Buying a Computer Suggestions

[Geezer57]

Another option that might be acceptable, although it gives up much of the Duke's future upgrade path, is to settle for a Socket 939 chipset motherboard, use regular (cheaper) DDR memory, and use a matching single-core Athlon 64. The money saved should just be enough for a better graphics card now, rather than later.

Some suggestions for possible choices (all prices from Newegg):

Motherboard: EPoX EP-9NPA7I Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 - $59.99
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice Socket 939 Processor - $64.00
Memory: AMPO 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 - 99.99
Hard disk: Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600JS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s – OEM – $55.99
DVD-writer: NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner IDE/ATAPI Model ND-4570A BK – OEM – $33.25
Sound card: integrated in motherboard
Speakers: ?
Case: Antec Solution SLK3800B Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Rackmount Case 400Watt (SP400) SmartPower 2.0 ATX 12V 2.0 for AMD™ & Intel systems Power Supply – Retail - $94.99
Power Supply: with case
Keyboard: Microsoft S82-00032 Black USB + PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard Mouse Included – OEM - $24.99
Mouse: with keyboard

That leaves not quite $170 for a graphics card, which is more than enough to get you a GeForce 7600GT (starting at $110 after rebate), and almost enough to get you a GeForce 7900GS (starting at $198.00) or an x1900GT ($200.00). If you can squeeze out just a little more money, there are Radeon x1900XT 256Mb cards starting at $240.00 - that one will make your games sit up and take notice!