New Computer ideas? Q re: upgrading video/soundcard

My parents want a new computer. They are proficient users and like playing games (they have an xbox and ps2 as well). They are looking at this system frlom MDG Canada www.mdg.ca

INTEL® PENTIUM 4 PROCESSOR 3.4GHZ WITH HT TECHNOLOGY - FREE UPGRADE TO NEW INTEL® DUAL CORE PROCESSOR $200 VALUE!!!
GENUINE MICROSOFT® WINDOWS® XP HOME - FREE UPGRADE TO XP-PRO MCE 2006
Genuine Intel® Motherboard
512MB KINGSTON® MEMORY
250GB HARD DRIVE
High Speed DVD Burner - Make your own movies
19” LCD MONITOR - FREE UPGRADE TO NEW GENERATION TFT WITH SXGA RESOLUTION
3D Audio PRO Sound and 3D Video
Genuine Microsoft Internet Keyboard & Optical Mouse
COREL® WORDPERFECT® OFFICE X3 (With built-in PDF creation, stunning multimedia slideshows, and easy full-featured email)
MICROSOFT® SOFTWARE BUNDLE (WORD, MONEY, ENCARTA...)
MICROSOFT® GAME BUNDLE (AGE OF EMPIRE III, ZOO TYCOON, FLIGHT SIMULATOR)

I am concerned about the sound and video card. I don't think they are powerful enough to run many current games. I could probably buy a new sound/video cards and upgrade it myself cheaper. Is it worth it or find something else?

 

Raingirl,

Your instincts are surely right. It sounds like they're trying to glorify onboard sound and onboard video. There are many decent onboard audio solutions out there but you'd need to know the exact specs on it. Is it Realtek, is it C-Media, does it at least support 5.1, etc., etc.

Onboard video is even more of a possible pothole. Their description offers no detail and borders on sounding cheesy. Even if you get the detail on this and it turns out that it's some half-decent integrated Intel graphics, realistically, even that's not enough to play today's games with.

It seems that that store lets you configure the systems with upgrade options. You might want to look into that for both audio and video.

Gary