Let's say I WANNA buy a pre-built...

[zmatt]

The 8200 is a terrible quad, it doesn't have enough cache. And the Phenom 9550 is a buggy chip. I wouldn't recommend getting either.

 

[hikaricloud]

Since when is 800 bucks for bad quads and either a GT120/9100 a good deal...?

 

[Brinson]

What about this? iBUYPOWER Gamer Power 938 Gaming PC - Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400, 4GB DDR2, 500GB, DVDRW, 9800GT, 680W,Office 2007 Trial, Vista Home Premium 64 at TigerDirect.com

I don't know much about gaming. I'm just a linux geek who likes hanging out here.

By the way, alot of major computer stores will build the PC for you if you buy all the parts from them for an additional cost. Fry's will do it for $69.99 I believe.

 

[zmatt]

I would stay away form all of the Q8xxx chips myself. They are "budget" quads. And while any quad would seem like a good idea, they are pretty anemic in other aspects.

As for that machine, it has a G31 motherboard, something that we would never use in a build list, a no-name power supply, and slow ram (don't let the "high speed" tag fool you, its 800mhz).

The 9800GT is ok, but we could do better for the budget. That card is several generations old depending on how you look at it.

 

[james.wired]

No, you can actually get a 'fair' prebuilt for $800

Without a monitor :

Core 2 Quad 8200 - 8GB DDR2 - 640GB - Geforce GT120
Gateway - TV Desktop with Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor Q8200 - LX6810-01

With a monitor :

AMD Phenom 9550 - 4GB DDR2 - 500GB - Geforce 9100 - 23" HP LCD - Plus a priinter
HP a6720y Desktop with AMD Phenomâ„¢ X4 9550 Processor, 23" LCD Monitor & 3-in-1 Printer

These guys throw in 1 piece of attractive hardware and then call the system high speed or a super computer. 8gb ddr2 (even though unnecessary) and 640 gb sounds good, but the 8200 quad and geforce gt120 don't. The monitor on the second one looks fun, that's all. Definitely better off building your own or (if you are dead set on pre-built) at least, like Brinson said, go to a place like fry's and paying them to build one that you spec out yourself. And we can help

Edit: Come to think of it, the ram in those pre-builts are probably off brand and not any good also..