samm

First, scratch the 9800GTX+, we'd all recommend the GTX 260 instead (that you have listed too). Second, Spider seems to recommend the Samsung T220 for a reason, my suggestion 2220WM was purely arbitrary based on pricegrabber. So I'd rather put the T220 on your list. Third, add a power supply to your list. It should deliver about 500 watts of power and be of a trustworthy brand (such as Enermax, BeQuiet, Corsair, Seasonic, ...) Also, to complicate it again: I'd not go for an nVidia-based mainboard, rather chose one based on Intel P43 or P45 chipsets. Such a thing does not exist. You're mixing three things up here:1. Core i7 is a new processor by Intel and not worth getting if you're gaming and on this budget, as you'd need a very very expensive mainboard and expensive RAM for it. 2. The ATI 4870x2 is the most expensive and power hungry graphics card on the market today. It's also the fastest, but it basically consists of two graphics processors put on one card. It has all the drawbacks of a SLI-solution, except that it's on one card. Also, I thought you said you didn't want an ATI? 3. Crossfire is the ATI-equivalent of SLI. In this case, it would mean you'd have to buy two ATI 4870x2 and couple them together. You'd also have to buy a crossfire ready mainboard and a monstrous power supply. In short: Don't listen to the quoted suggestion.

You could add the Zotac Version of the graphics card just to make it a little more difficult My expectations on a monitor are probably different from most gamers, so I'm not too good on that topic either. 22" wide is the new 19" in terms of "standard gaming size". There are almost no more 21" screens with 4:3 ratio. I fired up pricegrabber to see what's on offer for what price and the Samsung 2220WM, while not the latest design, is damn inexpensive and well reviewed there. It doesn't go up to full HD resolution, but that's better for gaming anyway as you'll be able to play in its native resolution (1680 x 1050) a little easier. Just the first thing with a good brand that showed up on pricegrabber, no idea if it's really that good.

Opeth - Blackwater Park

Why should being Israeli or jewish protect from stupidity and being nazi? One doesn't become a saint just for being catholic either

It means "five hundred watts" and is the amount of power your power supply should provide. You're mixing two things up here: First, I wanted to know what you meant by "flash drive".Second, what was said about "memory sticks" meant: Take 4 gigabyte of RAM, in the form of two RAM modules (-> called "sticks") with 2 gigabyte each. I add my consensus to that. I also add my consensus to the hard drive.

Well, it's really, really old, but we had tons of fun with Need For Speed 2 SE, using cheats that transformed our cars into wheel barrows Trackmania was really fun too.

Zur did compose for IWD2 and didn't do a good job at all IMO. He did better on BG:ToB. Soule however was sublime with IWD1, for my taste much less so with his later work.So looking forward to next week, finally I'll be able to play... (However bad other things are waiting for me next week, so I'll only be able to play if I survive these *sigh*)

He doesn't get recommended a 9500GT, that was his own idea I did recommend a 9800GTX+ because he thought about 9500 SLI and didn't want ATI. Though probably even a GTX 260 would be in the budget. [edit]Yes it is, see mkreku's post. SD Nihil: There are monitors which are specified "anti-glare". I suppose that's what you're looking for. About the OS: If you already own XP Pro, it doesn't make sense going XP Home - Pro has more features than Home. The problem is, if you don't want to install your OS yourself but let Dell do it, they'll sell you a new copy of XP even if you already have one. They won't deny your wish for XP however, because I think you're not their only customer preferring XP over Vista. And while it does make sense in certain configurations to have multiple hard drives, I don't see people recommending you multiple. Gorgon: He specifically wanted a computer to run KOTOR. He claims that Vista causes trouble (which I can't verify, I'm still on XP), so it's natural to continue on XP.

The sound can come from the mainboard, not the CPU. It can then be fed into some newer graphics cards, if you want to use the speakers of your monitor, if said monitor has a so called HDMI input. But from what you write, you need not bother trying to get sound of your graphics card, because you'll use separate boxes. The bass thing is called subwoofer by the way Speaking of mainboard: The Gigabyte M61 is for AMD processors (if google tells the truth there are only M61 boards for socket AM2), also, it's about two years old. It will not work with your processor, so don't go for that mainboard! I hear the ASUS P5Q is often recommended for the newer Intels. Can anyone here confirm this? The system requirements aren't official yet. Here's what I found - you'd meet the criteria. I think the official requirement won't differ too much, Blizzard has in their games so far never used high end hardware as requirement. No, they're not all good at that. I recommend reading some reviews (check some price comparison website to dig up screens that interest you, then google for <screenname> review), or even better, check them out at a store to see for yourself. Don't forget to add a good power supply to your buy-list! It should have a brand name and about 500 W, then your definitely on the safe side. Still, this thing about the flash drive kind of feels strange: What do you mean by "flash drive"? Is it this something you can put flash cards in, write on them or read from them, and take them out again, like a floppy drive just for SD-cards or something? Or is it more like a hard drive, residing inside your computer hooked directly to the mainboard and not accessible from the outside?

Whoa, thanks Pidesco! Just seen the last episode of Firefly. Too bad the show wasn't continued. At least like this it stays varied and good Next up I think is Serenitiy.

If you're going Core 2 Duo, I'd recommend the 8-series, like the E 8400, and not the older 6-series anymore, because the latter use a bit more power while being a bit slower hertz by hertz. I'm not recommending SLI, because - unless you go very high end (say GTX 280) - you can always get the same speed for about the same money you spend on two slower graphics card, just with one more powerful graphics card, and then you don't have to worry about compatibility, inconsistent performance, microstuttering, SLI-related driver problems etc. However, I'm not the best person to talk about this, better ask Kaftan (who had SLI and thought it wasn't really rewarding iirc) or Bokishi (who has triple SLI and I think he's happy with it). So with flash drives you mean these card readers for flash cards used in digital cameras, mp3 players etc., or hard disk replacements? If you mean these card readers, be sure not to tell Dell to implement a flash drive, but a card reader of your preferred format, because the term "flash drive" could be understood as these new hard disk replacements. If you were talking about that anyway, then I'm sorry for misunderstanding

My Name Is Bruce It's out in the states, isn't it? Anyone seen it yet? I've yet to watch Buba Ho-Tep...

Yeah, I totally loathe the inclusion of dinosaurs, too. Faer

I've got the feeling I'm on his ignore-list Anyway, I'll keep trying. So: Yes, the nVidia 9500GT is leagues above the ATI 9550. In my experience, I had a lot of troubles with both nVidia and ATI drivers, and some blissful times with no problems whatsoever with cards of both of them. But if you want to stick to nVidia, that's no problem. Both have fine offers for similar prices right now. What would you need a flash drive for? SLI would allow you to couple two graphics cards for higher speed, yes. I'd definitely not recommend it to someone not too keen on fiddling with settings to find the optimal gameplay with SLI. For some games it may be counter productive anyway. Look at it that way: For the money you'd spend on a SLI-enabled motherboard and two 9500GT to couple them to a SLI system, you'd get one normal motherboard plus a 9800GTX+ that has consistently a higher speed with a lot less hassles.

$1500 are very easily enough for a PC that runs KOTOR. If KOTOR needs old hardware / drivers to run at all, it is highly likely that you won't be able to run Starcraft 2, mainly because it will be much newer than your drivers. I still think KOTOR would run with newer hardware and drivers, see Gorth's post above. Yes, the card is an nVidia. Yes, AMD processors are faster than P4. But currently, Intel's Core2Duo range is the preferred choice for most gamers, because they're in turn faster than the AMD processors.

taks: Agreed on it being suboptimal to be encouraged to have a jack-of-all-trades kind of character for main character in an CRGP, just because you can't use your companions to send forth, be it to talk, to sneak or whatever. Oh man, this sounds good :D

Would be a great idea for a chain here, too. A bit embarassing I didn't get the "put" part I trusted Dr. taks who didn't know either

I answered to your previous thread, but if these answers here work for you, all the better

Totally not! Any partymember can say any standard answer, not just what they're skilled for - that's a completely good implementation in my opinion. I'm still against the "power gaming" that is induced by this system, however

Western focused? That will throw Baten Kaitos out, unfortunately, and both Zeldas too, Tales of Symphonia as well... Soul Calibur 2 is great if you're into 1 on 1 beat'em'ups. Lost Kingdoms, if you like card battle games. Beyond good and evil, if it's not too childish in style. Ikaruga's a rather innovative side scrolling shooter that you can play with someone else. F Zero GX. Hm, that's about all I've tried out so far. Geist could probably be fun, but I got stuck at the first serious opponent (stupid hand granade throwing sonofa).

Man, ramen is soo off topic! But as I really like these cheap noodle soups as the saviour from starvation after having forgotten to eat because of work or PC gaming, I won't complain. Still, what is a ramen put?

We built a GTX 260 into my girlfriend's PC so that the new 24" will be usable more or less in its native resolution in games. How cheap those monitors have become! It was a third of the price I paid on my 19" LCD - five years ago. Anyway, the GTX is a huge card, and we had to bend the side of the hard disk cage to be able to use it. Amazingly, nothing broke and it worked right out of the box. Whew... The card's cool and relatively silent. It was $10 more expensive than the cheapest 260, but is one of the new models with 216 shading "cores" ( ), comes with a 5 year warranty and keeps the warranty when changing to a 3rd party cooler

saw them some weeks ago song rocks Jeremy Soule - Charred Dreams (from the Total Annihilation soundtrack)

Nine Inch Nails - Letting You I think the slip is a very good album with catchy melodies again. With teeth was some sort of a letdown, but things have definitely improved since

Testing microphones == testing IQ