Aha! This is helpful: System specs! The biggest problem is the 160W power supply; you've got room for a new video card, but even that MSI Radeon HD 5670 might tax your power supply a bit heavily (meaning it might lead to unexpected shutdowns and blue screens). That 9400GT uses about half the power of the MSI, and the MSI that user 04dcarraher recommended is probably your best bet. Personally, I'd chance it in this price range; the performance boost should be worthwhile.

• Double your memory: A-DATA 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit - $57.99, Free Shipping
• Upgrade your CPU: Intel Celeron E3300 Wolfdale 2.5GHz 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - $49.99, Free Shipping
• New graphics card MSI Radeon HD 5670 - $79.99, Free Shipping
  

Total: ~188, that leaves you enough money leftover to grab a $5 footlong for you and a friend!

Happy gaming,

Boz

When you buy high-end speakers - and I assume you are referencing complete speakers, not just drivers - you are buying:

• The drivers; quality varies dramatically, some drivers are proprietary (Polk manufactures theirs to spec, for example) and some are drivers sold to name brands who repackage them. The drivers themselves also incorporate varying degrees of common and uncommon raw materials depending on the type of magnet, voice coil, cooling, cones, and other components used in their construction. Just using press-clips versus spade-clips increases manufacturing and assembly costs.
• The cabinet, including raw materials. Various cabinets are manufactured using different materials, with some plastics, fiberglass, and woods being more and less expensive.
• Engineering; bass reflex cabinets are relatively simple, but when you get into bandpass and transmission line enclosures you have to start doing some serious calculations and testing. Speaker building is as much art as science. That's just the enclosure, designing the crossover, driver location and selection, and various other factors also requires attention to detail. Bose 901's were amazing in their day (early 1970's, I believe; before my time) because they had vastly superior engineering.
• Assembly; after all, the speakers don't put themselves together, and high-end speakers are often hand-assembled since the customer base is smaller.
• Distribution, including delivery and inventory fees.
• Marketing; it's how you find out the company and it's speakers exist.
• Proprietary technology; some speaker makers do have patents, and you pay for exclusivity
• Brand; sometimes you pay for the name. Monster Cable knows this all too well.

Most people do not want to build their own speakers. Heck, I want to build my own, but with three kids and a job finding the time is a chore unto itself! So you're paying for a lot of conveniences.

Boz

I stand by what I said earlier however if you really need a PC for $200.. sell the 9400 and get this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856119023

Tezcatlipoca666

Good luck,

Boz

...I noticed the intel i5 cpu on the acer and it looks better. However, I think the intel is dual core on the acer. The HP desktop seems to have a quad core cpu, but I'm not sure if having a quad core means it will be better for gaming. I also heard HP is the better brand for desktops...Ikarii_

mm

another option would be to try and find a used core 2 extreme occassionally you find one in good condition for sub 150

and id personnaly sell you my old core 2 quad for 100 but i already sold it for $110 :S its now in the hands of a new happy owner

ionusX

Boz

I thought about that too but my cpu for example still sells for close to $200. For double the price I could get a 2500k/p67 combo that would last me 6 years. If i could get a CPU for $100 then it would be a different story.rikimaru93

I'm just trying to save you a few bucks since you've got a nice mobo already, and while a "slower" processor might seem like a downgrade, the difference between CPUs makes less and less of a difference in most games, so the move is going to feel more lateral in the real-world. You'd be hard-pressed to do better than what ionusX is recommending from a value standpoint if you go the full-replacement route (and it's what I'd pick up if I were building a new PC, frankly), but I don't see it being a substantial improvement over an $80-$100 replacement CPU for your existing mobo.

Good luck!

Boz

• What is your budget?
• What games are you playing?
• How comfortable are you with making modifications to the computer (e.g. taking the side off to swap the video card, installing drivers, putting in memory, etc.)?

Good luck,

Boz

I agree with you but like I said my CPU is having problems. I can no longer maintain an OC so I have to run it at stock speeds and even then its not stable.rikimaru93

@ironwarrior2

Please advise at what distance you will normally be watching television, and with what devices you will be using your TV (PS3, Wii, PC, cable, etc). This will directly impact whether 1080p is a worthwhile investment, as many of the prior responses have alluded.

Happy gaming,

Boz

You'll want this: http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=180-998

You can run an optical cable from your PC to the linked DAC (digital to analog converter), and RCA cables from the DAC to your stereo.

Enjoy!

Boz