Computer Suggestion

www.pricewatch.com for your parts.

for Photoshop: Anything with an @$$ load of Ram and good HDD space (also maybe 2 hdd's....one for scratch disk)

for 3d : A good gaming card will do....unless your absolutely serious about 3d.....then search the net for a good 3d card.

A fast processor will be needed for 3d and will work with PS/Games quite well.

Can I get a monster pc for cheap?

If you call $1000+ cheap.....then yes. otherwise not even close.

Buy a copy of PCGAMER at your local magazine shop. They always have 5 million (I counted) ads for cheap "monster rigs." And by cheap I mean 700+.

duel proc g5 ;) with 23inch lcd, thats what I would get ;)

read: GAMING COMPUTER

id est: NOT A MAC

Originally posted by Rodder454
If you call $1000+ cheap.....then yes. otherwise not even close.

where are you getting jacked on your parts? ;) you can build a pretty sweet machine for $1000.

chris

Fig you oviously know the secrets of the shopper... tell me how?

just check out pricewatch and make some educated decisions. for example, looking at CPU/motherboard combos:
$214 Athlon XP 3000 with cpu, fan
$161 Athlon XP 2800 333 with cpu, fan
$136 Athlon XP 2700 333 with cpu, fan
$117 Athlon XP 2600 333 with cpu, fan
$115 Athlon XP 2500 333 with cpu, fan

for $117 you can get the athlon xp2600 and a motherboard, that's over a 2 gig processor. you don't NEED the XP3000 for $100 more, price to performance isn't worth it. same goes for video cards, you can get a GeForce FX 5900 256MB for $315 or go with a GeForce FX 5600 Ultra 128MB for $124. you're still building a really freakin' fast machine and you've just saved almost $300. stuff these days is incredibly fast and you can build a killer machine without necessarily getting total top of the line stuff. just look around and read reviews and make smart choices. places like pcworld have monthly top ten lists that are a good place to start for cd-r drives, monitors, etc.

one place not to skimp: monitor. get a good flat screen monitor, you can get a sweet 19" mitsubishi (the diamondtron, which are now i think made by nec) for like $300 or so. lcd's are nice but still kinda expensive and not yet worth it if you're on a budget.

hope that all helps.

chris

Compaq all the way xD

also, buy the nForce chipset motherboards. They are worth the money from what people say. Don't go with a VIA chipset like most places try to sell you.