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If you don't want to build it, you best store bought idea might be a Dell:
this one here totalled up to $1,526.00...add $180 to upgrade to the radeon 9700 pro :cool: ...
Dell Dimension 4550 Series: Pentium® 4 Processor at 2.40GHz with 533MHz system bus/ 512K L2 Cache
Memory: 512MB DDR SDRAM at 266MHz
Video Cards: New 128mb DDR ATI Radeon™ 9700 TX Graphics Card with TV-Out and DVI
Hard Drive: 80GB Ultra ATA/100 7200 RPM Hard Drive
CD or DVD Drive: 16 Max DVD-ROM
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 Digital Sound Speakers:
New Harman Kardon® HK-206
CD or DVD Burner for 2nd bay: 40x/10x/40x Max CD-RW Drive with Roxio's Easy CD Creator®
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I'm no expert, but just to give you an idea: I just bought a Dell with a Pentium 4, 2.0 Ghz, 60 Gig HD, CDRW, GeForce 4ti, 512 RAM, 17" flatscreen monitor, Ethernet card, 56K modem, Harmon Kardon speakers and subwoofer, and a printer. The whole shebang cost me $1000 even, including tax and shipping. It took a whole 5 min. to order from their website, and the rig was at my door in a week or so.
By the way, I immediately loaded up NOLF2, and it runs beautifully. Since your willing to spend a little extra dough, you could easily upgrade to a faster processor, etc.
Edit: Videodrone beat me to it. Doh!
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dont buy alienware. they are waaaaay overpriced. look around sharkyextreme.com or tomshardware.com before plunking down. if you must buy a pre-made system both falconnorthwest and voodoopc's are well worth it. i just built a brand new rigg this last week for under $800 after cannibalizing my old stuff.
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You could build a monster of a system at that price range. I'd really recommend looking at self building, if you're going to spend that much money, it strikes me as silly to throw it away on having a label on the case. The only real significant benefit to buying from one of the larger companies is warranty. Otherwise, you'll get more bang for your buck by picking and choosing each part. Up to you though...
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I bought an Alienware four+ years ago, in July 1998, and the PC was fantastic, 100% reliable, and the amount I paid ($3000 I think) allowed me to play every PC game I wanted to play until August 2002. If you don't want to build your own PC, then Alienware is the way to go - they may be slightly more expensive, but they know what they're doing.
If my current (business) PC wasn't effectively free, I would've gone back to Alienware.
As a point of interest, sans monitor, in July 1998, I spent $2800-$2900 to get:
P2 400mhz
128MB RAM
Monster 2 16mb SLI (2 Monster 2 cards working together)
Monster Sound 16mb (I think)
whatever else
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I would suggest buying a Dell because you have lots of customization options and they tend to have the lowest prices. Plus they run frequent sales. Here are some general guidelines:
CPU - as fast as you can afford
RAM - 512 MB
Hard Drive - 80 GB or bigger, 8MB buffer and 7200 RPM speed are nice
CD Burner - 32x or faster (if you even want one)
Video Card - Radeon 9700 Pro
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Why the hell was this moved? This is every bit as on-topic as the 12,000 "What TV should I buy" threads. It's getting moved back.
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If you want a pre built custom PC, the 2 places I really like are Vicious PC as a gaming rig builder and Monarch Computer as a more general PC builder...
Both can make you a good AMD based gaming rig with the 9700 Pro for around $1500... Vicious PC also has a discount going on, like 10% off their $1799 system (which is cheaper if you don't want the monitor)...
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Hmm, I'm in the market for a new pc as well, so I will check out Monatch site. I did the run with parts I want in my pc, and it came out for about $1050 for a VERY COOL machine :)
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why must people always get such big hdd's? i got by with a 4gig for years and finally caved in and got a 40gig with my new rigg. the only reason i got it was the price. and you know what? im never going to use any of it. do you guys just keep loads of games and shit on your hdd's?
heres what i bought the other week
athlon 1800 t-bred (1.5 oclocked to 2.0ghz)
thermaltake volcano 7 fan
shim
256m crucial pc2700 ddr ram (getting another 512 stick this next pay)
new case and 450W PSU (nice green alienware clone case with side acrylic window)
msi kt4 ultra mobo (gawddamn nforce boards came out 3 days after i ordered!!!)
ms internet keyboard
ms intellimouse wireless optical
windows xp home full OEM
(i cannabalized my hdd (IBM Deskstar 60gpx 40gig 7200rpm), floppy and burner (Cendyne 36/12/48) and my GForce 3 64Meg)
all this cost me $450 from newegg and i put it all together myself. the only reason you would need to spend 1200-1500 is if you dont know what you're doing, you buy a pre made system (which are normally not good for future upgrading) or you get one of those ungodly sharkyextreme "extreme" gaming riggs.
next on my list is more ram and a new video card
