$850 to $1000 gaming PC build:
This is the budget most people will be building around. Here we can play around a bit and build a very good computer with this budget. Please remember when leaving feedback that this is the non-overclocker's $750 to $1000 build. This is a gaming PC and will therefore be built around the GPU.
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115037
The E8400 is the first in Intel's new line up of 45nm CPUs. It comes with 2MB more L2 cache than the 65nm Conroes, is more energy efficient, and runs cooler.
Motherboard: BIOSTAR TForce TP45HP LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138123
This is Intel's new "mainstream" chipset. Suprisingly, it often provides better performance than the more expensive X38/X48 boards. But the biggest advantage is the 8x + 8x PCI-E 2.0 CrossfireX support, which will provide a great upgrade path in the future.
Memory: WINTEC AMPX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820161183
4GB will bring a nice boost in responsiveness when running Vista, and during multitasking. No more page file, yay! And with DDR2 being so cheap, why not?
PSU: OCZ StealthXStream OCZ600SXS ATX12V / EPS12V 600W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341010
This build will include a decent GPU and this will require a power supply capable of powering it. OCZ PSUs are manufactured by the FSP Group who are a very reputable brand. The PSU features over 50A spread over quad 12V rails and an 80%+ efficiency rating.
HDD: Here it is entirely up to the user's storage requirements, there are a few things to look out for though:
-SATA 3.0GB/s interface. This is the new interface standard and is a lot faster than the older PATA/IDE connection.
-Brand, I recommend either Western Digital, Samsung, or Seagate hard drives.
-Cache, even with a low capacity hard drive, I would recommend at least a 16MB cache for a build like this.
As for the space, that is entirely dependant on the user's requirements.
Here is just one small suggestion:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148288
A Raptor drive is not really an option with this budget and is really not worth the extra cost.
Disk drive: LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106263
There is no need to change anything here and we can use the same drive as the low-cost build.
Case: COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119137
The RC-690 has a really nice layout, with lots of ventilation and great features, I've heard many good things about this case and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.
GPU: MSI R4850-T2D512 Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127359
ATI is back!! This card crushes all of it's surrounding competitors including the 9800GTX. It is even faster than the $400 GTX 260 in some game engines (Unreal 3), for $199, this is a seriously fast card. And it is only a single slot card, requiring only one 6 pin PCI-E connector.
Price: (at time of writing, and with the suggested HDD)
TOTAL: $881. Price including rebates: $856
Other options: For those who have $1000 to spend, there is the CrossfireX capable P45 to exploit. $400 will buy you a pair of HD 4850s which will be extremely useful at resolutions of 1920x1200 and above. If you game at $1280x1024 or 1600x1200 the one HD 4850 will be more than sufficient.
Another option which will help you like to do a bit of video editing is Intel's Core 2 Quad Q6600:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115017 For gaming it is pointless to spend the extra money as hardly any games can take advantage of quads, but for video editing and encoding you will really see the benefits.
For XP owners: For people who are going to be running XP on this build, 4GB of RAM is not necessary, 2GB will be fine with XP.
__________________