greenmedic88 on 03 September 2008
Virtually all off the shelf PCs come with video cards that are inadequate for playing the current generation of PC games at acceptable performance. You will pay a big premium for configurations that include even an 8800GT.
Any bargain PC with an integrated X3100 Intel chipset as its graphics solution doesn't even rate for gaming with anything other than low overhead games.
If you go with the bargain pre-built PC, factor in the price of an aftermarket video card $120 8800GT and a larger PSU as most factory jobs come with PSUs rated under 400watts, which is inadvisable for a full sized graphics card upgrade.
Do the math and you'll see that you're better off building from scratch unless you are satisfied with low overhead gaming.
