[huddy32]

well the ultimate question for me is to either buy or build.
i would like to play games but the "gaming" machines seem expensive. i found a comp that i like. from best buy.
http://www.bestbuy.c...d=1124431815188
it is an HP a1230n
my friend says that HPs are [bleep] and definately wouldn't let me game on it. but it has an AMD 3700 and a GHZ FSB and a GB of ram, (upgradable to 4) which i heard is very good for gaming. i know i would need a new video card. and i wouldn't want the windows media center. im a student and can get windows XP Pro for like 25 bucks so soft ware isn't a problem..

Now should i just build a comp or just buy this. best buy always has this one on sale and for $50 dollars less that the actual computer it also includes a monitor and printer. but i have to wait on AVG about a month for it to go onsale......

There are questions... should i get the HP or build. and the ultimate question (which i can never get a straight answer for is which is better AMD or Intel)

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Well that machine's got onboard graphics which, despite the name on that particular one, are usually pretty poor for gaming.

Plus I've never seen HPs that run anywhere near as good as they should do for the machine specification printed on the front of the box.

Do yourself a favour; price up the bits individually, factor in a separate graphics card as well and see if its any cheaper. You could always I suppose add a separate card later to that HP machine via its PCi-Express slot. But having said that, you do get a bit of software with that machine but if you don't use it, no point having it.

The current AMDs are just about level in performance terms with a Pentium 4 and usually work out a [bleep] of a lot cheaper as well.

[Neil Jones]

Well that machine's got onboard graphics which, despite the name on that particular one, are usually pretty poor for gaming.

Plus I've never seen HPs that run anywhere near as good as they should do for the machine specification printed on the front of the box.

Do yourself a favour; price up the bits individually, factor in a separate graphics card as well and see if its any cheaper. You could always I suppose add a separate card later to that HP machine via its PCi-Express slot. But having said that, you do get a bit of software with that machine but if you don't use it, no point having it.

The current AMDs are just about level in performance terms with a Pentium 4 and usually work out a [bleep] of a lot cheaper as well.

[huddy32]

thank you.