gaming machine? all you need to do is buy more RAM and but a good AGP graphics card from www.newegg.com
A lot of times it can help to order from one supplier exclusivly to cut back on shipping. But yeah, your much better off building a comp from scratch considering your budget. Also, there are only a few sound card manufacturers, Creative being the best of the brood. Creative's low end sound cards aren't great, but when you get up into their higher end cards, they are better than on board sound. X-fi is a very good card, not only does it produce better sound (if you can even notice it) but it impoves your overall performance when gaming b/c it cuts back on the load of your mobo. When your ordering your parts, I suggest Newegg, they are extremely fast when shipping, and have the best customer service imo. Believe me, the last thing you want to deal with when your having an issue with a part you ordered is bad customer service. As, for a build, I suggest a c2d build. HD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16822148140 94.99 Ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16820145590 294.99 (250 after MIR) Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813131025 269.99 PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817103931 79.99 CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16819115003 319.99 Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16814130057 219.99 (199.99 after MIR) Sound Card: This is optional b/c onboard sound should be fine, it's a matter of preference to get a card. I'd say save your money and buy something else with it. Case: It's up to you, just choose one you like and run it by us before you purchase. Monitor: Go to bestbuy and buy this one if they have it on stock http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?sk...d=1149205183814 269.99 Otherwise get this one from newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16824009087 Mouse: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16826104191 45.99 Keyboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16823175103 44.99 Headphones: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16826249002 57.99 Mousepad (hard surface): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817114135 18.99 Mouspad (cloth surface): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817114455 10.35 Or you can get its big brother http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817114456 11.99 This is like one of the ultimate gaming build you can have, assuming your a gamer like me. I would hold back on getting a soundcard, believe me on board sound will be more than fine, if your like most of the population you wont notice a difference between on board sound and the x-fi. Plus it give you more money to buy a case. I think this build (when you add the case) will put your pretty darn close to 2 grand.
yeah that is a pretty good build you have there, the only thing I don't agree with is the PSU you selcted. You would really want to get into a decent PSU with modular cables, it will cut down on the clutter inside of the case which is a big help. Just go with the PSU that I suggested and you will be fine.
actually the psu is quite good. modular psu's can break very easily, you could always get cable ties or sleeves to minimize the clutter.
modular PSUs don't break that easily, and for peopel with larger cases it really doesn't matter if you know how to tie a knot. as for what i read... x1900GT>7900GS with both at stock, whn both are OCed, the diference is somewhat greater. motherboard is abit pricey, MSI powernow board for 190 is sufficient in most cases. if you're satisfied with a 400mhz FSB or perhaps somewhat higher it shoudl be fine. PSU is allright I had one myself and liked it. still recomending that enhance PSU, more amperage on the 12V raisl sexier design and cheaper.... quality is more or less compareable, same unit as used by silverstone. RAM you picked out isn't bad if it is what I think it is, Corsairs RAM with micron D9xxx ICs, for the price it isn't bad at all if max overclocking is what you desire, it's effectively the same stuff as the DDR2-1066 set.
