[wildernessed]

My son is in to gaming, has an Xbox and PS2. I baited him to get all A's this year with the promise of a Xbox 360. A gaming pit opened up in town here with PC systems and Xbox 360 systems and the PC based gaming systems rock. Well, he made the all A's (motivated by gaming) and I went everywhere researching systems. Here is what I put together... Pentium D processor 940 / Dual core 3.7 GHz 800 FSB 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 RAM 512MB ATI Radeon X1900 XTX graphics card AGEIA PhysX physics accelerator card 160GB ATA 3Gb/s HD (7200RPM) w/ 8MB cache Soundblaster X-FI w/dolby digital 5.1 sound card Dual Drives 48x CD-RW and 16x DVD +/- RW double layer write 30 watt 2.1 stereo spkr with subwoofer 20 inch Ultrasharp wide screen digital flat panel monitor Logitech G5 Laser gaming mouse Logitech analog game controller and the usual other stuff. I am not a gamer, and would of like to put a AMD Athlon 64 FX in it, but it wasn't an option. It is a little forward looking so it should hold it's own for awhile, until he can upgrade it.

[Sore Feet]

If you haven't bought it yet, don't. Definitely hold out for an AMD chip - way more stable and much faster for a gaming system. I'm curious how much the PhysX card set you back? There's pretty much no game that currently supports them, but they'll be coming soon and I'd definitely consider throwing one in my tower (not specificly designed for gaming, but it holds its own). My system will hold its own for the most part though: AMD Athlon XP 3200+ 2.5GB DDR 400 Dual 200GB HDD DVD Burner CD Burner (leftover from the old system - wanted two optical drives) Wifi 10/100 Soundblaster 64 (leftover, not real concerned with the sound) ATI x550 256mb PCIe graphics 21" CRT monitor

[MCaver]

Definitely wait for the AMD chip. And on the Serial ATA hard drive, although I'd recommend getting more than 160Gb. They are relatively cheap and you can never have enough drive space IMO. You don't really need both a CD drive and a DVD drive, though. I just have a 16x DVD burner, and it can read and write both CDs and DVDs. I'd also recommend getting an NVidia graphics card because there always seem to be problems with people using ATI, at least from my experience.

[Backpacker Joe]

ASUS A8N32 SLI Delux nForce 4 MB AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800 4Gig Corsair DDR400 PC3200 (2) EVGA Geforce 256meg 7900GT in SLI (2) WD 150Gig 10,000 RPM Raptors Raid 0 DVD burner CDWR DVD Floppy Optical keyboard/mouse 20.1" Dell LCD running 12MS refresh. She's fast. No problems as of yet running a dual core processor either.

[Dayhike Mike]

I am not a gamer. I don't do much beyond browse the web, use NewsBin, WinRAR, and Nero. But I wouldn't invest in the PhysX card yet. There's just nothing that supports it, and they're terribly overpriced. Truthfully, by the time there are games that can make use of the card prices will have dropped to 1/10th of the current coinage. More than likely, if they can reduce their price and convince OEMs that people need it, their chip might be incorporated on a future graphics card or motherboard, much as we have integrated graphics, audio, and ethernet today. My systems at present: Shuttle XPC G-5690 3.0Ghz Pentium 4 w/ HT 2GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM 300GB HD 16x DL DVD-R ATI Radeon 9500 w/ 256MB Two Dell FP2001 20" LCDs Dell PowerEdge 400SC 2.8Ghz Pentium 4 w/ HT 4GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM 250GB HD 160GB HD 16x DL DVD-R 8x DL DVD-R Externally: 250GB in USB2.0 enclosure 160GB in USB2.0 enclosure 120GB in Firewire enclosure 120GB in Firewire enclosure And on the way in the mail, another 400GB drive.

[Backpacker Joe]

Michael is da storage king!

[gigamike]

Yeah, save your cash on the physics accelerator, there aren't any games to support it and I was unimpressed while testing a demo unit. Use that money for another gig of RAM (but don't go over 3 GB on a Windows system).

[wildernessed]

I limited the HD to 160, from 250, to reduce the $$$ at least it has an 8mb cache, I can replace it or add another later (the boy can, I did my part ), The Physical Graphics Accelerator card is supported by alot of games with alot more to come, I think Xbox is going to be implementing it into their coming systems and some software can accomodate it with a patch. The AMD processing speed is actually slower, but the tech guy at the "gaming pit" said that the architecture / FSB is faster making equivalent to a P4 running at 3.8 GHz. I am not a techie but I spent some considerable time visiting sites, stores, etc..., most games right now barely take advantage of 1 gigabyte of RAM and a 256mb graphics card. I think the ATA card ws more highly rated than the Nvidia (512mb), but the 512mb dual core was higher rated, the bomb, so was the 1GB Nvidia, but $$$. I think he will have more than enough hardware for Oblivion, Half Life, etc..., Also have Teacher / Student MS package with complete Word, Excel, Power Point, Publisher etc..., Thanks for your input and sharing your thoughts.

[Sore Feet]

[Sore Feet]

[Dayhike Mike]

My Dell's a server class machine. It's a rugged beast, but is absolutely whisper quiet. I bought it for $200 two years ago, then upgraded the RAM, added HDs and DVD-Rs, but all for minimal cost. It's a tricked out one-trick pony. The Shuttle? I've always loved Shuttle boxen. They're beautiful creatures, well designed and well built. I'm technologically competent and I have no regrets about either system. Your mileage may vary.

[MCaver]

[ActionBetty]

Oy games... both of my sons have xbox 360's. the older one took some of his inheritance and bought himself one and bought his little brother one just so he wouldnt touch his..HAHA. I need a wireless network now.. too many freaking routers and wires going all over my house. I think I can now sell all the other gaming systems in the house.. Im gonna be rich

[wildernessed]

http://www.ati.com/products/RadeonX1900/press.html http://www.techarray.com/video/ati_vs_nvidia__300_and_500_price_points_examined.html

[SlowWalker]