I'm glad to see that we are all on the same page with Seagate hard drives. :-)

Here's what I suggest, for the same cost:

COOLER MASTER, Elite 335 Black Mid Tower Case, ATX, No PSU, Steel

CORSAIR, CMPSU-650TX TX Series Power Supply, 650W, 80 PLUS®, 24-pin ATX12V EPS12V, SLI Ready · ASUS, M4A78T-E, AM3, AMD® 790GX, DDR3-1600 (O.C.) 16GB /4, PCIe x16 CF /2, SATA 3 Gb/s RAID 5 /5, VGA+DVI, HDA, GbLAN, FW /2, ATX, Retail · AMD, PhenomTM II X3 705e Triple-Core 2.5GHz, AM3, HT 4000MHz, 3x 512KB L2 + 6MB L3 cache, 65W, 45nm, Retail

KINGSTON, 4GB (2 x 2GB) ValueRAM PC3-8500 DDR3 1066MHz CL7 (7-7-7) 1.5V SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC

SAPPHIRE, RadeonTM HD 4850 625MHz, 512MB GDDR3 1986MHz, PCIe x16 CrossFire, DVI /2, HDTV-Out, Retail

WESTERN DIGITAL, 500GB WD Caviar® SE16 (WD5000AAKS), SATA 3 Gb/s, 7200-RPM, 16MB cache

RAID, No RAID, Independent HDD Drives

SONY, AD-7241S Black 24x DVD±R/RW Dual-Layer Burner w/ Lightscribe, SATA, OEM

MICROSOFT, Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition SP1, w/ Free Windows 7 Upgrade Coupon, OEM

WARRANTY, Silver Warranty Package (3 Year Limited Parts, 3 Year Labor Warranty)

· COOLER MASTER, Elite 330 Black Mid Tower Case, ATX, No PSU, Steel

· CORSAIR, CMPSU-650TX TX Series Power Supply, 650W, 80 PLUS®, 24-pin ATX12V EPS12V, SLI Ready

· ASUS, P5Q, LGA775, Intel® P45, 1600MHz FSB, DDR2-1200 16GB /4, PCIe x16, SATA 3.0 Gbit/s RAID 5 /8, HDA, GbLAN, FW /2, ATX, Retail

· INTEL, CoreTM 2 Duo E8400 Dual-Core, 3.0GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 6MB L2 Cache, 45nm, 65W, EM64T EIST VT XD, Retail

· CORSAIR, 4GB (2 x 2GB) XMS2 PC2-6400 DDR2 800MHz CL5 (5-5-5-18) 1.8V SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC

· EVGA, GeForce® GTX 285 Superclocked 675MHz, 1GB GDDR3 2538MHz, PCIe x16 SLI, DVI /2, HDTV-Out, Retail

· WESTERN DIGITAL, 500GB WD Caviar® BlackTM (WD5001AALS), SATA 3 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 32MB Cache

· RAID, No RAID, Independent HDD Drives

· SONY, AD-7241S Black 24x DVD±R/RW Dual-Layer Burner w/ Lightscribe, SATA, OEM

· ALPS, DF354H Black Internal 1.44MB 3.5" Floppy Drive

· MICROSOFT, Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition SP1, w/ Free Windows 7 Upgrade Coupon, OEM

· WARRANTY, Silver Warranty Package (3 Year Limited Parts, 3 Year Labor Warranty

$1181.25

This is a good gaming system to start off with.

If you are willing to spend about $150-$200 more, you can get the same setup but with a Core i7 920 CPU.

Kind Regards,

Joseph Mundy

joseph.mundy@avadirect.com

Hello Krazyorange.

Here's is a PC spec'd out under the budget you set for yourself:

· ANTEC, Three Hundred Black Mid-Tower Case, ATX, No PSU

· ANTEC, Basiq BP550Plus, 550W, 24-pin ATX12V EPS12V, One 6-pin + One 8-pin PCIe

· ASUS, P5QL Pro, LGA775, Intel® P43, 1600MHz (O.C.) FSB, DDR2-1066 16GB /4, PCIe x16, SATA 3 Gb/s /6, HDA, GbLAN, ATX, Retail

· INTEL, CoreTM 2 Duo E7500 Dual-Core, 2.93GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 3MB L2 Cache, 45nm, 65W, EM64T EIST XD, Retail

· KINGSTON, 4GB (2 x 2GB) ValueRAM PC2-5300 DDR2 667MHz CL5 SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC

· EVGA, GeForce® GTS 250 Superclocked 771MHz, 512MB GDDR3 2246MHz, PCIe 2.0 x16 SLI, DVI /2, HDTV-Out, Retail

· WESTERN DIGITAL, 500GB WD Caviar® BlackTM (WD5001AALS), SATA 3 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 32MB Cache

· RAID, No RAID, Independent HDD Drives

· SONY, AD-7241S Black 24x DVD±R/RW Dual-Layer Burner w/ Lightscribe, SATA, OEM

· ALPS, DF354H Black Internal 1.44MB 3.5" Floppy Drive

· NONE, No Operating System (Choose OS or subject to Limited Support)

· WARRANTY, Silver Warranty Package (3 Year Limited Parts, 3 Year Labor Warranty)

Notice that there is no OS included with this quote. You can easily use your previous operating system with this one, as long as it's retail and not OEM. Regardless, if you can find it in yourself to spend another $100-$120 foranOS with thissystem it will be well worth it.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Kind Regards,

Joseph Mundy

joseph.mundy@avadirect.com

It is actually a case manufactured by NZXT, in combination with our custom RED paint option:

http://www.avadirect.com/product_details_parts.asp?PRID=11181

If you have anymore questions, please do not hesitate to send me a private message.

Kind Regards,

ANTEC, Three Hundred Black Mid-Tower Case, ATX, No PSU

CORSAIR, CMPSU-550VX VX Series Power Supply, 550W, 80 PLUS®, 24-pin ATX12V EPS12V, SLI Ready

ASUS, P5QL Pro, LGA775, Intel® P43, 1600MHz (O.C.) FSB, DDR2-1066 16GB /4, PCIe x16, SATA 3 Gb/s /6, HDA, GbLAN, ATX, Retail

INTEL, CoreTM 2 Quad Q8400 Quad-Core 2.66GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 4MB L2 Cache, 45nm, 95W, EM64T EIST VT XD, Retail

KINGSTON, 4GB (2 x 2GB) ValueRAM PC2-5300 DDR2 667MHz CL5 SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC

EVGA, GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked, GTX 260 626MHz, 896MB GDDR3 2106MHz, PCIe x16 SLI, DVI /2, HDTV Out, Retail

WESTERN DIGITAL, 500GB WD Caviar® BlackTM (WD5001AALS), SATA 3 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 32MB Cache

RAID, No RAID, Independent HDD Drives

LITE-ON, iHAS324 Black 24x DVD±RW Dual-Layer Burner w/ Smart Erase, SATA, Retail

MICROSOFT, Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition SP1, w/ Free Windows 7 Upgrade Coupon, OEM

WARRANTY, Silver Warranty Package (3 Year Limited Parts, 3 Year Labor Warranty

Price is $989.67

This configuration is a bit over your budget, but it could always be slimmed down in some areas...just something to think about! :-)

Hello TheBlackKnightX,

Feel free to shoot me an email and I will be more than happy to assist you with a build that will best suit your needs.

Kind Regards,

Joseph Mundy

joseph.mundy@avadirect.com

Memory6GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM

Graphics128MB (shared) Intel GMA 3100 integrated graphics chip

Hard drives750GB, 7,200 rpm Seagate

These are the specs of the Dell system you are inquiring about. I found them at at review from CNET, where they labeled this system as a nice "workaday" desktop, but not really for gaming. You would want a system more along the lines of this:

ANTEC, Sonata Plus 550 Black/Silver Mid-Tower Case, ATX, 550W PSU

ASUS, P5Q, LGA775, Intel® P45, 1600MHz FSB, DDR2-1200 16GB /4, PCIe x16, SATA 3.0 Gbit/s RAID 5 /8, HDA, GbLAN, FW /2, ATX, Retail

INTEL, CoreTM 2 Duo E8400 Dual-Core, 3.0GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 6MB L2 Cache, 45nm, 65W, EM64T EIST VT XD, Retail

KINGSTON, 4GB (2 x 2GB) HyperX PC2-6400 DDR2 800MHz CL5 (5-5-5-15) SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC

eVGA, e-GeForce® 9800 GTX+ Superclocked 756MHz, 512MB GDDR3 2246MHz, PCIe x16 SLI, DVI /2, HDTV-Out, Retail

WESTERN DIGITAL, 500GB WD Caviar® BlackTM (WD5001AALS), SATA 3 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 32MB Cache

RAID, No RAID, Independent HDD Drives

SAMSUNG, Super-WriteMasterTM SH-S223 Black 22x DVD±R/RW Dual-Layer Burner, SATA, w/ Software, OEM

MICROSOFT, Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition w/ SP1, OEM

WARRANTY, Silver Warranty Package (3 Year Limited Parts, 3 Year Labor Warranty)

Price: $992.05

This system would be able to play Crysis at mid-high graphic settings, at lower resolutions of about 1280X720, which is still pretty good for the price.

You also have to remember a computer is only as fast as it's slowest component. The parts that have dedicated processors (GPU, sound card, RAID controller, Network card) will take stress off of the CPU. In return it will allow your CPU to run faster because it does not have to handle so much at once.

Do you monitor your GPU temperatures? A dual-monitor display makes your GPU work more, and in return raises the temperatures. That can cause all sorts of wierd display problems.. I am assuming this does not happen when you use a single monitor, and if I'm right that's a definite sign. That may even add to the reason why that one monitor will drop to 59hz on its own.