New computer

[As Zehn]

Planning on getting a 3rd computer strictly for on line play and for my 12 year old (school, friends and games). What are the minimum specifications I should go with. TIA.

[scotnt73]

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Planning on getting a 3rd computer strictly for on line play and for my 12 year old (school, friends and games). What are the minimum specifications I should go with. TIA.

[/ QUOTE ]

if you are buying new then anything you buy will be fine.

if im not doing any high end gaming then:

These are all minimums:
1)1 gig processor
2)40 gig hard drive
3)256mb ram
4)32mb graphics card

id buy the cheapest new computer i could find that met at least these specks and spend the money you save on a 19-21 inch monitor.

[Wahoo91]

Any computer from the modern era (e.g. past 5 years) will work for online poker. There are no difficult graphics so you can use PIII 1.0 no problem (probably even less) with an older graphics card (even as old as a TNT2).

You could build this computer for less than $400 easy.

If your kids are playing graphics intense games that will change the standards required.

Must have a cable/DSL line though. Maybe dial up would work, I would not want to try it.

[As Zehn]

Go with a DVD drive CD or CDRW? Currently have one computer hooked up with cable for internet but will go with hard wired router to network to new computer.

[Blarg]

The above suggestions are mostly fine.

I would add that I four-table with a 44k modem(56k speed and lousy connection), and I do fine. You don't need broadband at all, not even remotely close.

I'd also get more than 256 RAM. Windows alone can eat up well over 128 of that that, and then you have to try to cram in your programs in what's left. Anything less than 512 megs of RAM these days and you're taking chances of running out of RAM and having the machine resort to writing on your hard disk, which can slow you down horrifically, as writing to hard is extremely slow compared to using RAM to keep your info in.

I even noticed in my web surfing and online gaming a solid benefit in moving from 512 megs to 784. From 784 to 1 gig of RAM had an effect, but it wasn't as noticeable. But you can still get well above 512, anyway, and be happy you've done it.

Another thing -- watch the RAM you get. I wouldn't get the ram at the 2700 speed. I like my RAM fast.

And hard drives should spin at 7200 rpm. Most these days do, but you will sometimes find prebuilt systems using 5400 rpm hard drives. Sometimes you don't write to disk for a while or read from it, but you can slow down drastically if you use less than the 7,200 rpm disks that are the current thing on the market now. They have faster ones by the way, 10,000 rpms, but they are much more expensive and not a lot of people really benefit from those. The average or even average power user doesn't have to worry about missing out by sticking with the 7200's and skipping the 10k ones.

[balkii]

Find a friend who knows how to build a computer. You could make one suitable for just poker playing very cheaply with outdated parts. OR you could build a niceish new one for like ~$300.

[Brandon J. Fuchs]

I'm a computer technician by trade, if you give me an email - webmaster@pokernoob.com - i'll be glad to give you some advice. Just built a beautiful XP 3200 machine for about 450 bucks.

[scotnt73]

[ QUOTE ]
Go with a DVD drive CD or CDRW? Currently have one computer hooked up with cable for internet but will go with hard wired router to network to new computer.

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as cheap as this stuff is nowdays id get a cdrw and a dvd player. if you have no intention of burning or using dvds then it would be a waste.

[Wahoo91]

Go with a DVD drive CD or CDRW? Currently have one computer hooked up with cable for internet but will go with hard wired router to network to new computer.

This is what you need for the above for $78 (this is a GREAT deal for this unit):

Plextor DVD/CD burner/reader (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-131-310&depa=0)

[pzhon]

Set a budget of at least $500, then let your 12-year-old shop for it online and with the Computer Shopper. Your kid will learn a lot from this experience and will have fun for hours. Just check afterwards to make sure that the monitor is included (if you don't have a spare), that the computer comes with an operating system compatible with your poker sites, and that there is enough memory (256 MB), as those are the only serious deficiencies you will find. Ask what changes your child would make with an extra $100.