Yes My system doesn't meet mim requirements.

Im running a HP MEDIA CENTER PCm7334n that has an ATI Radion 200 express card, if anyone can recomend a replacement card, Id be grateful.

Or who makes the best SL machine out there up to around 3k in cost?
thanks

The m7334n is an AMD dual core Athlon 3800+ 2.0 GHz machine with probably 1gig of RAM. You could upgrade the graphics card, RAM and power supply for around $600-$700 and stay in good shape with SL for the foreseeable future. But. If you’re ready to spend that much then $3000 should be plenty to get a really nice desk top and nice wide monitor. HP and Dell are still probably the best choice for retail and mail order desktops, but you could have one built too. I’m an HP fan for a few reasons but just remember this rule. Buy as much PC as you can now afford then stop shopping. It will seem obsolete soon enough. 3 to 4 years is the average life for most PCs. Less for gaming machines. IMO

ibuypower.com

if you do (for some awefull reason) goto dell or HP watch out just cause its expensive doesnt mean its worth while, i can sell you a 299PC or hp can sell you the same for 900$ cause it comes with a overly fancy keyboard, monitor, and software

also goto their business sales website, you can usually buy the same computer for 2-3 hundred less which invokes my favorite quote of all time "you just paid 300$ for your free printer stupid"

You might check out Lenovo.
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/special-offers.workflow:ShowPromo?LandingPage=/All/US/Sitelets/Lenovo-HHO-PCs/K100-desktop

I got mine for about $800 after mail in rebate........minus a monitor since I have a good ViewSonic already. The 3000 Series K100 is the one I got with with the Q1066 processor and I put my old nVidia 8600GT in it (disabled the onboard.....it's crap). I'd throw away the keboard and mouse if I were you........get Logitech instead. Office depot has a great return policy so I bought mine there......besides no one else could beat their price.

This system screams on SL.......except in heavily poplulated areas. Then it just goes fast. LOL

So this would work well I would imagine?

Gamer Paladin 865-NZ

Case ( Nzxt Hush Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply Black )
Case Lighting ( Cold Cathode Neon Light Blue )
Power Supply ( 1000 Watt -- Ultra X3 Energy Efficient Modular Power Supply Quad SLI Ready )
Processor ( Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E8400 (2x 3.0GHz/6MB L2 Cache/1333FSB) )
Processor Cooling ( [New !!!] INTEL Certified Liquid CPU Cooling System kit )
Motherboard ( [== New ==] Asus P5N-D Nvidia nForce 750i SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394, Dual PCI-E MB EPU Technology )
Memory ( 2048MB [1024MB X2] DDR2-800 PC6400 Memory Module Corsair-Value or Major Brand )
Video Card ( NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT 512MB w/DVI + TV Out Video )
Video Card Brand ( === High Performance === eVGA Brand Video Card Powered by NVIDIA )
Hard Drive ( 500 GB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache] )
2nd Hard Drive ( None )
External Hard Drives [USB 2.0/eSATA] ( [USB 2.0 + eSATA] 500 GB External Storage (SATA-II, 3.0Gb/s, 7200RPM Hard Drive) )
CD/DVD Drive ( 16x DVD-ROM Drive Black )
CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive ( [** Special !!! ***] 20X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Black )
Sound Card ( 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard )
Speaker System ( 600W PMPO 3 PCS Super Bass Subwoofer Speaker System )
Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )
Floppy Drive ( None )
Monitor ( LCD Monitor 22" Widescreen TFT LCD Monitor Support up to 1080P with HDCP [Black] )
2nd Monitor ( None )
Keyboard ( Logitech Deluxe Keyboard Black )
Mouse ( Logitech Optical Internet Mouse Black )
USB 2.0 Accessories ( Build-in USB 2.0 Ports )
Meter Display ( None )
Flash Media Reader/Writer ( 12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer Black )
Operation System ( Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium + [Free 60-Day !!!] Microsoft Office 2007(Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access ....) 32-Bit )
Media Center Remote Control & TV Tuner ( None )
USB Flash Drive ( None )
MP3 Player ( None )
TV Tuner ( None )
Video Camera ( Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 2.0MP USB Interface WebCam )
Headset ( Zalman ZM-DS4F Dual Stereo Headphones 2 Way 4 Speaker System )
Power Protection ( None )
External Wireless Network Adapter ( [Special !!!] Wireless 802.11g 54Mbps PCI Adapter )
Warranty ( Warranty Service Standard 3-Year Limited Warranty + Lifetime Technical Support )
Rush Service ( Rush Service Fee (not shipping fee) [RUSH !!!], Ship Out in 5 Business Days )


Did I choose right or should I maybe stick with a XP option?

Looks good to me, Rush that puppy and enjoy

i dont trust liquid cooling (eventho its limited to the cpu)

other than that it seems like a serious ass kicker

vista is getting better and better, i personally would use xp, but hey i didnt even install xp on my computer till last year

i recently biult a co-woker this same machine but with a AMD cpu, and altho i didnt try SL on it, i know it was laughing at call of duty 4, @ 19200x1080 (full hd 1080p) with everything maxed out it never droped lower than 100fps

course SL is going to run much slower, its a old engine with "half hearted" upgrades tacked on top but it should still run along quite quickly

oh yea dont forget the click on the free stuff, its not much but for a click getting a cd case, a t shirt and other pop is worth while

Keep Vista and get one more gig of RAM. Turn off the Aero crap............good to go with anything you can toss at it

420 watt power supply is perhaps a bit small. If you have the option, go for 600 watt or better. Especially as you have a SLi enabled MB, adding more drives, or another GC would overload the PSU very quickly.

EDIT: Saw a 1,000 watt PSU added, wise choice.

Although overkill. Those things waste quite a bit of electricity, even with the high efficiency versions.

i tend to disagree, a circuit only draws the amperage it needs

if its underpowered the excess load gets "backed up" and transforms to heat

if your drawing 645 watts on a 1kw (real) power supply your only using 645 watts, and your not wasting juice to generate heat

this is not unreasonable for a new, fully upgradeable machine

back to my rms vs peak rant, if its a 1kw peak your lucky to get 500 watts out of it, thus most of your energy is being dissipated into heat further compounding the problem, then yea you might as well plug a flood light in the wall 24-7 and it will die within 10 months

(btw to the op, your choice is a "real" wattage power supply so your good to go)