@vux,
Ok well I had a responce written up but it was eaten by the forum Nazis. So lets just boil this down to the basics:
Vista & DX10 are a package along with the good and the bad. You don't get to pick and choose which parts you get so consumers look at it as a whole. Current adoption rates show that this package is not appealing. I don't know that anything more needs to be said...
As for PC gamers upgrading every 2 years for $1k to $2k.....holy crap! Thats insane! I can build a complete gaming experience for the the low end of that kind of money!
Guts:
4GB DDR2 800 (timings: 4-4-4-12) - $77.98
GIGABYTE nForce 570 SLI - Socket AM2 - $96.60
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (2x1MB L2 Cache) - $149.99
eVGA 8800GT 512MB - $265.83
OCZ GameXStream 700W PSU - $99.99
Case w/ 80mm & 120mm Fans- $34.99
320GB Hard Drive - $90.28
Sound Blaster Audigy SE - $32.68
Lite-ON DVD/CD Burner - $37.99
Peripherals:
22" Monitor (2ms, 1000:1, 1680x1050 native) - $249.58
THX Certified 5.1 Surround Sound System - $153.70
Mouse - ~$30
Keyboard - ~$10
| Total Price of Guts: | $886.33 |
| Total Price of Peripherals | $443.28 |
| Total Price: | $1,329.61 |
| (All prices include shipping and rebates) |
NOTES*:
1) It might be worth it if you plan to keep the system into the 64-bit era to pay a bit extra for 2x2GB on memory instead of 4x1GB in order to keep DIMM slots open for later upgrades.
2) The system was purchased with SLI in mind. A few years down the road you can purchase a (by then) much cheaper 8800GT and slap it in the second SLI slot and you don't have to worry about your PSU putzing out on you either. Also it is worth noting the PSU is 80+ certified meaning it is power efficient.
3) The speakers and Monitor are purchases you will make probably once every 10-15 years if not longer. For that reason they are typically worth the money because they will always be able to move to your next computer. In that regard this price is somewhat inflated for the purposes of saying a gamer needs to spend 'x' amount every 'y' years.
4) Really the design of the computer is such that a few small upgrades can allow it to survive probably 3-4 years before a full upgrade is a reasonable option. When you do upgrade it is likely that the case, PSU, hard drive, sound card, and optical drive will all be able to move with. As a result the cost of a full upgrade is reduced by a fair amount.
That is the type of computer I would build for someone who wanted a very nice gaming experience.
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| To Each Man, Responsibility |
