Granny needs help

Want to surprise my grandson with a computer for xmas not sure on what to build please advise. He wants a i7 920; graphic card compatible with DirectX 11(or a card he can live with until his parents can afford to upgrade); 6GB or tri-channel ram; a nice mid-size case: my budget is $1,400. PC only (His Aunt will buy him a 24 inch HD Monitor). He is a good kid (sixteen) I would really like to make him happy can't ask his advise it is a surprise for Xmas/birthday present any advise would be greatly appreciated

just initials of my real name

I've put the gun down and am backing away from the weapon.  Could you please call my mother and tell her to bring bail money?

lol I'm a DST and he is ED. (look at his name and mine)

ok well $1400 is a little low, to give him a pc that he can spend very little money on over years and keep powerful, the config comes out to $1655, I could have saved some money by using lower quality parts, but I figure spend a little more now and save your self lot of headache down the road, also I can't put in there everything he needs cause that will drive the budget very high, for example you want 6GB of ram instead of the 3GB, but that is something he can add later himself, another thing is that for a 24" for gaming its best to go with 2 video cards or one powerful one, I gave him only one, because if I add a second one the price will go to ward $2000.

so I guess the question is can you bump up the budget or is there no wiggle room in the budget?

Edited by DST4ME - 21 Nov 2009 at 10:45pm

ouch for graphic work the ram becomes even more important, so he might need the 6GB of ram.

here is what we have now, with this config there is room to grow and stay powerful down the road:

Here you go Ticket# 356018 --- Price: $1655 (To see this build click here) Price after current promotion $1655

Copy of Specifications:
Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master Elite 310
Exterior Finish: - Not Available
Trim Accents: - Not Available
Processor: Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz (Quad Core)
Motherboard: EVGA X58 LE Edition SLI (Intel X58 Chipset) (Supports SLI or CrossFire)
System Memory: 3GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified by mushkin enhanced (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 750W Corsair TX (Dual SLI Compatible)
Expansion Bay: - Not Available
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (500GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
Set 1 Raid Options: - Not Available
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 20x / CD-Writer 48x)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 896MB (Includes PhysX Technology)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 2: Noctua NH-U12P High Performance Cooler (Compatible With ONLY i7 Processors)
H20 Tube Color:- Not Available
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Red)
Enhancements: - Not Available
Chassis Mods: - Not Available
Noise Reduction: - Not Available
Boost Processor: Stage 1: Overclock the processor between 3.3GHz to 3.9GHz (Requires Air Cooling Upgrade)
Boost Video Card: - Not Available
Boost Memory: - Not Available
Boost OS: - Not Available
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-Bit Edition)
Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)
Virus Protection: - Not Available
Office: - Not Available
Benchmarking: - Not Available
Install/Test Game: - Not Available
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
External Storage: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: - No Thanks
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 5-10 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: 3 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty

Ya you know micro is good, we both agree, but I don't her to get him this pc, and then be limited to only one pci slot, that will pretty much kill any growth.

Thank you so much for your help young man, yes growth is extremely important for this build maybe his parents will come around or by next year he will be working, and can upgrade the specs a bit as needed. Just have one question with this build could he add a card that is compatible with Direct X 11 in the future?

Originally posted by bmsyko Thank you so much for your help young man, yes growth is extremely important for this build maybe his parents will come around or by next year he will be working, and can upgrade the specs a bit as needed. Just have one question with this build could he add a card that is compatible with Direct X 11 in the future?

My pleasure


with this build he can add 2 DX11 cards and a sound card and a wireless and usb/estata card. in short he can add many cards with the mobo, which is exactly why I picked it.

Edited by DST4ME - 21 Nov 2009 at 11:32pm

well first of all let me tell you that this system is a great system and he better be impressed, all its really missing is 3 more GB of ram.

second, you are getting the warranty with the over clock (OC) on the processor (CPU), with the oc on the cpu, the pc will last atleast 8 years or so, so its not an issue at all, the things you heard are about people that don't know what they are doing or they are pushing the oc way too high and killing the cpu quickly.

the OC makes a huge, huge, huge difference in the speed of the pc, difference between stock speed of 2.66GHz and oc speed of 3.7GHz is like turtle and rabbit.

getting a 1TB drive will basically make no difference in the pc speed at all, so that is not in any shape going to make up for the speed.

from 1 to 10, 10 being most important thing about a pc, and 1 being the least important thing, oc speed is a 10 and drive speed is a 2 or 3.

speed is always the most important thing no matter what you are doing.

adding drives is easy and cheap, so he can do that later if he needs it.

Originally posted by justin.kerr IC I thought ED would say somethn to do with a Syko bowel movement. DST is the guy that will actually help you picking parts and pieces out for a great machince that will fit your budget.

WOW!  Justin, you've got me pegged closer than I realized.  I digress... 

I couldn't disagree with you more.  You can't qualify him as an "artist", and you can only know what the grandmother is telling you.  You don't know to what degree of artist he is and every teenager at this age has these kinds of aspirations.  Next year it will be the car he can't do without and the next will be the girl he can't do without.  Don't defend his interest with your predisposition in selling a rig for DS.  Why do you think his parents are saying no to this? (rhetorical)

Of course a PC would help if in fact that is what he's going to settle into but, at 16 he may think he knows where he's going, but that will change with the turn of a season.  I don't know if you remember being sixteen, but I do, and I wasn't certain about anything in my life at that age.  Let him experience life, obtain some wisdom and then he can learn how to buy his own PC and appreciate that.

He's no more a graphics artist at this age than I am an astronaut at my age right now.  You're getting ready to sell an elderly lady on the concept that her grandson is going to start his career with this $1400.00 purchase.  Are you willing to bet her limited income on some pipe dream a 16 year old has?  She's getting ready to do this because she wants to make him happy.  Maybe this kid will break through into that field one day, but at 16 this kid is still popping pimples on his rear end and hoping mom doesn't catch him stealing money out of her purse on the way out the door to hang out with his friends down the street.  DST, you are not the end answer to everything here.  You have no idea of the psychology behind all of this.  Sometimes answers should not be so black and white and you need to recognize that.   

Edited by EdH63 - 22 Nov 2009 at 10:02pm

Wow what a response. Everything I know about computing I learned from my grandson and his friends. I'd like to think that we can both learn from each other. He's young and keeps me in the know and with my many years of experience I'm hoping to steer him in the right direction. You don't understand my grandson is a really Great kid! He is smart, articulate, truly a gifted artist(he has been drawing since the age of 5). I agree with some of what you say. His parents said no because there are other children in the family and they are sending him to Japan he loves anime, and he will get credits toward his education. This kid has turned some of his art into t-shirts and selling them to help raise money toward his trip as well as to buy his art supplies which can be quite costly. My wonderful grandson spent his summer in Mexico working with a ministry group (for free) helping to build houses and a school for the needy. He really is an exception teen, and there is no doubt in my mind he will be in the art world. I thought about donating the money toward his trip to Japan, but I just think if he had his own more advanced computer, his graphics would be better, he could get more done and use it for school for at least the next 4 years. His grades are excellent and he may even get a full ride scholarship to college he is that good. Some kids are lost and don't have a clue but not my grandson he is focused and determined. He will be entering college in about a year the computer is one less thing they would have to buy. Thank you for your views its food for thought and I will sleep on it. He did not ask me for the computer but he did ask his parents the one he is using now he shares with 4 other children and his parents and it is rather old and under advanced. Us grannies are suppose to spoil the kids, the parents are suppose to say no. But you make some excellent points young man. What a wonderful forum I thank you all.

Originally posted by bmsyko Wow what a response. Everything I know about computing I learned from my grandson and his friends. I'd like to think that we can both learn from each other. He's young and keeps me in the know and with my many years of experience I'm hoping to steer him in the right direction. You don't understand my grandson is a really Great kid! He is smart, articulate, truly a gifted artist(he has been drawing since the age of 5). I agree with some of what you say. His parents said no because there are other children in the family and they are sending him to Japan he loves anime, and he will get credits toward his education. This kid has turned some of his art into t-shirts and selling them to help raise money toward his trip as well as to buy his art supplies which can be quite costly. My wonderful grandson spent his summer in Mexico working with a ministry group (for free) helping to build houses and a school for the needy. He really is an exception teen, and there is no doubt in my mind he will be in the art world. I thought about donating the money toward his trip to Japan, but I just think if he had his own more advanced computer, his graphics would be better, he could get more done and use it for school for at least the next 4 years. His grades are excellent and he may even get a full ride scholarship to college he is that good. Some kids are lost and don't have a clue but not my grandson he is focused and determined. He will be entering college in about a year the computer is one less thing they would have to buy. Thank you for your views its food for thought and I will sleep on it. He did not ask me for the computer but he did ask his parents the one he is using now he shares with 4 other children and his parents and it is rather old and under advanced. Us grannies are suppose to spoil the kids, the parents are suppose to say no. But you make some excellent points young man. What a wonderful forum I thank you all.

bmsyko, we can be a passionate group here, and I'd like to think also that this forum is unique compared to many other forums out there.  Yes, it is a place where a company can sell a product and a person can get their questions answered but, it's a place that also cares.  It is not my intention to hinder DS from selling a PC to you, and it's not DST's intention to seemingly ignore some of the deeper aspects of this situation.  Rather, we are both equally concerned about your grandson's best interest an we view it from two very different perspectives.

I appreciate you clarifying what your grandson has been involved with, not that you owe me any kind of explanation, and it helps me to understand that he has a family that obviously cares about him and that he is getting opportunities to have life experiences.  I've mentored many young adults that have either had too much coddling and attention from mom and dad and they wouldn't know humility and grace from a hole in the ground or, they are overly sensitive and, because of abuse in their lives, they feel they don't deserve anything and deeply desire the attention of their parents. It is a real problem with kids these days, and left unnoticed, it can grow some pretty unhealthy adults that carry on generational problems.

After spending a couple of years on this forum with many others I can honestly say DST has the best intentions.  He is very black and white and can, at times, come across as alpha and omega, but he is extremely knowledgeable, as are many others here too, and he can be of extreme assistance in helping with hard choices made here.  I, on the other hand, approach things through a more relational perspective and stand on moral principle.  I believe we both have the same objectives in mind though and it keeps a balance here in some ways.  It boils down to how we treat each other at the end of the day. 

I hope your grandson does well in life with whatever he decides as a career.  But more over, I hope he makes the right decisions based on relationships and an understanding that we all are connected and that is what drives us first.  Your grandson has a very cool grandmother.  It's evident by your presence here and your willingness to hang around.

STAY COOL GRANDMA!    

  

Originally posted by sirsiddius I have a hard time believing you are a grandma. Maybe it's something about your diction and word choice. OMG does not sound like what most seniors would write. And all the old people I know aren't very smart around computers. my next door 70 year old neighbor seriously believes that if you don't turn on the monitor before turning on the pc then, his computer will not work.

I was kinda thinking the same thing through this whole thread.  But, who knows?

40 or 50 and already with a 16 year old grandchild...rite.

Yeah, kids having kids.  Grandmothers getting younger and younger.  Highly probable these days.

Edited by EdH63 - 23 Nov 2009 at 6:31pm

FYI I"m a 62 year old retired school teacher, thank you for thinking that seniors are old idiots, and a woman, to boot... imagine that