Radeon HD 3850 all the way.

Don't even consider buying a 8600.

The 3850 does more than twice performance for the exact same price in all the reviews I've read.

Here my rule when it comes to Desktops:

Always, always, always build your own when you want a performance machine for gaming.

1) Its fairly easy if you read tutorials (which are in abundance around the net)

2) You get to customize your computer to exactly what you want

3) I can usually pay half of what it costs from a prefab computer store.

If you really don't want to mess with building your own, then you're pretty much stuck with what they give you and often they aren't very fun to upgrade.

Typically at 2 and 5ms the monitor is already way faster than the refresh rate from your video card.

1000ms / 60Hz (typical) = 16.666ms per refresh

To get good picture you need at least twice that so anything 8ms or faster is good enough.

I have a 22 inch Westinghouse on my computer and a 22 inch Acer on my Wife's and both look fantasic.

As far as Vid card, I'm not sure when release is but I would think about waiting for the Radeon HD3870 card instead of the 8800gt. Early tests seem to indicate that when the next driver release hits it will beat the 8800gt and at a lower price!

I hope his hat isn't Tinfoil.

I hate chewing Tinfoil.

AMD has acknowledged several driver issues and in-efficiencies that will be corrected in the next official driver release.

When those come out I willing to bet the 3870 will be at tied (if not passing like evidence is already showing it might for Crysis) with the 8800gt and at a lower price point, lower power consumption, and lower heat generation.

Don't forget the fact that you'll be able to Quad Crossfire with it and have four GPUs going at once (don't think many will but its an epeen thing to say you could)

When does this card hit mass market?

I'm definately thinking this could be my Crysis updgrade.

In no particular order:

• Starcraft (So much study lost in college to battle.net)
• Titan Quest and Immortal Throne (Because we all need to run around and kill stuff at a ridiculously fast pace)
• Diablo II (Like this needs any explaining)
• World of Warcraft (Because my wife actually plays!)
• Unreal Tournament 2004 (This is my "I'm pissed off and want to blow crap up" game of choice)
• Half-Life 1 & 2 (FPS + Good story, perfect blend of the two)
• Age of Empires II and the Conquerers Expansion (Can't say why but I spent a lot of hours with this one)
• KotOR I & II (Because Bioware + Star Wars Rocks)
• Nevewinter Nights (Because Bioware rocks my face off)

If you add consoles you have to add:

• Super Mario RPG (Started me on this style of RPG)
• FFVII (Forever hooked me on this style of RPG)
• Mario Kart (because my Wife plays with me on this one too)
• Super Mario Bros 3 (Oh the good ole NES days)
• Super Mario World (How fast can you kill bowser?)
• Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Defining moment in an already great series)
• Metroid Prime (Can't put my finger on any one thing, I think it was how it all blended together)
• Halo 1, 2, and 3 (Late night XBOX Live parties with friends makes for a great low cost evening)

FFXII:RW Looks pretty good. I think thats my most anticipated game simply because I'm uber curious whether I'll love it or hate it.

I bought mine mostly for the RPGs (especially the Final Fantasy remakes)

Although I do have Mario Kart, New Super Mario Bros, Zelda, and a couple others now

Recently announced from Nintendo was that the DS would be receiving some new "practical" features and applications.

What ideas can you think of that would be cool to have on your DS? Here are a few of my ideas.

• Home Remote Control - Control your TV, Stereo, Lighting, all in one place!
• GPS - Plug in a receiver in the GBA slot and a map card in the DS slot and plot your road trip
• Location Sensitive Info - Walk into a store or other public place with a Network and it auto downloads a map of the area.
• Flight Info - While waiting in the airport check the status of flights and the length of the security lines
• Restaurant Ordering - Sit down at a table and browse a downloaded interactive menu and order right from your DS. Maybe even pay through it.
• Take tests with it - A lot of universities are requiring students to buy wireless electronic test pads for class. Why not have them buy a DS for about the same price and get a ton more flexibility in test software.
• Presentation Mouse - Ever had to make a presentation and the wireless mouse just wouldn't quite reach to where you need to stand? Make a simple touch screen mousepad and keyboard and with Wi-Fi you can reach all the way across the room.
• Music controller - Ever had music going on your computer in the other room and wanted to change it without getting up from what you're doing? Make the playlist appear on the DS so you can change songs to the one you want.

What are your ideas?

EDIT: Here is the Source News Article LINK