I'm looking to upgrade or replace my current rig: Athlon64 3800 Asus A8v 1gb X1600 pro With something that is top end. Price isn't an issue because im still weighing up how much i would like to spend, however i do have an idea of the kind of machine i want. My current rig i spent £800 about 3/4 years ago on the top 3 components there, they have lasted me well with only the GPU needing upgrading. I would like to do a similar thing, with the target machine being a good gaming rig but not one that is going to be OTT. For example no SLI and no components that are vastly more expensive due to being brand new. So i have been looking at one of these bundles... here Now i can't see the point in going for the top priced bundle, its only slightly faster but for a hell of alot more money. I'm thinking the second bundle looks alright. Do you have any views on that bundle? Yes, no, maybe so? Secondly i don't know which version of the nVidia 8800 i want to go for. Is there anything coming out soon that will drop the price of the 8800 series? Is the 768mb version really worth the ridiculous £370 price tag? What would you go for if you didnt want to spend a fortune but wanted a nice spec? Cheers, Dave

If you're going the 8800 route, I'd suggest getting the 8800 GTS with 320 MB of RAM if you play at anything lower than 1600x1200, and the 640 MB version if you plan on playing above. The Ultra isn't worth it as you can overclock an 8800 GTX to those speeds, but price to performance, the GTS is the better value. The 640 GTS will save you roughly £100 over the GTX, and the 320 will save you ~£50 over the 640 MB version. The only difference is really how much caching will happen with the RAM difference with the GTS (there is a difference in the amount of shaders, and some speed when comparing the GTS to the GTX, but you can overclock the GTS to make up for the speed difference, not the shader count though). In November, NVidia's releasing it's next video card which should provide 2-3x the speed of the GTX, provided you have PCI Express 2.0 (but you'll have to wait until October to get boards that support it). So, in the end, I'd suggest the 320 MB 8800 GTS for £169.99. Provided you're not playing above 1600x1200, you'll only notice a 15-20% drop in your fps. Trust me, 15% isn't that big of a deal if you're talking 100 fps, and you'll barely notice it if your game was playing at 40 fps.

I'd suggest similar for the processor. 6600 Dual core is good enough for most people. If you want the 1333 FSB, step up to maybe a 6850, but I'd keep it at that. If you want quad core, 6600 quad is good enough.

Saving £1000+ for 30% slower machine and upgrade in the future.

Hmm, i understand what you are saying.

I have been told that overclockers.co.uk were overpriced but having scouted around for a total price for the individual parts in their bundle i only saved £7. Since i dont need the fan but i do want a 8800 i might negotiate a new bundle deal with them over the phone.

Has anyone got anythoughts on the bundle i should get and/or negotiating prices?