Buying a new computer!

[pakman]

I have always been a fan of the ATI video cards. I currently am running the 256MB version of the 9800 Pro, and it works wonderfully. I can run Far Cry, Thief 3, etc, with everything turned on. However, the X800 XT and X800 Pro are out now, but I think they are only marginally better than the 9800 pro in terms of performance.

For RAM, I would suggest sticking with the Corsair. ~$150 is cheap for a gig of PC3200 RAM, and Corsair is a very good brand.

I use a Gigbyte nForce2 motherboard and I am very happy with it. However it does not support the AMD 64 (I'm running a xp 2700+). I have heard good reviews about the nForce3. I'm not too knowledgeable about MSI or Asus, though my frineds that have them are pleased.

Halo has not been optimized for the PC. I still have to turn stuff down to not chunk while playing. Yes it looks pretty, but that's about it. The levels are repetitive and you kill the same bad guys over and over. Hell, what am I saying? It's fun to brutally murder little blue aliens with a pump shotty to the face.