a few bucks more (or conversely, if you can build a solid machine on the cheap, all for it!).
3) Where do you live? Not within range of any store that would be able to facilitate our needs.
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, motherboard, case, memory, hard drive, optical drive, video card, sound card, wireless card, power supply, fans if necessary based on case, stock heatsink should do them fine. They do need a monitor, speakers, and wireless/keyboard mouse but that doesn't necessarily have to be included in the budget (again, if we can get a hell of a deal, we're definitely on board).
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? All new.
6) Will you be overclocking? Nope.
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have? I'd say they'd get by with a 20"
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Next couple of weeks.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? Nothing too out of the ordinary.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? They want to throw XP on it.
I'd like to get them a dedicated video card and I'll probably get a cheaper sound card just so they can see PCI and PCIx16 and that sort of thing. We want this to be affordable but still, like I said, eventually it will be used for practical purposes and it is an educational experience, so they're not like super-strict on budget.
I have not had to deal with building a machine in over a year since I started working in our firm's networking department, so I have no idea what the best bang for the buck is and I know you guys do.
There is no set-in-stone budget per se, they're well off and they will be using the computer for practical purposes, but we don't need a monster machine here so I don't want them to break the bank.
1) What will you be doing with this PC? They are homeschooled kids so they'll be using educational software and games, they play the new Lego MMORPG I guess, research, Word and Powerpoint. Internet. Some picture editing and modeling software.
2) What's your budget? No specific budget, but I want something reasonable. As a starting point let's go with $750 but there's definitely leeway there if something quite a bit better is just a few bucks more (or conversely, if you can build a solid machine on the cheap, all for it!).
3) Where do you live? Not within range of any store that would be able to facilitate our needs.
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, motherboard, case, memory, hard drive, optical drive, video card, sound card, wireless card, power supply, fans if necessary based on case, stock heatsink should do them fine. They do need a monitor, speakers, and wireless/keyboard mouse but that doesn't necessarily have to be included in the budget (again, if we can get a hell of a deal, we're definitely on board).
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? All new.
6) Will you be overclocking? Nope.
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have? I'd say they'd get by with a 20"
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Next couple of weeks.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? Nothing too out of the ordinary.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? They want to throw XP on it.
I'd like to get them a dedicated video card and I'll probably get a cheaper sound card just so they can see PCI and PCIx16 and that sort of thing. We want this to be affordable but still, like I said, eventually it will be used for practical purposes and it is an educational experience, so they're not like super-strict on budget.
