Geeks Opinion

[tension69]

I agree with multiple posts above, build your own.

Spend most of the budget on the CPU, then the GFX card then Mobo.

Ram, hard disks etc are as cheap as chips now...just don't skimp on a low end CPU, you will regret it.
Make sure the Mobo accepts triple channel DDR3 ram.
Make sure the GFX card does DX11 (future proofing) and use Windows7 64 Bit for the OS.

Oh, do the research yourself, don't be taken in by a store's sales pitch, most of em just work for the pay, and know little about what they're selling.

If you want to compare hardware the charts here will help you:-

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/

Erm, thas about it really.

Have fun :wave:

 

[lewisner]

Re "building your own" I would recommend that if you do this pick up one of the PC magazines such as "Custom PC" in the UK which give you examples of PC's you could build with specs of the components. That way you will know that the components match and you'll have an idea of it's capabilities before you build it.