And of course, there's always the option of buying an AMD processor, which are generally cheaper than Intels.

great, now consider the fact that i don't live in us and prices do change around the world.

2009 Chrysler 300C Touring RWD Sedan V6:

us price - 32.265$

polish price - 65.900$

it does make a difference where you live if we're talking about prices of everything.

@illegal paladin, i'm talking bout dollar/euro bullshit.

Not to mention free games for PC and ton of cheaters even in free online games.

Too much exaggeration for the GAF's $550 system in respect to it staying "current" as a gaming rig for SEVEN years.

Seven year old computers, if you were to spec comparable available parts, would barely be suitable for web browsing today with HD video streams, etc. by today's standards. While the system you can build today would be a workstation costing thousands years ago, don't kid yourself into thinking it's a one time buy and never upgrade purchase for the next 5-7 years, assuming you want to run current software (and games) in the distant future.

If you don't replace or go SLI/Crossfire with an additional VGA card on a gaming PC after 3 years, odds are you will be turning down the quality or resolution sliders to keep a playable frame rate.

Plus these builds never include the price of an OEM copy of Windows, which is a $100 if you're fortunate enough to be living in the States. Add the price of a 360 controller as well unless you plan on playing with a mouse and keyboard (as bad or worse as playing GTA or Tomb Raider with a mouse/keyboard).

While I'm all for building PC gaming rigs (built 3 in the last year) it is unquestionably more expensive than console gaming.

Why? $199 Xbox 360 Arcade.

The bottom line is, it would cost you $250 total to play RE5 (game's already discounted if you shop) on a $199 Xbox 360. Hard drive or no, it still plays every game developed for the 360 platform.

6 months ago I got the Phenox X4 9750 and a very nice motherboard combo for $240. At that time the Q6600 was selling ALONE for $240. Intel takes the performance crown, but personally, I'd rather wait 5 extra seconds and save $100.

Regarding the system recommendations for the PC version of RE5, you will want to be playing a gorgeous looking game like this on a decent system with a good VGA card made for gaming.

If you can't be bothered with upgrades on a regular basis, you may as well stick with console gaming; it's a lot less hassle for those who don't actually enjoy buying new parts and building new systems on a regular basis.

Not sure why developers are recommending quad core CPUs at this stage, even though they've been out since 2007. General consensus remains that clock speed for games still matters more on the CPU side. Pretty relevant if you're running stock clock speeds on a quad rated under 3ghz. Of course a Quad OCed to 4ghz won't be running games any slower than a Duo OCed to 4ghz.

I still use an E8400 OCed to 3.9ghz for my game specific PC and it's the HD4870 that's still the bottleneck in terms of seeing higher frame rates at higher resolutions.

The RE5 benchmark runs considerably slower on a stock clock Q6600/9600GT system (32bit) even at 1680x1050 compared to the OC E8400/HD4870 (64bit) at 1920x1080 due to the video card and clock speeds.

true, about 4 years ago i built my 600$ pc rig from the ground(i had at that time my 6 year old pc so i didn't have anything there i could use in new one). 4 years later - i can't play Crysis, i can't play GTA4, i can't play Burnout Paradise, i can't play Fallout 3, i can't play Mass Effect, i can't play Stalker, i could barelly play Gears of War and Lost Planet.

now PCs without constantly changing parts can go on for about 2-3 years. so if you can build me a pc with monitor and 360 controller for 600$ shio that can play Resident Evil 5 and all the other 360 games that are on a pc i might believe you. still it took only 900$ so far for me to have huge stash of new games, new 360 console, controller and big ass monitor(i spend 600$ for a console monitor and 2 games at first rest of the games and 360 controller i bought overtime).

my brother's over 6 years old PC is still frequently used to play many great PC games today, mostly from the rise of the indie scene and different business models. Now imagine buying right now a gaming PC would last.

So run the RE5 benchmark on your brother's 6 year old PC and post the hardware specs along with the performance results, resolution, frame rate, etc. (I'll know if you post false data).

I don't need a crystal ball to predict that it won't be playable.

I had pretty good results with the RE5 benchmark even with my $50 384mb 8800gs, but I do i have it overclocked as far as it will go and still run stable. My q6600 is running at 3ghz, and I have 4gb of ram with vista x64. I'll get a better video card eventually but only when I have start turning down the settings considerably at which point I should be able to get a 4870 or so for under $100.

1680x1050, high everything, v sync on, 4x AA.

Here were my results (gameplay test):