Lasereth

WASTE! No processor on the market comes with a stock external FSB of over 200 MHz (PC3200). There's no reason to buy faster RAM than your processor and there's no reason to buy a motherboard that supports better. Processors with a higher FSB than 200 MHz are gonna come out, but the processor you buy now is gonna last a really fucking long time.

I agree with Blztkrieg. Dump a hefty sum in the videocard. I suggest a GeForce 6800 GT as well. eVGA has one on NewEgg that goes on sale for $385 sometimes. This is an astronomical deal. I'd buy it ASAP. You're spending a lot of money on this card, but it's worth it twice over.

Processor? That 3.0 Prescott would be a good choice. Another good choice would be the Athlon 64 3200+ (1 MB version). This is basically a processor made for gaming. It's a few dollars more and will be a good choice since it's based on Socket 754 (which isn't being replaced like Intel's Socket 478). The processor would be about $215.

For RAM, I wouldn't spend a lot on super high-quality RAM unless you're gonna overclock. Corsair Value RAM will do fine. Buy 1 GB of PC3200. That'd be only $160.

I'd choose the Asus K8V motherboard. There aren't many motherboards out for Athlon 64 that simply dominate (like the Athlon XP series), so this would be an ideal choice. It's $100 and has onboard everything (except for video, which ya don't need).

You can buy a really expensive hard drive if ya want, but it won't really improve gaming performance at all. If you do want a super fast HDD, I gotta recommend Western Digital's Raptor drives as well. A 74 GB Raptor is about $180. If you want a normal EIDE HDD, they're about $65 for a normal 80 GB drive.

You won't *need* a new heatsink with the processor, but you'll probably *want* one. I suggest any of Thermaltake or Thermalright's Socket 754 offerings. I'd go with a Thermaltake Venus 12 or a Silent Boost if you can find one. That'd be around $35.

Case and PSU...just buy a case ya like. The PSU needs to be good, however! I'd go with an Enermax, Antec, or Sparkle PSU. Make sure they're 350w or higher. I can't recommend Enermax PSU's enough...especially the noisetaker series. They're simply awesome, especially for $55.

Make sure to buy some rounded ribbon cables for the hard drive, CD-ROM, floppy, etc. They look cool and improve airflow.

This PC is around $1,200. If you shave off the Raptor HDD, you can save $100. You could also downgrade the videocard even though it's the best deal. Another $100 can be saved if you bought an Athlon XP 3200+ instead of the Athlon 64. The XP 3200+ would give all ya need in gaming for a couple of years from now at least.

Hope this helped! If you have any more questions feel free to ask.

-Lasereth

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"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert