K, let me set this for starters, almost no one in here has a clue what they are talking about. No, building a computer is not hard. You plug the cords into the only port that they can fit into, you screw in the hard drives the only bays they can fit into... Also, lets get the name of the processor right. It's Core 2 Duo, not Duo Core, Core duo 2, nothing like that. 1) x1600 is crap. would rather an x800gto, especially for the money. 2) I don't think I saw anything about him living in Canada, does he? If so, no point in suggesting the use of ncix. My Suggestion: Look to get the Intel Core 2 Duo E'6300 Cheapest motherboard with a P965 northbridge 2x 1GB DDR2-800 OCZ or G.Skill x800gto 1x 320 GB Seagate Barracuda (sata 3.0gb/s) (or some other array of hard drives, like 1x200gb, and 1x 160gb, your pref) NEC CD/DVD R+RW. Like $30 on newegg. I always say to get that one because it's cheap, and I own one, that's how I know it's good. For a case... something along the lines of an Antec case with one of there 450W Smartpower PSUs or Truepower PSUs. You don't need a floppy, waste of money.
In your opinion, its not hard, not every1 can do it as easily as you. Every1 here has knowledge and knows what they are talking about, apparently not to you... and sure, maybe the x800gto is better, but i was just pointing out something he might like, and im sure he could have found it somewhere else that he could have ordered it from since he may or may not live in Canada.
Like $900 including shipping. You can go cheaper on some things. Maybe a smaller hard drive, 1GB of RAM (if you have to, although not smart.)
I didnt say you dont have knowledge...I was simply stating every1 here has knowledge of this and you dont think so. learn to read between the lines. And if you would take the time to look at the video card i posted, you would see that its the 512 version, not the 256.
your primary need is a new graphics card. an x300 with hyper memory realistically only has 32mb of full speed ram and uses the rest from relatively slow system memory. your CPU shouldn't be an issues and as long as you have 768mb-2GB ram you should be fine there too(althought BF2 wants 1.5-2GB ram). an x800GTO should fix the problem and the PCI-e version is $90 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16814131007 for all out assrape(this WILL require a better power supply, it sucks a lot of juice, otherwise you'll get isntability, autmoatic GPU underclocking and system restarts/crashes) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16814102007 there might be a possibility for needing a new PSU though, the lowend PSU HP includes is cutting it kinda of close http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817101513 the PUMA is a pretty damn good PSU for the cost and woudl suffice with your needs and still allow some scaleability(should be able to run a 7900GT or perhaps an x1800XT). make sure you have a PCI-e slot first though. you should(assuming the review you linked us to is correct) no, they are made for making dell(which owns alienware now) money
assuming the information you gave, you would need the PCI-e version. you install it by opening your case, popping you old card out popping the new oen in and you're done. you wouldn't even need to install new drivers in windows because it uses the same drivers as the x300. for installing a new PSU: take out the old one(remove the connections to anything it is connected to)replace it with the new one, plug in power to everything.
