Build your own if possible. Don't suggest it if possible, no pci-express i think, nor 64-bit. Get the gateway http://www.compusa.com/products/products.asp?cmid=topnav&N=200005+400756+4294965871&Ne=303930
I'm a college student almost ready to begin my junior year. I'm also somewhat of a gaming enthusiast and would like very much to dive deeper into that hobby.
The catch is, for the past two years I've been using an HP Pavillion notebook (1.8GHz Celeron, 40gig HD, 447mb RAM, Radeon IGP 340M). It's turned out to be a real workhorse and has kept up with me admirably, but it's limits are now readily apparent.
Don't get me wrong, it plays some of my favorite games (Rainbow Six 3, Star Trek: Bridge Commander, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City), but with newer titles like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, The Sims 2 and Half Life 2, my hands are tied.
Space is also another issue. I've got a large MP3 collection, download mods for my games and occasionally I'll download music videos/movies. The space problem has gotten to the point where I recently had to go out and buy an 80gig portable hard drive.
I started computer shopping two months back, keeping important factors like price and expandability in mind.
Two weeks ago, I found the perfect machine; an HP Pavillion (a1034n) with a 3GHz P4, 200Gig Hard Drive, 1 Gig of Ram and a Multi Format DVD-ROM/CD-ROM drive. Yesterday however, Best Buy pulled the machine from their lineup.
Now, I'm forced to fall back onto my second choice. It's an HP Pavillion, with the same exact specs as the other machine, except this happens to be a 'Photosmart/Media Center' PC (mod. m1264n).
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=320291&pfp=BROWSE
Barring any major financial disasters, I should have enough to get this within the next month-month and a half.
For moderate gaming plus day to day stuff (word processing, internet etc.) I'm thinking this will be a pretty solid investment (esp. since I'm on a somewhat limited budget), but what does everyone else think?
Comments/Tips/Suggestions would be appreciated as well as comments from people who've actually dealt with this model or similar ones like it =)
**Keep in mind, since I'm looking to get deeper into gaming, I'll definitly be upgrading the onboard video/audio setup**

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