pc and vid card questions
 

i'm helping a buddy put together a new pc box for gaming, and i wanted to hear opinions on the best video card out there. also wondered if anyone knew if there was some kind of revolutionary stuff on the horizon of pc's and if maybe my buddy should wait a few months. also, if you have an opinion, please discuss the difference between simply buying a premade gaming computer and buying a box and then the vid card and ram seperate, and which is better.

thanks in advance, and sorry for the slight run-on.

Building the computer yourself will almost always result in a better machine at a better price. You'll be able to get the components you want and won't have to pay for shipping or labour. The downside, of course, is that there's no warranty if something goes wrong, but everything will have a manufacturer's warranty anyway and it's generally assumed that if you have the ability to put the thing together you can also handle troubleshooting and maintenance.

As for video cards, Lasereth maintains a thread that's stickied here that gives a rundown of the options, but the cole's notes version is that the 8800GT is the card to have at the moment, hands-down. It delivers first line performance at a mid-level price.

Martian said it perfect.

If you need videocard advice, check out my thread at the top. Make sure the system has a good enough CPU to go with the videocard though.

Oh, and there's no reason to wait. Right now CPU, videocard, and ram prices are DIRT cheap. Even if new technology does come out soon, there's still no reason to wait.