(needing info)Gaming Pc Tower

[jaxattack]

I'm hoping to get a "starter" tower for my 12 yr old son, He's not in a sense "hardcore gamer" more like if he has 3/6 hrs free ,he'll game and I'm not really sure in what I could give you as "more info" on him but he does have a "steam" account. There's 4 I'm considering (from a friends son) but I have NO IDEA on what specs I should be looking for, I don't want to be taken for a easy $$ laugh Could/Would someone help me choose outta these 4? Thanks...

• 1) Dell OptiPlex 7020,,, win 10pro,,,9gb ram,,,500gb harddrive

• 2) Model: P2-1013w,,,500GB HDD,,,Windows 7 64-bit OS,,,AMD E-450 Accelerated Processing Unit w/ Built-in Radeon Graphics,,Upgraded 4GB DDR3 1333mhz RAM

• 3) Xion Case with blue led,,,Win 10,,,ECS motherboard,,,Intel Pentium Dual Core (Haswell Based) [comparable to alot of i3 and i5] @ 3.00GHz,,,1TB Seagate Hard drive,,,8GB DDR3 Ram,,,6 USB Ports (including 2 rear USB 3.0 ports),,,VGA and HDMI Output,,,480 watt power supply

• 4) Raidmax Case with white LED,,,Win10,,,Gigabyte motherboard,,,AMD A6-5400B @3.60GHz,,,Radeon HD Graphics,,,1TB Western Digital Blue Hard drive,,,8GB DDR3 Ram,,,8 USB Ports total, including 2 rear USB 3.0 ports (front ports are hooked up as 2.0 ports),,,VGA and HDMI Output,,,Corsair,,, 430 watt power supply

 

[sweenish]

Links with prices, your budget, and posting in the hardware forum would help you out a lot. The specs you give are almost worthless. LED color doesn't impact gaming performance, but a GPU does and you only list it by accident in two of your options.

And what's with all the air-quotes? You either have a Steam account or you don't. Steam isn't an idea that gets air-quoted. Do you want a starter build, or not?

I assume building it yourself is entirely out of the question. I would shop sites like iBuyPower, CyperpowerPC, or Digital Storm.

 

[cbrunny]

uh, sweenish's reply sounds a bit heavy handed.. but generally he is right. So imagine someone said all the same things to you, but in a nice and encouraging way, and that would save me having to write that post. haha.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Well, I would really ask 2 questions here:

Do you have a budget in mind?

How long do you expect the computer to play modern games?


The first question is pretty obvious, gaming systems can get expensive with systems starting at around $800 and going upwards to $20,000 (seriously, yes, you can spend $20,000 on a setup if you had the money and wanted that extra 3% performance/e-peen bragging rights).

The second question is just as important, especially since it sounds like you only have a slight idea what you are getting into (which is why you were asking the question to begin with). Modern 3D games are constantly evolving, requiring newer hardware features all the time to get the most out of the game. While some things are essentially "eye candy" and can be tuned down/turned off for performance reasons, there comes a point where you need to upgrade. You can push that point out longer with higher powered gear now, or you can save the money and recognize that you will need to upgrade the hardware sooner.


I think in any case you are going to want to look for a system which has a dedicated graphics card. And to be honest, if this is really going to support gaming, you will need something like a Nvidia GTX 960 or AMD R9 380 to run current release games at 1080p with most of the "eye candy" on. As such, for factory built systems, you are probably looking in the $1,100 - $1,300 ballpark. If you felt confident to build it yourself, you can probably do it for about $900, but I don't think you feel confident enough in that (or don't want to leave the safety of being able to call up for tech support).