If I were to build a new gaming rig...

[Arkon]

What sort of standard should I head towards...what sort of minimum specs.

My current machine is a vanilla P4 3.2GHZ, 2 GB RAM and an AGP card, GeForce 7600 GS I believe.

[Laner]

I'd point you to the current ArsTechnica Hot Rod build:

http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/guide-200803.ars/3

[Beer Goggles]

What is your budget and what can you salvage from your old rig?

[Arkon]

What is your budget and what can you salvage from your old rig?

To be honest, my budget isn't much right now.  It would likely be a few months before I were to start.  My current system would likely be passed down to my wife so no salvaging.

If I were able to build it over a few months I would think my budget would be about $1500.

[rittchard]

I like to use Cyberpower (www.cyberpowerpc.com) as a reference.  I've found that using Newegg for parts, it generally ends up pretty close just pricing the system out from them. 

I really like the 8800 GTS (which is what I currently own) and also recommend the Penryn series (latest Intel Core 2) CPU.  I chose the 2.66GHz below for its optimal price point, but going up to the 3GHz is not too much more.  You can fiddle around with motherboards but I think ASUS does a really good basic SLI ready mobo.  With this system you should easily be able to handle any game out there right now at close to max details.  Crysis may not run 100% maxxed out, but it will be close.

I put together a modest recommendation for about $1000 (no monitor):

$1017.00

CASE: ($10 off Mail-in Rebate) Raidmax Sagitta II Mid-Tower 420W Gaming Case w/ Side-Panel Window (Black Color)
CPU: (Sckt775)Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6750 CPU @ 2.66GHz 1333FSB 4MB L2 Cache 64-bit
MOTHERBOARD: Asus P5N-E nForce 650i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard
MEMORY: (Req.DDR2 MainBoard)2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (Mushkin or Major Brand)
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB 16X PCI Express (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)
HARD DRIVE: Single Hard Drive (500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
Optical Drive: (Special Price) 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
SOUND: 3D WAVE ON-BOARD 5.1 SOUND CARD

Power supply was upped to a 500W one, not sure why it didn't show up.

[Arkon]

I like to use Cyberpower (www.cyberpowerpc.com) as a reference.  I've found that using Newegg for parts, it generally ends up pretty close just pricing the system out from them. 

I really like the 8800 GTS (which is what I currently own) and also recommend the Penryn series (latest Intel Core 2) CPU.  I chose the 2.66GHz below for its optimal price point, but going up to the 3GHz is not too much more.  You can fiddle around with motherboards but I think ASUS does a really good basic SLI ready mobo.  With this system you should easily be able to handle any game out there right now at close to max details.  Crysis may not run 100% maxxed out, but it will be close.

I put together a modest recommendation for about $1000 (no monitor):

$1017.00

CASE: ($10 off Mail-in Rebate) Raidmax Sagitta II Mid-Tower 420W Gaming Case w/ Side-Panel Window (Black Color)
CPU: (Sckt775)Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6750 CPU @ 2.66GHz 1333FSB 4MB L2 Cache 64-bit
MOTHERBOARD: Asus P5N-E nForce 650i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard
MEMORY: (Req.DDR2 MainBoard)2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (Mushkin or Major Brand)
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB 16X PCI Express (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)
HARD DRIVE: Single Hard Drive (500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
Optical Drive: (Special Price) 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
SOUND: 3D WAVE ON-BOARD 5.1 SOUND CARD

Power supply was upped to a 500W one, not sure why it didn't show up.

Very nice website.  It has been a long time since I built a PC for myself, my last PC I just bought a Dell.

I have always been a fan of Asus products so definately like their Motherboards.

Will have to see what sort of funds I can come up with.  I get a bonus in July from work which should be around 800 - 900 dollars that I could likely use towards a PC.

[rittchard]

Oops I actually made a mistake.  The *Penryn* Core 2 Duo chip is the E8400 - 3GHz, which I highly recommend.  Basically it's based on a better process, so it's all around a better chip for close to the same price.  Supposedly you can overclock these very well since they run cooler in general.

If you already have a monitor and can put a little more money in, another nice touch I like is to have the main system run on a fast "gamer" hard drive (Western Digital Raptor) and then put data on a second drive.  It's not extremely noticeable, but general performance (boot up included) tends to feel a bit more "zippy," for lack of a better word.  Also never hurts to have another GB or so of RAM.

[Arkon]

Oops I actually made a mistake.  The *Penryn* Core 2 Duo chip is the E8400 - 3GHz, which I highly recommend.  Basically it's based on a better process, so it's all around a better chip for close to the same price.  Supposedly you can overclock these very well since they run cooler in general.

If you already have a monitor and can put a little more money in, another nice touch I like is to have the main system run on a fast "gamer" hard drive (Western Digital Raptor) and then put data on a second drive.  It's not extremely noticeable, but general performance (boot up included) tends to feel a bit more "zippy," for lack of a better word.  Also never hurts to have another GB or so of RAM.

I do have a nice LCD, however it is not widescreen.  Of course with my current system I wouldn't be able to handle the resolution anyways so I never bothered upgrading to widescreen.

[Sarkus]

I've been watching the upgrade threads for a few months now, and the consensus seems to be that you can get Dell deals that pretty darn close to what it costs to build a machine.

As for Cyberpower, they seem to have a hit or miss reputation.

[Arkon]

I may end up just looking at Dell again, I actually get a discount I think with them since I am a FedEx Employee.

[morlac]

Spent around $840(after 50 rebate) shipped for a Cyberpower with

2 gigs ram
E8400
350 gig HD
MSI NX8800GTS 320M OC RT + The Witcher
Vista prem.

Got it from Newegg  of all places, so you might want to check there.

Came with absolutley no extra junk installed....nothing.

I did order the video card separate(it came with a 8500), but it's included in my above price(originally 729.99 +ship).   I wont win any speed contest but with my limited budget I couldn't be happier coming from an AMD 2600 agp.  The memory was cheapish (patriot) but will replace/increase next year when I get a newer video card.

[Sarkus]

I just ordered a Dell special deal.  Slickdeals.com seems pretty good at finding Dell's best values.

Buying the video card seperately, I ended up with this:

Q6600 Processor
4 GB DDR2/800 Ram
500GB HDD
Vista Home
9600 GT (512m) videocard

. . . all for $750 including tax and shipping.