My budget was 1200 for everything total, including monitor/kb/m. I have a copy of W7.

COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case


SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

XFX HD-587X-ZNFV Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card



AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor 



CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-750HX 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active 


GIGABYTE GA-790XTA-UD4 AM3 AMD 790X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard


G.SKILL ECO Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7D-4GBECO

ASUS VH236H Black 23" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen Full HD 1080P LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 20000 :1 (ASCR) Built-in Speakers

Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000

Microsoft B2P-00011 4 Buttons Tilt Wheel Wireless Optical Mouse

I think I'm gonna swap out the processor for an i5-750 and keep the graphics card.

US$

I mean 1000 for the total build. Yeah it's good to keep in mind that installing the OS is the longest part...first build, kinda nervious! I'll be happy when it's all up and running, that's for sure.

I'm trying to keep the price around 1000.

How does this look to y'all. I feel like I might have a winner but I want to ask around before I wind. up dropping the dough. The system is gonna be for gaming first, some word processing second. Games I'm gonna wanna play are all the Valve games, all the Blizzard games, maybe some Guild Wars 2 or FF14, and probably Crysis 2. Lemme know what your thoughts are -- I'm completely new to this!

LITE-ON CD/DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM

COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 AMD Motherboard

MSI N470GTX-M2D12-B GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 ...

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-4GBNQ

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGMBOX

One more question about the GTAIV boxed version -- I see that you can read the manual online through the Xbox site, but I heard somewhere it comes with maps as well? Is that true? I'd buy the box if it it was.

Was there ever a final, definitive word on which version is the superior product? Looking around the internet I see both sides argued pretty equally.

Thanks for the advice, I was gonna drop the 30 and have it DL overnight so I could play tommorrow but I'll just go to the store tomorrow and buy it. That way I can still sell it for a few bucks if I think it sucks. It's a shame that such a high scoring game has such lower opinions about it just 2 years later, but that's the nature of this evolving market.

One -- I've never played a GTA game...and all this talk about RDR makes me want to. My two questions are:

1.) Is it too late? Is it a dated game, and is it better just to save the cash for RDR?

2.) Should I DL on Games on Demand right now? Or is it a smarter idea to purchase the Platinum Hits version at a store? (Interested on everyones thoughts on this especially).