![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
I'm much in favor of homebuilding, but a relative has been granted $1000 for a new gaming system on the condition that it be mostly or entirely put together and warrantied by a large company. Though I've always been consulted, it's not my normal set of restrictions, and I'm not sure what to recommend - I'm not terribly familiar with the market for prebuilt gaming systems.
So what type of choices do we have? I observed this deal a few weeks ago, but it was over before he was aware of the gift.
Requirements:
*Dual core at least, quad preferred but not necessary
*Needs to be able to play Orange Box reasonably well
*Wants a new 22" screen, but probably not willing to sacrifice more than 50% of his framerate for it over a cheaper 19".
*Vista Shitty (or whatever cheap version will allow DX10+) would be nice, even if it won't be booted into terribly often (we favor 2kPro)
*Durability - in all liklihood, this thing won't be opened for years
*Decent mobo audio output
Doesn't care about:
*holywars - intel/amd/nvidia, whatever works best
*No non-factory overclocking, unfortunately.
*Looks
*BD/HDDVD
He currently has:
*Antec Sonata I
*Gigabyte K8NS (Nforce3-based) mobo which is absolutely the most irritating piece of shit ever, drivers/troubleshootingwise
*Singlecore Athlon64 3200+
*512MB PC3200 RAM (a sore spot - he managed to nuke two other dimms and destroy all but one of the DIMM slots by pressing too hard and trying to upgrade on a carpet)
*Geforce 6800
*a 17" CRT
So anything will be a pretty substantial improvement. PC expected to last at least 3 years. We're willing to wait a few weeks if required for a good deal.
So what type of choices do we have? I observed this deal a few weeks ago, but it was over before he was aware of the gift.
Requirements:
*Dual core at least, quad preferred but not necessary
*Needs to be able to play Orange Box reasonably well
*Wants a new 22" screen, but probably not willing to sacrifice more than 50% of his framerate for it over a cheaper 19".
*Vista Shitty (or whatever cheap version will allow DX10+) would be nice, even if it won't be booted into terribly often (we favor 2kPro)
*Durability - in all liklihood, this thing won't be opened for years
*Decent mobo audio output
Doesn't care about:
*holywars - intel/amd/nvidia, whatever works best
*No non-factory overclocking, unfortunately.
*Looks
*BD/HDDVD
He currently has:
*Antec Sonata I
*Gigabyte K8NS (Nforce3-based) mobo which is absolutely the most irritating piece of shit ever, drivers/troubleshootingwise
*Singlecore Athlon64 3200+
*512MB PC3200 RAM (a sore spot - he managed to nuke two other dimms and destroy all but one of the DIMM slots by pressing too hard and trying to upgrade on a carpet)
*Geforce 6800
*a 17" CRT
So anything will be a pretty substantial improvement. PC expected to last at least 3 years. We're willing to wait a few weeks if required for a good deal.
