what is the best pc out there? a nice balance of budget and gaming power would be nice...?
464945
For $1000, you could custom build a sweet system on your own. Some nice places to get the parts are, tigerdirect.com, newegg.com, zipzoomfly.com, and pricewatch.com. If you have never built one before, then get Building PCs for dummies. It's easier than you think. other than that, if you want a prebuilt gaming system, then the websites I mentioned will have them too, as well as Dell, HP/Compaq, and other mainstream PC brands.
979390
First thing we would need to know - How much money are you willing to spend?\n\nI wouldn't worry about dual core's too much.  Sure they are extremely powerful but for just playing games you can get by just fine with just one processor.\n\nFor a gaming PC, you'll want:\n- Plenty of RAM.  Go for 2GB I'd say.\n- A graphics card with plenty of memory.\n- A good sound card.  5.1 surround sound at least\n- A good speed processor\n- A large hard drive.  Modern games can take up several GB's of space.\n\n\nI have a PC with a 3Ghz processor, 1GB of ram and a 512MB graphics card.  It can still handle most modern games (e.g. HL2) even though it's 2 years old.  So don't go too overboard :)
1076774
get an alienware.\n\nhttp://www.alienware.com/product_pages/desktop_all_default.aspx\n\nany of their systems will be suitable for your gaming needs
391873
alienware, they're the best computers out there.\nwww.alienware.com
419850
probably the best out there would be the Nvidia 7900GTX, but they are about $600 a piece, and if you want SLI then of course you will need two. The 7900GT is $400, and the 7800 is pretty close in capability, although I'm not sure of the cost (probably around $300). Even the 6800 series is still damn good, and more affordable, at around $200-$250. Make sure you have PCI-Express slots available, though. (if your computer is new you should be fine) You could even run quad SLI with four cards if you can afford it, but I don't think it's worth losing the extra slots. Btw, Nvidia cards and Athlon processors are a good combo for gaming these days.
1108350
Check out frozencpu.com; u can get a few good parts from them, otherwise either buy a prepackaged computer or ask a nerdy friend.... Always look at the newest technology; Pentium 4, Lanparty motherboard, ATA2 Harddrive, Windows Vista, ATI graphics card
1152989
amd is best for games and graphically intensive programs right now.\nremember things change fast.
929148
Look to your local PC stores and get one built - you'll be able to get it built to best suit your needs and it will save you a bundle. You don't need to be some sort of computer expert - they should take however much time is needed to sit down with you and go through all your options. \n\nDoing this will give you a computer to rival anything off the shelf, it will no be weighed down with a whole heap of proprietary/3rd party software which you'll never use (and will slow down most systems anyhow), and will save on the wallet, which means you'll be able to afford to get the bells and whistles which otherwise would have been out of your price-range.\n\nOh, and just a tip in regards to Vista - get the full copy on disc. Will save a lot of headaches in the future if you ever have to reformat your system
201763
Now we are talking, AMD 64 Overclocked, Heat exchanger cooling a Motherboard that will hold 4GB ram, SATA twin HDs one to hold your OS one to hold Virtual Drive for games GTX OC GE Force Nvidia 7800 Graphics Card PCI-E, 600w PSU, System blowers all round and a 24inch W/S TFT (that's extreme gaming)\nSorry got carried away there, cost about £2500-£3000 but what a beast to build, my Dream.
1120809
the processor is REALLY slow, screen tiny, video card is junk, all you can do on it is go on the internet, music, but not at the same time....homework. the Ram is good, but i would just buy a desktop that's a lot better for a little more.\naround 600 bucks you can get a good one that can run music and the internet well, but games will be ok...
712119
Wow, 3000 to 4000 is quite a lot. I would suggest gaming power houses boutique computer such as Alienware, Voodoo, or other computers like that. If you're in the market for one, I would suggest a Mac Pro as well, but Macs are not for everyone.
991274
if it is your budget go for it. nothing wrong with more power. make sure you build it with a 64 bit CPU.
565474
Depends on how much money you are talking.\nFor video get a 7XXX series Nvidia card such as a 7900GT\n2 Gigs of RAM preferable. PC3200 is the most common. If you plan to overclock get PC3500 or higher.\nDual core AMD processor \nASUS A8N-SLI board is good. Also might check into DFI board if you like overclocking\nA really good hard drive I have found is the 320GB WD SATAII drive with 16MB cache. Very fast transfer rates..almost as much as the WD Raptor.\nMake sure you get at least a 450W power suply. Supporting SATA plugs and PCI-E plugs also.\n\nCheck out http://www.newegg.com for good prices and tons of user review.\nhttp://www.tomshardware.com for other reviews\n\nJust do your homework. You will find which components are the best rated for gaming and most often used. It might take a month or so at the most to research,,not a couple of years lol. COnsidering that a computer is considered "obsolete" in a year or two, thats silly.\n\nIf you do end up getting store made, http://www.cyberpowerpc.com has some nice configurations
859664
I would recommend this CPU:http://www.techfever.co.uk/products.asp?partno=8323&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=pricegrabber and this motherboard:http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=470940&source=pricegrabber\nThe Core 2 Duos are the best out right now, and ASUS motherboards are high quality motherboards.
58938
Dell, http://www.dell.com\nAlienware, http://www.alienware.com/\nHP http://www.hp.com/\nWidow PC, http://www.widowpc.com/\nGateway, http://www.gateway.com/\n\nAnd the list goes on.  If you are looking for a gaming PC or the most customization possible, Alienware and Widow PC are your best bets.\n\nttoommaa has a good point, if you have the know how you will be more satisfied with a PC that you build yourself as you can customize every component going into it.\n\nI like Tigerdirect, http://www.tigerdirect.com and Newegg, http://www.newegg.com/
873009
Well building it yourself would be a good choice, other than that, I would say try here:http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/ you should be able to configure something that will play games at high quality, maybe not the highest quality for only $1200, but still at high quality.  If you want further help on building your own, or on what parts to put into a prebuilt one, give me an email, it is in my profile.
890757
Compaq is quite good. The ideal one would be an Intel Celeron though-great comp!