Personally I find it's learning how to sort out the software that takes all the time. Just building a PC is relatively straight-forward, and saves a chunk of cash.

If it's for CoD, then it might be worth waiting a month just to see what people are finding works well - eg, is it CPU or GC bottlenecked etc. You can get a fast PC without spending too much.

Fangio if you have to have something now than have a look at the specs below...this comes in around $1500 and should be able to play any game for atleast 2 years to come.

ASUS Crosshair IV Formula AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard $229

SAPPHIRE 100312SR Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity $275

the MB supports true dual X16 slots so you can add another 6950 at a later date for Crossfire

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL $85

AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition Thuban 3.3GHz, 3.7GHz Turbo 6 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor $229
CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-1000HX 1000W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC $229

Patriot Inferno PI60GS25SSDR 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $145

Western Digital My Passport Essential SE 1TB USB 3.0/USB 2.0 Black Portable Hard Drive $120

Keep your OS and games on the SSD and other files and backup on the external drive, externals are nice for portability.

add another $100 for a dvd burner and case and your set to go

Take the i7-2600K or the i5-2500K CPU. There is actual no way arround.

Asus P8P67 Board.

8 GB of Ram are enough.

And a video card of your choice.

Currently you can not say on which card CoD performs better (Nvidia or Ati).

I have a i5-2500K @ 4.9 GHz and a 6950 @ 6970.

I have enough frames. It´s all about the stuttering...

i5-2500K, Asus P8P67, 8 GB Ram, 6950 2Gb, SSD 120GB --> $ 1000

First off.... my comment about the term "Yankee" and being a southerner was tongue in cheek. Humor in case that goes over your head.

Secondly.... while Slavery was the primary motivator behind the Southern States choosing to secede from the Union, it was not the cause for which Southern soldier fought. The war was fought over whether or not Americans had the right to self determination that they exerted in 1776. Had you wandered around among the campfires in the Army of Northern Virginia in 1862 - 1865 and asked the soldiers why they were fighting you would have gotten many responses and reasons. I seriously doubt any would have mentioned slavery at all.

But hey, we all know how you liberal racist elitist's do not think people have the right to choose their own form of Govt. because YOU know better what is best for them and folks should just hand YOU all of the power because only YOU can effectively rule.

Your assumptions are correct in one way only: Liberals make me sick to my stomach.


Now... back to flying and Cliffs of Dover.




Fang

Since we're all on humorizing eachother I re-enable my Yank. lol

Are you going to build yourself, Fangio? Unless you have ten thumbs and all placed in the centre of your palm, setting up a rig really isn't too hard.

I was not planning to build my own as I have never done so before and I am not hot to starting at the long end of the learning curve. I am however not all thumbs.... I have rebuilt a number of cars and built Porsche racing engines so I have some technical expertise. But zero when it comes to computers.


Fang

I would advise to wait for the next two patches at least. They will give a good idea on what is TRULLY possible on different tiers of hardware.

As for new tech coming out- you can always sell some of the stuff. Graphics cards are easiest to unplug and are always in demand on ebay. Not so easy to change motherboards though- so this one needs to be future proof.

Fang,

I would suggest a gaming computer from iBuy Power or another custom builder. Here's a link
http://www.ibuypower.com/

Mine cost about $2,300 all in and I have been very pleased. Cuts through games like butter and came in about a week, very nicely packaged. Sales guys know their stuff. I am not a tech guy and would not consider building my own. This was the next best thing for me.

Same as me then, I'm an engine mechanic, have rebuilt/is rebuilding cars and rebuilt many engines/outboard/inboard drives in my time. I didn't know crap about computers two years ago when I bought my first desktop(yes I didn't even own a computer before that), it was also a pre built. Curiosity got the best of me and now I sit here with a fully customed watercooled rig with a separate cooling cabinet for two radiators, a separate powersupply and pumps/fans. If you're anything like me and have the interest, you're gonna learn the basics needed in no time. It's not even a long haul until you get into software or serious overclocking.

But that's my story. And I'm kind of a control freak when it comes to my tech.

so he should be able to drop a bulldozer chip right in :)