crysislogo It's getting to be about that time in my current desktop computer's lifecycle where I can start to tell that I need to upgrade.  I've had the machine for 2 years, I built it back then and so far it's been a pretty well-behaved box.  No real problems besides one dead stick of RAM, which compared to problems I've had in the past is quite manageable.  Still, newer games are becoming more sluggish and there are some that I don't dare to run at all (Crysis, Bioshock) so I find my browser wandering towards Newegg and TigerDirect more frequently, building the machine in my head as I go.  The only problem is that it's kind of difficult to tell how much power I need without going overkill and spending 3 or 4 thousand dollars.

Now I love building computers more than your average Joe, of that there can be no doubt, but still I sort of dread the process.  You spend all this money and then the process of making it all work is dropped in your lap.  You hope there's no problems, and generally there are none, but it's the prospect of something going wrong and the hassle involved with troubleshooting, returning incompatible hardware, ordering new hardware and so on that kind of wears on my mind.  Up until recently my argument was "Well I can spend a bunch of time and money building a new gaming PC or I can just get a PS3 with no worries involved."  Now that I have the PS3 there'll be no more of that!

hpblackbird1 Because I wasn't too interested in messing around with building it myself I started pricing retail gaming machines - particularly HP's Blackbird and Falcon Northwest's rigs.  After configuring a model comparable to what I would be happy with it's hard to imagine getting away with a new rig for less than $3,000.  Still, there's the added bonus of just getting the new machine and being done with it...no hassle involved.  I was set on purchasing one of these boxes (leaning more towards the Blackbird) but then I heard about this article.

In it, the developers of Crysis (Crytek) show that it's 100% possible to build a machine that will run Crysis, the most demanding game out right now, on high settings for only $900.  I'm sure they posted this to show that it was in fact possible to play Crysis without spending thousands of thousands of dollars, and it sort of convinced me.  Although building a machine can sometimes be a hassle, I'd rather put $900 into one and deal with building it myself then spend over $3,000 just for convenience.  So that's the plan.  I'm glad to see that Crytek had the guts to stand up and show everyone that you CAN play their product without taking out a loan.  Hit the video to catch an example.

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Zuntata - Ninja Warriors
Hellgate: London, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune