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Welcome Gabe

Take a look at this to get you started Posting Guide
That will help everyone to give you better advice on your build spec.

Heres a system at $2,071 that may give you a good jump off point until we can see what your usage will be.

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Hi, sorry for the lack of info on what I wanted to do with it. I like to play games mostly and would definitely like to play the best games out there with perfect performance on at least pretty good graphics settings, but I also really want a machine which is super reliable and durable and won't break down on me. I don't need the very top of the line computer, just "the best bang for my buck" that can still get the job done.

Also, I mostly prefer RTS games if that helps at all (I think they usually have lower graphics demands than FPS's like Crysis but I'm not really sure). If you need an example I like Medieval 2 total war and I'm looking forward to Empire Total War and Spore as well, so something which could run those games with peak performance would be great.

thanks again for all the help

p.s. I just heard that over-clocking can mess up your computer's reliability and life-span but I could be totally wrong and I'm sure DS knows how to install some really good overclocks so I'd also like some advice on that field.

I like !ender's configuration.

I just want XP pro instead of Vista and I also need speakers and I'm thinking about the 'Microsoft Multimedia Desktop 2.0 (Multimedia Keyboard + Optical Wheel Mouse)' for $30 extra. Is that a decent mouse and keyboard? Any advice on these decisions would be much appreciated.

Also, if I overclock, what should I overclock and what shouldn't I overclock?

And is the stage 3 cooling really loud, I heard that somewhere. I can deal with some noise but not if it's over the top loud.

Also, how do I know which video card to pick, is the one he chose the right choice for this system?

Is an upgrade to a 500 GB hard drive from !ender's suggested 320 worth it? It's only $25 extra.

Finally, what about the 'tweak the services on the OS' option?

is there a reason you want xp over vista? keep in mind that MS produced its last copies of XP not long ago, id say its time to look ahead unless you have a very specific need that requires xp.

as far as the video card, you will be best to get a final opinion from a dso tech.

500->320, definately

tweaking the OS means that they will configure everything they can to allow your OS to run the minimum required services/processes... allowing you the best overall performance. this is something you can definately do on your own if you are willing. its added as an option for convenience

im very much a fanboi of the quads, can never have too much power, and everyone minimizes during games these days. its worth it imo

g0 - its a revision of intels chips to allow for more aggressive overclocks

motherboard - the mobo is literally the last thing you should pick. only when you have everything else in line can you decide which mobo is best for you. i personally prefer asus but if you arent an overclocking enthusiast or using crossfire the difference is pretty negligible