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Old 11-11-2006, 05:54 PM   #13
Callum
Symbol of Cyric
 

Join Date: October 21, 2004
Location: Vancouver, BC
Age: 36
Posts: 1,143
Yeah, the FX processors are hard for me to imagine as mid-range! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

But regardless, Intel's Core 2 Duo is a much better choice right now. My recommended system would be:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6300: $183.50 (The Intel Core 2 Duo processors are simply the best value for money at the moment, and this is the low end chip.)
Motherboard: ASUS P5B Motherboard: $134.99 (ASUS are an excellent motherboard brand, and this board shouldn't let you down. It will also allow you to upgrade to Quad Core, should you wish to do that at some point in the future.)
RAM: Corsair 2 x 1GB DDR2 RAM: $279 (Corsair is an excellent brand of memory, and 2 GB is a good amount of RAM to have. Games such as Battlefield 2, or 2142, really need the extra RAM)
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 7900 GT: $239.99 (A very good card, that I own myself. Won't do you wrong, though it isn't too expensive.)
Power Supply: Enermax Liberty 400W: $74.99 (It's very important that you don't scrimp on the power supply. Make sure you get a good brand (and Enermax is excellent), because a cheap power supply won't be able to support the system, and can damage the components.)
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 120GB: $54.99 (The hard drive doesn't matter too much, just make sure you buy from a reputable brand (such as Seagate, Western Digital, Hitachi, etc))
DVD Burner: Lite-On DVD +/- RW Burner: $29.99 (The DVD drive doesn't matter so much, so go for the cheapest. They all do the same thing more or less.)
Case: Cooler Master Centurion 5: $44.99 (The case is mainly a matter of which one you like, but Cooler Master is a good brand, the case is high quality and well made.)

Total: $1042.44

You may also want to get a dedicated sound card, such as the Creative X-Fi for $92.99. It is an improvement over onboard sound, but the sound on this board should do you pretty well. Up to you.

I would also advice staying away from the Western Digital Raptors, as they are noisy, expensive, and not much faster than a normal drive. Take it from someone who was tempted into buying one himself

Another option may be to get the new GeForce 8800 GTX video card. It's incredibly expensive, at $659.99, but it is a DirectX 10 card... it blows everything else out of the water, and is currently processor limited. It's a large investment, but if you buy this card, you won't need another one for a good long while, and with Windows Vista, and DirectX 10 coming, and games to use them, it may be worthwhile, if you can afford it. If you do go for this, you'd need a heftier power supply though, which would further bump costs.

In total, this option would cost around $500 more, but you'd be assured the graphics would be able to take anything you throw at them for a good long time.

[ 11-11-2006, 06:00 PM: Message edited by: Callum ]
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