kidwolf909

Here's the problem. Places like this, although cool and fun for a little while, soon begin to lose a decent amount of money and really start to bring all the freakiest people you'll ever see out of the woodwork.

I'm not trying to offend anybody, but a few months ago a place like this opened up around here called Pulse and at first, it was the ****! My friends and I used to go up there and play CS:S and COD before I built my sig rig and it was relatively cheap and it was a lot of fun. However, after about 5 months of being open, millions of weird-ass kids started showing up to the place, trashing it on a daily basis. IT turned from an internet gaming hangout to a goth/stoner hangout which made no profit. The place now shuts down on a regular basis because they don't have enough money to upgrade their PC's from their X850's/P4's they launched with and not many people want to spend $ just to play outdated games.

The major thing is, to do something like this takes A LOT of money to get going and they have a tendancy to lose money due to hardware failure, power consumption, broken mice/keyboards, you name it. I'm just warning you now, you'll be lucky to get out of it what you put into it, if that.

But good luck! lol, it's a neat idea, I just wish it worked out better.

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Sideburns

My biggest suggestion? Start smaller!

50 computers? that's way too many. Start out with MAYBE 20. That should be good enough...cause 50 computers is a huge investment for somethign that'll lose value and is probably more than necessary starting up.

pablo420

It's ok let him go bankrupt if he wants to go with 50 PCs. Get only about 20. Use sturdy cases, and long lasting PSU's. Don't get High End GPU's for ALL the PC's. Charge extra for the higher end PC's.
*I better get some kind of shares for this*

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Emmanuel

Hey, CHICAGO IL, finally, some people from the hood lol. For power, consider at least 500 W used per PC, minimum. And, buy a C2D 6600, and a nVidia 7900 or so, people will come to play anyway, not to put all the graphics on high.

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Portable gaming FTW!!

kidwolf909

I agree with Pablo. You should make exclusive sections for the hardcore gamers that demand the best PC's that are like locked glass cubicles or something. That would be the best way to do it. Then just put 7900GS's or something like that in all the other PC's...

Or have a 3-step PC range. Like PD/7600GT, E4300/7900GS, X6800/QX6700/8800GTS/X. Only a few of those top babies though, as they will be muuuuuucho deniro.

And I think 20 is a good number - 10 1st step, 6 second step, 4 top end.

Good ideas there...

EDIT: Besides, you know what they say, when things are in high demand (20 precious gaming rigs), then you can charge alllllll that you want!

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pablo420

That is 101% true. I went to a Internet Cafe/Gaming "Cafe" and that placed was just ghetto. The whole place smelled like cigarettes and the mice sucked. The Keyboards were also in bad condition. The graphics were outdated, the add on accessories were bad. They only sold energy geek drinks (ie; Monster, Rockstar, etc.) Un-needed energy for "gamers". The bathrooms were 1 room only. I can go on and on. That is the 1st and last time I go to one of those places. If you want to start one of these places, go ahead. You should make it into a Starbucks kind of thing instead. But consider that many people today do have Computers and Internet is now mainstream. So don't expect too much from it.

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UberN00B

wow, thats alot of computers dude. perhaps you should downsize alittle.

When you say you want the highest end computer parts, this isnt going to happen. Why? The money you invest in all of the computers will probably not be paid back for a VERY long time.

Im assuming 10 Bucks for 4 Hours sounds resonable. You spend, lets say 2000 on what you described earlier (just an estimate) on each rig, with the cost of POWER, GAMES, and LABOUR. it will take you about 800 Hours (33.33 Days if you play NON stop) to make back that money, and thats if someone is playing non-stop, plus the continuing cost of energy and new games. You may want to skimp on the rigs alittle, they just seem overkill.

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RonindeBeatrice

pablo's got some great ideas when he isn't ranting

The PSU's and cases should be of the most absurd quality.

Regarding other hardware decisions, just buy the hardware that's right on the cusp of the performance/dollar bell. That'll ensure you're not spending too much on hardware or buying stuff that'll be outdated before paid off. This means, no RAID setups, forget about SLI (it's never really worth it), and stock cooling/ clocking (stuff that doesn't overclock is hella cheaper). You'll get only slightly less than bleeding edge performance and you'll save a mighty dollar.

As for the monitors I suggest 22" widescreen flat panels. They're very cost effective and your customers will know you love them. Sceptre has a great 22" flat panel right now to give you an idea of what I'm talking about, of course everyone will have new units by early summer.


Need a skilled net security, domain admin with mad hardware skills?
I'm only $45,000 a year.


Edit: (I wanted to draw one of these plans for myself for implementation in the tourist happy beaches of NC, the summer months would be killer.)

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Emmanuel

Ya 50 is a lot, 20 is a good number. And make a policy "no smoking" and "break hardware, pay for it"

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Portable gaming FTW!!

BRISKbaby

First let me say go with it. The hardest thing is to try something that may fail.

Second I'd say go with C2D+Vista+DX10 cards if possible. Right now it won't benefit you much but you'll have the market cornered on DX10 for a while. If you just buy 939 mobos with dx9 cards you'll have to update by next year. Also I'd have a "Buy this computer!" program. That way you can make a buck off of selling the setup rigs. Then you can just use that money to buy a newer computer. A lot of people that want to play games do not have the knowhow to build it!

Wait until late May/June and buy everything at once. That should give you enough time to assemble and RMA if need be.

Good luck!
~BRISK

EDIT: He's starting up in June/July. The C2D will have dropped in price by then. Most of you will have quad core with DX10 cards in SLI or CF by then! He's not building this today, just a thought.

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