thiosk said:
Check out computer build websites. For instance, overclock.net is a great resource-- those people are super-tech oriented, so you won't need the full functionality they use.
Newegg.com for everything. DOn't buy current generation videocards unless you get them on sale, spending 100 to 120 is fine in general. Theres no real reason to drop 500 bucks on a top of the line dual gpu video card unless you are a serious business kind of guy.
also, nvidia + intel.
...Why nvidia+intel?
Nvidia used to have some advantages over ATI (like..PhysX, that no one really uses..) like th eindependent shader clock, but that's about gone now because ATI cards have so many streaming processors and so -much- general power, they can handle anything. Also if you threw a game with really large textures at an Nvidia card it's actually take longer for it to process the whole deal, as the shader clock becomes meaningless. Also with DX11, Nvidias specialness is really gone now.
And intel is functionally worse than AMD. Back in the early 90s yes intel was great, for one they lit on fire a lot less. However, now AMD is better for gaming and general purpose stuff, as AMD uses shorter pipelines. It does a little work -really- fast, and it's cheaper. Intel does a lot of work but slower, as the instructions need to go through the entire pipeline to be used. None of the architectural benefits of intel (like the i7) make any difference what so ever. In fact, intel is mostly just overpriced for branding, and people buy into it.