Build your own system. It's very easy to do, assuming you would be confident with rewiring an electric plug, which is much more complicated. If so, the only reason to buy pre-built is if you don't have the time to knock it together yourself. Some people don't, and they're frequently the type that can happily afford a pre-build. To be completely frank, if I could afford a pre-build I'd buy one every time. As another poster intimated elsewhere, I'm never nervous building computers unless they're mine!
Thoughts on specs (as I'm going to upgrade too; I'm just waiting for actual reviews before deciding on hardware; to my mind, it comes down to what gfx card I require - nobody knows what is required/works best yet. Not so stupid as to throw out several hundred quid with mere days to go without any idea as to what might work best.)
This is what I would buy today if I had to:
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM
Asus P8P67 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION **
XFX 650W XXX Edition Modular Power Supply
Corsair Hydro H50-1 High-Performance CPU Watercooler (would actually prefer Akasa's one)
OCZ Special OPS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz (very cheap on ocuk atm. otherwise, something similar)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB (immediately flash to 6970, Save £100)
Coolermaster Elite 370 Case
Some generic dvd drive.
That's pretty much what I'm buying in a week or so, dependent on reviews. Didn't mention hdds; the Samsumg F4's look sweet, if you want to stay with disc tech. I have two samsung F1s and they are lovely.
Er, did I forget anything? I think I'll just reiterate that hopefully, you'll be playing this game for maybe the next decade. Wouldn't it be a good idea to hold off on the hardware purchasing for maybe a couple of days before committing hundreds of pounds blindly? If you'd say no, I have some grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat business opportunities you simply must hear about.
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