Shopping for a decent gaming PC

[ordnance11]

Gentlemen and Ladies,
I am in the market for a new PC. I'd like something out of the box, that I can plug and chug. Primarily will be using it for video watching and net browsing. Possibly game playing. And something in the 600-750 dollar range. Any recommendations?
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Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Kurisu]

Believe it or not, some of the current laptops, (@ about $500), do a rather comparable job of what you are asking for.

We need more information.
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DEATH is Certain. The hour, Uncertain...

[ordnance11]

I already have laptop I used for mobile use. I was debating on whether to get an Xbox or PS2. My desktop is 5 years old and to update the graphics board, I'd literally have to rebuilt the entire thing, so I figured a decent desktop would do.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Sofaspud]

The current line of entry-level XPS desktops from Dell fit what you describe pretty much dead-on. I bought one earlier this year at 850, but I upgraded a couple things first. Even without upgrades it would do everything you list and play most games acceptably well, out of the box.

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

[Bluemage]

Depends on the sort of gaming you (might possibly) want.  I'd take a look at AMD A-series chips- they have graphics cards built into them, and AMD is generally going to give you a better dollars-to-performance ratio, so you should be able to get something reasonably fast/gaming-capable/cheap.  Not as good as a decent Intel, but that'd be overkill, anyway.

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My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[Shepherd]

When I needed a new computer, I specifically looked for one that could play StarCraft II. I wound up getting one from www.hp.com. They had some low priced models with decent power, and I even managed to get a low end new generation graphics card added.
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"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV

[ECSNorway]

Any suggestions on a machine capable of running modern MMOs? I'm considering Champions Online and possibly The Secret World.

Current game machine is a MiniMac with an Intel Core2 Duo 2.26 ghz, 4 gb RAM, and a NVidia GeForce 9400 with 256 megs onboard.
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Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Sofaspud]

Any suggestions on a machine capable of running modern MMOs? I'm considering Champions Online and possibly The Secret World.

Current game machine is a MiniMac with an Intel Core2 Duo 2.26 ghz, 4 gb RAM, and a NVidia GeForce 9400 with 256 megs onboard.

I play both Champs and TSW, as well as Star Trek Online, Diablo 3, etc and so on and so forth.  Secret World I can play on max pretty with the new shiny TXAA turned on, and it's smooth as buttah.  I'm running a dual-monitor setup.

As noted, I paid 850 for my Dell XPS system.  I upgraded the RAM and the video card, to 8GB and the nVidia GT530.

CPU is a Intel Core i7-2600 @ 3.4Ghz.

I'm very pleased with the performance I've been getting. ^_^

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

[Dartz]

AMD's real strength is game performance. For General computing Intel wins. The Core i7 in my laptop is capable of ripping and encoding DvD's faster than it plays them.

That said, there're rumours going around that the next iteration of Intel processors will only be sold as BGA, so ill have to be sold soldered to the motherboard.

If you want to be able to upgrade your PC next iteration around without replacing the motherboard (And the fuss that Windows kicks up), you're probably best of getting an AMD. It might be a generation behind, but you don't need a whole new motherboard for a speed kick and AMD's integrated graphics are better than Intel's.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?