Buying a computer

[Roric]

Well like anybody who played the PS2 beta, Im sad that its coming to the end, and realize DAMN I NEED A COMP FAST!
OK So I went to cyberpowerinc.com and did a custom Athlon build, heres what I chose.
AMD Athlon XP 2800+ Processor for 205$(This is where the comp building cost comes in, they jack up the prices here.)
ASUS A7N8X-DX nVidia NForce2 Ultra 400 FSB 8xAGP MB for 135$.
1024 MB Ram for 196$
80 GB Western Digital HD 89$, I can get another later on if needed.
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB 345$.
Creative Labs SB Audigy x-gamer 5.1 for 89$
Creative Labs Inspire 5200 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers for 85$
And Windows XP for 135$.
Total Price 1435.00 (Theres some other minor things like phat case and whatnot)
Im pretty sure this will run FFXI fine, as well as Half Life 2,
but I was wondering if you have any suggestions as to where to get it cheaper, better sound cars I can get (I have no clue about anything sound related, will the setup I have be good enough?)
Please post any recommendations. Thank you! Oh and I need a good recommendation on monitors, many people say that LCD Monitors suck for games, so should I get a 19" CRT Viewsonic for 189$ or do you guys know of anything better?

[gamer1204]

if u read this by the 4th you can get a vaio 2.8 gigs ect go to bestbuy.com an then local ad an then compuders.1350.00 good

[Roric]

Hmmmm my lil bro got a Vaio. Definetely not for me though. His came with integrated graphics(Hmmm les make so they HAVE to have a graphics card, and well make it a shitty one at that.) The Vaio cases are budget as well =/.

[Negesh]

if u read this by the 4th you can get a vaio 2.8 gigs ect go to bestbuy.com an then local ad an then compuders.1350.00 good

AVOID that like the plague!!!!

Anyways everything looks pretty good though what type of ram is that??? Also that sound card is fine, though you could prob save a few bucks if you went with the oem version if they have it.
As for monitors, lcds can be nice, but a major factor to worry about is ghosting, to prevent this you need to make sure get a monitor with a response time of less than 20 ms. There a quite a few other factors which determine a good lcd monitor(contrast ratio 450:1 or better, brightness to a lesser degree, max res ect.) but i'm in a rush so i will let someone else handle that for me

[Negesh]

Oh i forgot to mension that your motherboard has onboard sound, so if you want you can use that instead of the audigy and save a few bucks. The sound quality would be less, but you prob would not notice it...and if money is tight that is a good way to save some dough.

[Andarvi]

heh i work at best buy and i can personally say that no computer we sell will be any good for ffxi, especially that sony. its the 420 model with the shittest graphics and sound quality u can imagine. basically ur buying the name sony, same with dell and gateway.

that comp u have listed there is tight as hell. negesh has good ideas as far as saving some cash. although, the best way to do so would be to simply order all the parts separately and build it yourself, may save u some cash. i built a 2200 comp for like 1500 because i built it. if u dont know how to im sure u can find something because after observing once i could easily do it myself.