Building New PC for a 'Guy' .. Advice Wanted

[Wyld]

This is not your usual 'build a PC' thread.

I was given a PC to 'fix' by an old business client. Actually, they just wanted the password reset on the machine because they forgot it. It's an old Windows XP system, so it wasn't too hard to get in and address that. But here's the kicker .. it's for a 17 year old African refugee. His dad has returned to his homeland and 'run off' with someone, leaving the kids and mother here in AU. Eldest son is doing what eldest sons do.

Suboptimal at best.

So anyway, I open the machine up thinking, least I can do is add in a HD and maybe some more RAM. And DEAR GODS this machine is old. Tried to put in 2G of old RAM here (it comes sporting a whole 256M) and no dice, motherboard doesn't recognise it. I can't put in the OLDEST video card I have lying around. This thing has CD drives .. not CDRs or CDRWs ..

So, screw that. That dog won't hunt, Monsignor.

I'm building a replacement PC for him. Pulling apart some various machines I have here for him. Q6600 with a real cooler, 4G RAM, 1T of SATA2 HDs, DVDRW, nvidia video card. Out with WinXP (with no service packs) and in with Win7, Office 2007 and every spare game from all the humble bundles I've purchased.

The reason for the post? I want your recommendations on what else to install. Games, apps, educational, give me your ideas. The only downside is, no internet needed things. There's no connection at his place, so it needs to be easily workable without one.

Your ideas and inspiration. Give them to me.

[SuBw00FeR]

For games, probably GoG, all DRM free meaning no internet connection required, has a free section too. (Don't know if you were after free games or not)

http://www.gog.com/en/catalogue/?price=free

Educational wise wouldn't really know sorry, apps not really sure either sorry. ;(

[nudge]

How much money you wanting to drop on this. The biggest drawback he has as far as I can see is no internet connection. From the story I gather that he is doing it tough with no means of signing up to any plans etc. So how about a prepaid wireless dongle. Set it up so you pay the initial outlay for the connection and he can buy recharge cards whenever he can afford it?

[Matty]

I have a 5970 sitting on my desk collecting dust you can use.

Some games off steam? Only problem is you will need to download before it is given to him.
Actually subwoofer's idea is better. Gog = easier

Do we need to be mindful of the games? I have a few refugee friends who probably wouldn't really like certain violent video games.

[Wyld]

I'm keeping it as "low impact" as possible. I'm thinking http://www.openttd.org/en/ and the like ..

On the old PC, there's a few phonic apps, so learning English is a biggie .. will be reviewing what's out there for that ..

Minecraft would be awesome, except, a non-network means a sad message when playing. Damn annoying that. I could hack the source, mind you .. when Notch is back online, I'll tweet him and ask about it

[Wyld]

I have a 5970 sitting on my desk collecting dust you can use.

Better than the video card I have here .. PM me mate

[=beast=]

wyld i have so much spare computer **** gathering dust. I shall have a look through it all tomorrow and see what iv got and what still works.

off the top of my head, iv got like 4GB of DDR2 hanging about. possibly a mother board and CPU, cant remember what. core 2 duo something

[Fireslide]

Typing of the Dead.

All I can think of right now.

[Bek]

Any idea what games he would like? Shame portal would require steam, unless you dl it / setup steam in offline mode beforehand. Could get things like Morrowind, Neverwinter Nights, although they might be a bit text heavy. Other RPG's I can think of might be too adult for this situation, since it's a gift to a minor... What about Penumbra or Amnesia? Puzzles, horror, drm free from frictionalgames site.. Mirrors Edge? Does have guns in it though, plus not sure if you can get it anywhere but steam. Legend of Grimrock? Actually this might be a good one since it's not too intricate / easier to pickup PLUS the editor will be out sometime in the near future and it looks to have a fairly straightforward gui and lua for scripting.

Could also get the Elder scrolls construction set if you go with TES games, or the UDK + some of the video tutorials. I think GON hosts some actually. If not I could find you a tutorial pack somewhere.

Python + documentation?

Blender 3d + tutorials might be a good one too actually - 3d modelling program, even makes a great open source video editor. Once again with no net you'd want a lot of tutorials, text or video downloaded.

[Matty]

Mirrors Edge? Does have guns in it though, plus not sure if you can get it anywhere but steam.

I have a hard copy of this game I can donate to the cause. Would it be suitable?