don't know the us prices and especially teh system with all tehse Mail in rebates makes it hard to get a good overview.

but for teh equivalent of 700€ which is about ~$1000 i would probably aim for a intel core 2 duo 8400 (maybe even an 8500, 8600 is most likely out of the price range) and a ati(amd) 4870 combination. together with mainboard (i would get one with intel chipset), ram (4gb ddr, but can also settle with only 2gb), 500gb harddisk (can get bigger if you got enough money left), a medium quality case and a good 500W psu you should probably get close to that price

is 4gb enough? why not have say....6gb? of ram that is

4gb is more than enough. you ened vista 64 to use all of that 4gb, and nearly no single application can use more than 2gb ram.

as long as 32bit os stay the standard 4gb will be enough (which is most likely true for next generation of windows too).

edit: wanted to add that a 32bit operating system can address a maximum of 4gb ram, and in this address space it also has to insert the gfx card ram, bios and some otehr things so with 4gb ram on a 32bit os you end up with only 3-3.5gb useable ram. also 32 bit windows does not allow standard applications to access more than 2gb ram, you need teh applications to be flagged specifically to be allowed to do that and  tehy need to use special adressing modes. so nerly no application or game that is made for 32 bit windows can access more than 2gb.

under 64 bit operating systems these limitations are lifted since you can access 16 EiB (Exbibyte 1 EiB= 2⁶⁰ Byte = 1.152.921.504.606.846.976 Byte ) which is much more than we can think of atm.

theres no point sourcing all the components yourself if you have no intentions of building the machine yourself, goto an independant PC store and tell them what you need and what it will cost, it will be cheaper.

 i have thought about that but decided against it for a couple reasons

1. i like to know what i have bought, and exactly what is in the system

2. i might give it a go and build it myself

3. i dont trust strangers with my orders....especially fast food places :]

Hey markers

Combo system CPU + Case + PSU = $80

I would pick the GTX+ has the price/performance ratio pretty good but if you like to turn things up to the max get the 2nd choice the GTX 260.

Part total = $240-320

Then you can choose Ram, Motherboard, HDD, OS which will likely come up to about $340

So for the grand total of $580 or $660

Amd x2 2.8ghz
Gigabyte/Asus motherboard
4gb ram
Vista 64
Nvidia 9800gtx+ or GTX 280
500gb HDD
Awesome/quiet Case and PSU

How does that sound?

that my friend.....sounds wonderful :]

thank you for your comments / assistance. i do believe i will be purchasing said mentioned items.

I'll post you some of what I think are good choices for motherboard/HDD/RAM/Optical drive when I log on tomorrow if you want. But that looks like an excellent system.

Performance:

Number in brackets is normalised to 9800GTX+, so relative performance can be compared with less skewing by large numbers.

All prices are the current cheapest on Newegg

So, the best performance in the $150 - $300 range belongs to the HD4870, and the best price/performance is the HD4850. Neither the GTX260 nor the 9800GTX+ are good choices. If you go above this price range, I can assure you that the HD4870 X2 beats the GTX280 in value and performance too, but there are diminishing returns after the $200 or so mark. AMD currently offer the best value solution at all price points.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131320

Check out this motherboard - Its fully upgradeable to the hottest phenom processors, it has HDMI so you can retire the PC to Home theatre duties and its got Hybrid SLi which will save power/heat/noise when you're not using your Nvidia cards. $105

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288

500gb HDD $75

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106073

Dual layer Sata Drive $27

I would say its up to you on the cards its really a question of how much you wanna spend. You will probably be happy with both but the 9800 GTX+ is an excellent choice if you're going to use a 22" monitor or smaller.

Windows Vista 64 premium OEM + 120

Still I dunno about the ram