First and foremost, FOREGET this idea. YOU WONT BE ABLE TO PLAY GEARS OF WAR ON A $500-800 computer, unless it's a used PC that was purchased for about $1500-2000 and now someone wants to get rid of it for $800. Now when we got that out of the way, please read on...

Build your own computer. It's much more cost effective.

Only thing is, dont listen to people who say building your computer is EASY. It's NOT easy! The reason for this, is unless you have money pouring out of your behind, you really want to be extra carefull with everything you do or you WILL loose money, and possibly lots of it. Also you might loose hair on your head. ;)

In order to build your computer you must be someone who is willing to do LOTS of research and LOTS of reading. There is enough info on the net to teach/show you every single step required to build a PC. One of the most time consuming and stressful things is selecting the right components. The reason for this is:

1)Price (unless you are filthy rich)

2)Compatability. Incompatable components will simply not work(best case scenario) or short, possibly taking out something else too. Returning components that do not work in your PC(for whatever reason) is a lot of heartake and wasted time/money.

Prior to building a PC, you want to visit a forum like www.anandtech.com and ask people to look at the list of components you have selected and criticize/comment your future rig. After you get replies you have to ask these people if they are sure that everything is indeed compatible and will work from the start without any difficult fine tuning. After these people say yes, you must make a new thread asking people to YET AGAIN, confirm that everything will work 100%. The reason for this is that it's not these people loosing their hard earned cash if something dont work. It's YOU. (I learned this the hard way)

Someone might give you wrong info because they didnt read your question carefully or simply didnt know any better. That's why it helps to get as many 2nd opinions as possible, and once you do, stick with what the majority said.

Once you finally ordered all the parts, and are ready to build, it's important to mind the static electricity and touch a metal surface every 5 minutes or so. Some people say it's nonesence, but ask yourself if you are willing to bet your $500 video card on that. ;)

Sorry for writing so much, but I am only trying to help. If you dont care or you are too lazy to do this, I thank you in advance for ordering your computer from people like me and wasting your money so that we can get rich. Who knows.. Maybe it's me who will be building your computer and getting rich. Do you want that? Muhahahah.

PS: The only legit reason for not building your PC is if you are a very busy man, or you have some very serious problem.

In that case, the only site where you can get a PC in your price range is www.dell.com. Dont expect to play any recent games on a PC in this price range though. You have been warned.

If you are willing to spend a few(or lots for that matter) extra bucks, you can order a PC from Alienware, or Dell XPS branch of Dell. These PC's are pure beasts and will run any game u throw at it. However expect to speand $2000+ for anything decent that would only cost you about $1200-1500 if u built it yourself. If you need further advice, you can Skype me at "ibex333" and I will help you free of charge.

Hello ASK_Story!

Your experience with Oblivion will depend on your personal notion of waht is "enough" for YOU. Note, that it's YOU that matters most, not what someone else says.

See... I played oblivion on my old AMD 3200+, with 6600GT and 1gig ram. It ran horrible on stock settings, but when I OC'd the card, and modiefied the ini files according to online guides to reduce the grass, and some other things, the game ran at an acceptable speed. It was fine, but eventually I convinced myself that once I get a better card someday, my experince will be a lot better.

That day came about 5 months ago, when I got my 8800GTS 640mb. I gotta tell you that the GFX are indeed notably better. Not MUCH better, but you can indeed SEE the difference. Most of the difference comes in the form of eye candy around you. The sky becomes much richer and more realistic... The water is so much better that there's no comparison. The grass at full settings is not essential, but it really adds to the experience. The trees just spring into life and the whole world around you becomes alive all of a sudden.

If you can ignore the world around you and you only care about your character and the actual combat, go for it now. If you want to get the full experience of everything Oblivion has to offer, get a 8800GTS.

I'm dirt poor. I'm a bum who's old enough to have a family of my own, yet I still dont have a job, due to some bad issues in my life. Still I am usually able to save enough $$$ for a brand new rig every 2-3 years. What allows me to do that is the fact that I ALWAYS build my computers and NEVER buy them from companies/people/retailers. I order parts online, and my computers turn out to be a lot cheaper than Dell, Alienware, and the others.

A Dell with a comparible setup to my PC, despite having a larger hard drive and an overall better cosmetic look costs over $2000, when it only cost me about $1200 to build my computer. Learn to build your own rigs, save up some money, and you'll be a much happier man. Good luck!

Here are some of my favorites:

There is no room for '2' in the world of 1's and 0's, no place for 'mayhap' in a house of trues and falses, and no 'green with envy' in a black and white world

------(Ravel)Planescape Torment

Endure. In enduring, grow strong....

When a mind does not *know* itself, it is flawed. When a mind is flawed, the man is flawed. When a man is flawed, that which he touches is flawed. It is said that what a flawed man sees, his hands make broken.

------Dak'kon(Planescape Torment)

"Blessed is the mind too small for doubt"

------Librarian Warhammer : DOW

"Ahhh.... Much Better!"

----Duke Nukem

"I'm gonna shoot you in the FACE!"

-----Far Cry

"Never know what hit em'"

-----Terran Ghost(Starcraft)

"Nuclear launch detected...."

-------Starcraft

1)Warhammer: Dark Omen

2)Total War Series.

3)Warhammer: Dawn of War 

doesn't matter....it won't be made by the original team anyway. Jinroh_basic

I totally agree.

I decided to give Sims 2 a try recently. It seemed like a nice idea to relax after a hard day building nice houses and playing around with virtual people. What it turned out to be, is complete NIGHTARE!!

People say that violent FPS games are bad for you because they make you angry and frustrated. Well, these people havent tried Sims 2. After playing this game I feel like taking a flamethrower and going on a killing spree. :evil:

This game has a unique way of overloading my sences and attention span, plus it manages to never let me do what I want to do.

I understand that Sims 2 is about caring for your sims and watching them, but babysitting every damn step is ridiculous! My sim has to go to the batroom, take a shower and eat on average 3 times every damned minute on fast speed. This is crazy! When one has to worry about his sim's bladder exploding, or the whole house turning into a septic tank, he never has time for the enjoyable things like romance, business/work, building a house, etc. There are things that are supposed to automate many aspects of the game for you, but they dont help! Setting the behavior to auto is a bad choice because the AI is extremely DUMB. The sims will sleep through their job carpool, they will run to eat when their hunger meter is almost full, yet they'll often ignore thir bladder till it explodes. They will also refuse to sleep with their spouse, and choose to sleep on an empty bed in the other room. In the end I always have to do this crap myself which is a constant grind and a waste of time.

The housecleaners work only at certain times, but my sims manage to turn the house into a toxic waste dump in those few hours that the maid is not there. 

I constantly find myself speeding up the time to go through all the annoying stuff(peeing, eating, sleeping) to get to the good stuff(romance, job promotions, enjoying watching how sims party or have fun/use objects) which somehow transcends on to me and makes me feel fast forwarded in "real life". When I turn off my computer, I feel anxious and hectic like I have to go do something and do it fast!!! It's pure insanity... :(   Hours have to pass before negative effects wear off... 

Needless to say the game was uninstalled after just 3 days. How this "piece of work" ended up being so popular is beyound me. I actually saw TV talk shows where the host was talking about how some people went crazy over this game and gave up everything in the real life to play this thing 24/7. Unbelievable.

The reason why I made this post if because I want to hear YOUR Sims 2 experience. Do you know any ways to make the experience more about enjoyment and less about grind? Did you ever have any negative emotional effects like I did? Is there any way to accomplish anything "big" in this game playing only 1-2 hours on average every day?

Intel (R) 82845G graphics controller. If it is not good can yo please tell me a good one, that is not very,very expensive? Thanks!!scoop8487

I remember saying in one the threads that piracy is killing the PC market and many people said that was not the problem. It is becomign more and more difficult for developers to make money on PC games and i think the main problem is piracy.

At an early session Friday, id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead gave a lecture on the problems of piracy on the internet. During his speech, Hollenshead revealed that, although they are still primarily a PC developer, id Software had begun to look at console game releases as a way to financially combat piracy.

"Piracy has pushed id as being multiplatform," Hollenshead said, noting that the current project Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is being scheduled for release on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Hollenshead's rationale is that console piracy is, by a large factor, minimal relative to the rampant PC piracy.

Link

Deihmos