[Whirlwind]

First off, I think I may be posting this in the wrong section, but i am not really sure....Mods please feel free to move this thread if needed....thank you.

My wife and I are talking about moving and opening up a Lan Center....something with about 8-10 PC's.

My first question is, about how much would I have to spend on each PC for them to run most of the modern games? $1000 maybe, not including the monitor?

Also, does anybody here own a center like this or have any experience with one?...If anybody does I would love to hear your comments.

We would be starting from ground zero, and any and all input would be so greatly appreciated.

I am some what computer savy and can build the pc's my self.

Anybody know of any good website about this sort of stuff....maybe this is even a bad idea, but I thought it would be a good thing for me and my son to get into along with my wife.

I guess I really have no idea where to start and I am looking for any help and guidance....Thanks for any help.

[Yamikotai]

$1000 dollars might be a bit of a high estimate; $800 perhaps. All you really need is i7 with a cheap mobo and a decent GPU.

But other than that, I can't help

[Spit-wad]

I suggest having at least 10 computers to allow the possibility of a 5v5 game (for a lot of shooters or other games).

[jfenwick]

With that many computers you should be looking into a re-sellers account or something from a larger place that will give you a discount on your order. They also provide express RMAing etc... so that if things go wrong downtime of the system is minimized.

As for the actual setup...I know nothing about running that sort of business. Just make sure you do a feasibility study and business plan with all the details. The more prep you put in the more likely the business will succeed in the end.

[Druid]

It depends what games. You could put together some comps that will max the call of duty games easy for $600 each. I'm assuming the monitors you would get would be 1680x1050.

Edit:

Build

$189 - Cpu + mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.288963 - Phenom II x3 720 + Biostar TA790GXe
$125 - Gpu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-441-_-Product - HD 4870 512 MB (shouldn't need 1GB of VRAM until 1920x1200)
$100 - Ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231209 - 4GB G.skill PI Black (just less than a year ago this ram was $50, disgusting)
$65 - HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152100 - 750 GB 7200 rpm 32 MB Cache
$55 - PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371004 - Antec 500W
$29 - DVD RW: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106289 - Yeah
$40 - Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119115 - Cooler Master 330

Total = $603

Yeah, for like $10 you could get Cooler master 335 cases instead, but I'm just showing you what you can do with that budget. Curse that ram pricing though. It could have been even better, but it will still play all modern games on high, and even max a lot of them, like call of duty.

Edit: how come the thing didn't work where it says the part on the link?

[Whirlwind]

Do you need a third party software that is for security purpose so people are not fooling around in windows instead of gaming.......also would this software keep track of the blocks of time people would buy?

Would each person have their own profile when they sat down to start gaming, for instance ...what if a parent did not want his kid playing a MATURE title? How would that be monitored.....

[wafflehammer]

Most schools have software on them soy ou can't change anything, and if it can be charged it'll be changed back at restart

and the thing about the kid...i was say you would need a contract type deal something you aren't accountable for what games they play, and if they don't want them playing it they need to monitor it themselves