What Is Computer?

What type of components do you like to see in a gaming computer?

• Hey, I'm doing my first computer build. This computer however is not for me (unless I can't sell it at a good enough price to keep building and selling them). The problem I'm having is that even though I have a lot of computer knowledge and I know what I'm doing, I'm not a gamer, I'm a video editor, so I don't know what gamers want in custom built computers. I've looked at requirements for some games such as skyrim, and I had planned to build a computer that would play it at the extremely high settings, but the gamers I asked wouldn't pay over 350 for it. I have a budget, but please ignore it, I can get more money if I need to. I have all the parts except for the graphics card, but if some parts are not good enough I can buy different ones. What I want to know is this: If you wanted to buy a gaming computer, and you found an ad for one, what are the minimum requirements you would have for the components of this computer, and how much would you spend on it? An example of the type of response I'm looking for is: 1. AMD Athlon II X4 or Intel i5 Quad 2. 4 GB DDR3 RAM 3. 500 GB SATA Hard Drive 4. USB 3.0 5. DVDRW 6. 600w PSU 7. ATI HD5770 or nVIDIA GTX260 $600 So basically all I want to know is what components would a gaming computer absolutely have to have for you to buy it, and how much would you be willing to pay? Please answer honestly, be sure your answer is actually an answer to my question and be to the point, and assume the computer is already built, that you have examined it and found it to be in good condition and that it was built well. By the way, I'm planning on selling them with no operating system, but I can put one on if I get a little more for it, however I will have tested the computer to make sure it doesn't crash during heavy gaming or anything (yes I'm going to get skyrim so I can test them out properly).

• Answer:

  First off, if this is your first build and you're looking to resell, you're doing it wrong. If you're building to sell without a buyer already lined up, you're doing it wrong. You're going to be very hard-pressed to hit the break even point on this kind of thing. There is way too much competition. That being said... 1. An Athlon x4 in a gaming computer? No. The i5 is far better, assuming you mean a 2000 series and not the 700 series 2. 8GB of RAM is cheap as hell these days. 3. Sure, they're expensive, so 500GB will do. 4. That comes on just about every board these days and isn't much of a selling point. 5. Again, a DVD-RW drive is very standard fare. 6. Assuming it's a solid brand, sure. 7. The 5770 is considered a bare minimum for a decent gaming computer. The GTX 260 is old, outdated, and shouldn't even be considered here. 8. Case? Operating system? Keyboard? Mouse? Monitor? Any other extras? $600? LOL! You're not going to get $600 for this. At all. Okay then, but the point still stands: Building to sell like this is a very bad idea. You'll be lucky to break even.