what pc spec

What is TFC & TFC2?

I always advise a build for peeps on what they will be using the mc for. If you looking for good mid-range graphics with support for the DirectX 10, for the the 8600 GTS/GTX. They will run all modern and old games at good levels of details with decent FPS (framesPerSecond). Altough i have run the new C&C 3 DEMO on my old 7300GT but didnt look that bad.

I would try to run 2 GB minimum of memory.

A processor with at lest 2.5GHz. If your talking about dual core dont bother unless your going to run Vista. As XP doesnt use the CPU correctly compaired to Vista.

Hard Drives just get as big as you can within your budget. They dont amke much odds.

Motherboard - make sure you get one with a PCI-Express graphics card slot. As AGP is old school now. Also if you look about MSI have started punting motherboards with HDMI ports for Full HD when you connect it to a TV or whatever.

first up you need a budget... then you can decide what to get. and get best value for the money..

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/

i use this site alot..

If you have xp pro already dont bother buyin a new one

£400. will get you a pretty decent system assuming you dont need a monitor etc as u already have that right?

All depends whether u want strictly new components or wanna ebay it - ive built a few systems from ebay parts and never had much of a problem. Of course if you buy new then you'll have a valid warranty and some sort of comeback if it fails a month down the line

"+ operating system probally or I might just take the xp pro off one of my older systems"

why buy? Take XP off your old one, the license will carry over if you are really that bothered! dont know why you dont want Vista. i find it a lot more stable than XP, but hey! each to their own! (plus i wont pay for an OS if i can!)

www.microdirect.co.uk is good and cheap for parts.

For gaming Vista is still in its infancy so the drivers for the gfx hardware are not has as good one of the PC magazines done a test and Vista was about 10% in terms of FPS behind XP. As XP has been out for years they are tweaked and changed to get the best out of them from th OS.

Vista is good though I didnt like it at first but there are alot of good features and bad ones. They have went overload on the eye candy.