Suggestions for minimum specs for light gaming.

I'm trying to help out a co-worker with either buying or building a system that will be used for most basic functions, but he is also into playing with flight simulators.

What are the minimum specs that we should be looking for in a store bought system, or if building, can I get some suggestions that won't break the bank.

Not looking for "Sky Net" capabilities, just want sufficient enough power to do what he needs.

Almost forgot the most important thing, the maximum budget is $500. No monitor needed.

TIA!

 

I would say like a 9800gt and dual core cpu with 4gb ram.

 

Any more specifics? MOBO, power supply?

Here are my specs, will this do for what he needs?
Gigabyte GZ-X2 Black Mid Tower
Coolmax CoolMax 500 Watt ATX 12V Power Supply
MSI - Micro Star International K9N6PGM2-V MCP61 AM2+ mATX Motherboard
AMD AMD® Boxed Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+
Western Digital Caviar SE 160GB 7,200RPM Serial ATA-300 Hard Drive OEM
Sony Bulk Optiarc LightScribe 20x DVD±RW Burner with Dual/Double Layer
OCZ Technology Vista Performance 4GB DDR2-800 (PC-6400) DIMM Memory Kit (Two 2GB Memory Modules)

If so, I might sell him my system, that is tested and running and start a new build for myself. :-D

 

The thing with flight simulators is that they aren't really "light gaming", at least not in the graphics rendering department... what does your budget need to cover? Do you have a case, for example, and keyboard and mouse? Are you starting completely from scratch?

 

I guess I referred to it as light gaming, because that will be primarily the only thing that he's interested in.

I know from others that some games require extensive graphics to run properly.

I have a flight simulator on my system and it seems to perform just like I vaguely recall arcade games to run.

Granted, I'm not into games at all, so I probably wouldn't notice the difference if it fell out of the sky and hit me on the head.

As far as what he has and needs, I'm supplying him with a case (assuming we build), he has a new flat panel monitor, Logitech wireless keyboard, mouse and Logitech Extreme 3d Pro joystick. The same 1 that I have.

He's never built a system before and when I put mine together, I didn't really have any intentions of gaming in mind.

 

Yeah- FlightSimX is one of the most demanding games currently available. Even high-end systems choke if all the "eye candy" is set to 'high'. Anyway- the above specs should be OK if you add a video card. As far as bang-for-the-buck video cards, look at the NVidia 9600GT or 9800GT (the 9800GT has been renamed the GTS250 and upgraded a bit). AMD has some new dual-core CPUs at GREAT prices (like the AthlonII 545 or 550) that will destroy the earlier generation of AMD dual core CPUs like the 6000+ listed above. AMD also has some "budget" quad core chips available like the 620 or 630 at less than $120, and thse components will make a GREAT entry-to-mid-level gaming system. However, I recommend a hard drive larger than 160gb, probably 320gb or 500gb (or bigger), and at least 3gb memory.

 

:-o OOOOPS! This should actually say that the 9800GTX has renamed to the GTS250. I waited too long to change my mistake.....

 

What would be the benefit of the larger hard drive? I have a 160 and am only using less than 20%.

I must be just another geezer driving a sports car, because I don't use anywhere near the full power or capabilities of any of my systems.

 

And I have 500GB and am starting to run out of space.

Storage space is cheap these days, and there is almost no such thing as too much. How large is your friend's current hard drive, and does he use all of it, or complain that he needs more space? In your situation I would simply go with what the person who will be using the system will need for storage. Just make sure to assume he is underestimating his needs, and get him at least one notch larger than what he asked for.

 

My wife bought me a t-shirt that read:
It used to be wine, women and song...
Now it's beer, the old lady and tv!

Even with all my pics of the grand kids, I wouldn't fill up a 40gb hard drive.

I'll just suggest a 300 or so and he'll probably have plenty of room to spare.

I can't even fathom filling up that much space. I guess my life is just not that interesting. :zzz

 

I back up my movies and game disks to the PC, that's probably why. DVDs get scratched, they can get lost when moving, or just when cleaning. Not to mention that if I'm going to travel abroad, I don't want to take the original DVDs with me, since they might get lost.

 

I back up all of my movies and watch the copies. I also never lend out an original.
I've lent out dvds before and never got them back, so the originals never leave the comfort of my home.
I just burn the discs, but don't save anything to my computer, that's probably why I can get away with a smaller hard drive.
Kind of like my house. When we bought, the kids were still in school. Now the house seems huge, but I still can't seem to hide from wifey! :eek

 

I have a 300gig HDD and never back up to it, never copy dvd's nor do i have lots of pictures, and i use 250 gig of it as of right now.


BUT, i do game and never uninstall , just in case i want to play said game again lol so i know thats not your problem

 

Ideally, you'll want the drive to have 20% free space or more at all times. This helps Windows run better, and once you get past 20% free space, things tend to slow down gradually, and defrags become ridiculously long, and then defrags won't even work after 15% free space (or maybe it's 12%). Also, many newer games take up A LOT of space; World Of Warcraft takes up about 20gb after a full install with all the updates and patches; FEAR2 takes up about 8-10gb; FarCry2 also is about 8gb or 10gb. So- three games installed and we've already used up about 40gb, plus Windows (~3gb for XP; ~10gb for Vista/Win7), and you can see how quickly drive space gets used up.

 

DLB, thanks for explaining it the way that you did. As I said earlier, I don't game and use only about 20 to 40 gigs out of my 160.

I'm actually more of a "MinorGeek" http://elouai.com/images/yahoo/22.gif and a very casual user.

My desktop and laptop both have 160s and I don't even use 40gb in the desktop, so me having a 160 is like an old fart owning a Ferrari. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v713/b44t/starac.gif

 

Oh dont i know the woe's of the dreaded, "You need at least 15 percent of your HDD free to defrag" woes lol, gotten that message more than i care to remember. Went from a 200gig to a 300 gig and still only have 50 gig left.