Well if you want to spend money on better stuff, then by all means do.

As for glossy, I too find it kind of distracting. My old laptop had a glossy screen and it reflects everything.

Peter_Darkstar

That's what I meant. I went to the ZOMG APPLE STORE WTF BBQ! and the MacBook screens are terribly annoying witht teh glossy finish.

I had a Pentium D 2.8 Ghz CPU in my old Dell xps 400 with 2gb 666mhz DDR2 RAM. It was less than satisfactory..but playable.

I don't get that much money to spend on my computer, so I stuck my 8800 gts into my dell until I finished building the rig in my sig.

With that said, the Pentium D will bottleneck your GPU significantly until you pick up a new CPU. Aside from turning down a few CPU intensive settings, games will still look amazing (played fear on max graphical settings, but had to turn down the CPU settings). As for how newer games will run on it, idk, but I don't imagine you'd have any trouble getting them to run at a smooth frame rate and still look good.

Peter_Darkstar

So what cpu do you recommend that is under $200? (after sunday that is :D)

Well the main reason, I would think, is because C2D still max out every game being released this year, and probably the next few years. The actual amount of games that take full advantage of a C2D are rare enough, with most games being optimized for single cores still. The real question is why you would need a Penryn now for games like Crysis and Bioshock, when a C2D will max them just fine?

By the time the next uber detailed and expansive game comes out, the penryn will probably be outdated or ridiculously cheay anyway. Just my opinion though...only upgrade when you absolutely need to.

Peter_Darkstar

Thanks for your 2 cents Peter, I appreciate it. I might just go out and get an e4300 and new motherboard since I have a Fry's $130 gift card that's starting to collect dust :D. I would get the e4300 only because it has a 9x multiplier compared to other C2D's that have lower multipliers. Might even save up for a Q6600, we shall see :).

Once again, how will MY computer be able to run Crysis, Bioshock, UT3, etc.?

Specs:

Pentium D 820 @ 2.8ghz (Upgrading to Penryn in November-ish)

2x1gb DDR2 533 (Upgrading to DDR2 800, 1066, or even DDR3 1333 possibly)

eVGA 8800gts 320mb

If he spent $280 on an 8800 gts, why would you crap out on the PSU? I wouldn't put that thing in my system even if someone paid me. Peter_Darkstar

:D lol he's trying to save some moneyz :D

*edit* Buying an 8800gts isn't saving moneyz however :D

Anser to Q1: Nobody knows how much the prices will drop except for the Q6600 (approx.), and what the prices of the new processors will be. FYI things don't ship over the weekend. I just got my PSU from newegg with 3 day shipping (today is Thursday I believe :D) and I ordered it Sunday.

Answer to Q2: Don't get glossy. It looks terrible. Anywho, a 320mb will handle a 19" very well, probably the 20" as well. Remember, the resolutions are pixels :). I think you would be fine with a 320mb, the only difference between the two gts's is amount of memory.

Also, a little off-topic note:

Why is everyone building a computer now? So what if Intel's having a price drop, the Penryn architecture will be so much faster and all-around better that you will look at your C2D and feel like you have a Celeron when C2D's first came out. I recommend to everyone: go ahead and buy a new video card now if you already have a PCI-E x16 slot. Hold up on processor and motherboard and ram (wait for DDR3). By beginning to mid of 2008 you will look at your computer and wish you hadn't bought it when you did, and waited like I suggested :D.

Yeah, all those driver problems. Only thing I dont like is how the 32 bit only allows less than 4gig.Ram.....I wont get that much for a while...but still....that means I`ll have to buy a new one in a couple of years...oh well.jfkunrendered

Oh wellz :)

It meets the 8800GTS requirements....but I would go with something a little....better.jfkunrendered

But is there 26A on the 12V rail?, cause that's what the gts needs.