Here are some good specs for a low end pc, that is sure to play basic games, and some more advanced ones aswell. I have somthing near these specs and I am able to play nearly every game. It costed around $500 dollars (with software included).
- Processor Intel Pentium 4 with a lower end clock speed, such as 2.0GHZ to 2.4GHZ
- Memory 128MB DDR RAM Is acceptable. 512MB or higher is probably way higher then what you need, but i highly suggest pushing for 256MB.
- Graphics Card NVidia GeForce or ATI Radeon. Make sure the card you get is AGP based. Even the lower makes of those models i suggested will work fine on most games, but not all of them work on new games.
- Sound Card Settle with a basic sound card. Unless you want surround sound, an onboard sound card will get you just as good sound quality as any other.
- Operating System If you are looking for cheap, get Windows 2000 edition. However i highly recommend you get Windows XP Home Edition at minimum. If you can, borrow professional edition off a friend, because the professional edition serial codes can be used multiple times.
If you want a higher end system that is able to play any game, and is extremly fast, try the specs below. They will suit anyone perfectly but can get rather expensive.
- Processor Intel Pentium 4 with a clock speed of at least 2.6GHZ. I highly suggest Hyper Threading. Also try to go for the Extreme Edition as well, as long as you get a good coolant system such as a pure copper heatsink or a water coolant system.
- Memory 512MB DDR RAM will do nicely, but you could probably get up to 2GB for bigger games.
- Graphics Card NVidia GeForce 6800 or higher. Dual GPU and TNL support is a must. Cards that require external power (look for a white plastic port on the backside of the card) are usually higher clock and better preformance cards.
- Sound Card Creative brand cards with surround sound and dolby digital support.
- Operating System At least Windows XP Professional. You could also upgrade to Windows 2003 edition.
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