I sorta already made this topic, but now my budget has increased. I'm looking for a powerful gaming desktop, keeping my budget near or below $1000.

First off, I don't know whether to build it or buy pre-built.

I want to be able to play games at max settings. Stuff like Call of Duty and Oblivion.

What I don't need: All the external stuff basically. Monitor, speakers, keyboard... yadda yadda

I'm hoping to get a general build settled on in this topic. So I'm really hoping you guys have some sound advice.

So let's start discussing what I should get and where to get it.

I'll answer questions to help boil down what I should get.

I want a computer for Oblivion too... my notebook runs it but it gets a bit rough at times and I would love to be able to see the world in it as it was intended. Sorry I'm no help, haha.

You will save 2-300 if you build it yourself, getting more for the money, and you can easily learn all you need in an hour or two on google.

If you're going pre-built, go ibuypower.com, they're the best for the price and specs, and I know a few people who've used them and they're not bad.

check out the buying guide here, use the latest: http://arstechnica.com/guides.ars

Here is what I'm currently looking at.

GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813128337

VisionTek 900244 Radeon HD 4870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814129113

CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817139004

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822148262

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820231122

LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16827106072

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115037

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16832116488

COOLER MASTER Centurion 5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811119068




I'm concerned about picking out the right motherboard. Is that one good? I want something I can really work with.

Is that PSU enough for all of this?

Is everything compatible?

Would this make a good gaming computer?


Feel free to recommend any alterations to my build here.

You should really go to a place like hardocp's forums for some serious computer advice.

tech-forums.net/pc