Gaming Machine

Part	Model	Price
CPU	AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+	88
Motherboard	ABIT KN9	106
RAM	2GB Kingston DDR2-667	86
Hard Drive	250GB Samsung SP2504C	75
Optical Drive	18x Pioneer DVR-212D SATA	46
Graphics Card	256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600GTS	230
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	CoolerMaster Elite RC-331	44
Power Supply	430W Coolermaster Extreme Power	49
Cooling	-	-
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	722 + Postage

This system, despite its low price is a viable ticket to entry level gaming. It features a reasonable sized hard drive (250GB) sufficient for most users, and a decent video card, which will be plenty quick enough for most games.

$750 Intel

Part	Model	Price
CPU	Intel Pentium Dual Core E2160	125
Motherboard	Gigabyte 965P-S3	115
RAM	2GB Kingston DDR2-667	86
Hard Drive	250GB Samsung SP2504C	75
Optical Drive	18x Pioneer DVR-212D SATA	46
Graphics Card	256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT	154
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	CoolerMaster Elite RC-331	44
Power Supply	430W Coolermaster Extreme Power	49
Cooling	-	-
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	694 + Postage

$1000 AMD

Part	Model	Price
CPU	AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+	132
Motherboard	ABIT KN9	106
RAM	2GB Kingston DDR2 667	86
Hard Drive	250GB Samsung SP2504C	75
Optical Drive	18x Pioneer DVR-212D SATA	46
Graphics Card	320MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS	374
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	CoolerMaster Centurion 5 CAC-T05	67
Power Supply	SilverStone Strider ST56F 560W	114
Cooling	-	-
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	1000 + Postage

$1000 Intel

Part	Model	Price
CPU	Core 2 Duo E4400	182
Motherboard	Gigabyte 965P-S3	115
RAM	2GB Kingston DDR2-667	86
Hard Drive	250GB Samsung SP2504C	75
Optical Drive	18x Pioneer DVR-212D SATA	46
Graphics Card	256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600GTS	243
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	CoolerMaster Centurion 5 CAC-T05	67
Power Supply	SilverStone Strider ST56F 560W	114
Cooling	-	-
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	928 + Postage

At a touch under $1000 the Core 2 Duo system is quite impressive. For $1000, this system would be very quick and well suited for demanding office applications and some decent gaming.

$1250 AMD

Part	Model	Price
CPU	AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+	219
Motherboard	ABIT KN9 SLI	143
RAM	2GB Kingston DDR2 667	86
Hard Drive	500GB Samsung HD501LJ	154
Optical Drive	18x Pioneer DVR-212D SATA	46
Graphics Card	320MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS	374
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	CoolerMaster Centurion 5 CAC-T05	67
Power Supply	SilverStone Strider ST56F 560W	114
Cooling	-	-
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	1203 + Postage

This machine is a bargain beast, with a 5600+, Geforce 8800GTS, 2GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD. Definitely a good value system :)

$1250 Intel

Part	Model	Price
CPU	Core 2 Duo E6600	290
Motherboard	Gigabyte 965P-S3	115
RAM	2GB Kingston DDR2 667	86
Hard Drive	320GB W.D. Caviar SE16 3200AAKS	99
Optical Drive	18x Pioneer DVR-212D SATA	46
Graphics Card	320MB nVidia GeForce 8800GTS	374
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	CoolerMaster Centurion 5 CAC-T05	67
Power Supply	SilverStone Strider ST56F 560W	114
Cooling	-	-
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	1191 + Postage

I'd say that this machine is probably the sweet spot. It has a quick CPU, plenty of RAM, and a very quick video card. :)

$1500 AMD

Part	Model	Price
CPU	AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+	219
Motherboard	ABIT KN9 SLI	143
RAM	2GB Kingston DDR2 667	86
Hard Drive	500GB Samsung HD501LJ	154
Optical Drive	18x Pioneer DVR-212D SATA	46
Graphics Card	512MB ATi Radeon HD 2900 XT	539
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	CoolerMaster Centurion 5 CAC-T05	67
Power Supply	Corsair HX-620 620W	170
Cooling	Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro	35
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	1459 + Postage

This machine is going to be very quick for any AMD/ATi fan.

$1500 Intel

Part	Model	Price
CPU	Core 2 Duo E6600	290
Motherboard	Gigabyte 965P-DS3	136
RAM	2GB Kingston DDR2 667	86
Hard Drive	500GB Samsung HD501LJ	154
Optical Drive	18x Pioneer DVR-212D SATA	46
Graphics Card	640MB nVidia GeForce 8800GTS	517
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	CoolerMaster Centurion 5 CAC-T05	67
Power Supply	SilverStone Strider ST56F 560W	114
Cooling	Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro	39
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	1450 + Postage

$1750 Intel

Part	Model	Price
CPU	Core 2 Duo E6600	290
Motherboard	Gigabyte 965P-DS3	136
RAM	2GB Kingston DDR2 667	86
Hard Drive	500GB Samsung HD501LJ	154
Optical Drive	18x Pioneer DVR-212D SATA	46
Graphics Card	768MB nVidia GeForce 8800GTX	745
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	CoolerMaster Centurion 5 CAC-T05	67
Power Supply	Corsair HX-620 620W	170
Cooling	Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro	39
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	1733 + Postage

Probably as far as the average user needs to go to have a very decent gaming experience - top of the range graphics card with a decent CPU.

After this point, the higher end systems are found in the Dream Machine section