Need some Advice for a new system

[Nablet]

Okay it's been some time since i last bought a new system so long in fact i'm still running with an Athlon XP 2000 and a Radeon 9800xt if that gives you any idea. I'm totally out of touch with whats good and whats good value for money etc.

Read a lot of good reviews about the Intel duo 2 systems but i'm not sure if i'll be able to push the cost that far. I'm looking to spend around 1500 Euros which i think given exchange rates is roughly the same in US dollars (although the price range isn't 100% set in stone as i don't know what the proper exchange rate is at the moment, its more of a guideline for you guys).

I've always been an AMD user, but i'm willing to switch to Intel if the priceerformance is good. I'd like a system that will be able to run most of the newer games without problems and something that's going to last me for a reasonable amount of time before i next need to upgrade.

I'm totally lost on this one so i'll appreciate any advice/recommendations you can give.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

You should be able to get some info here:

http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=2998
http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=2973

If you take a minute to browse the hundreds of posts like this you should be able to find more info.

 

[Roguestar]

To be frank the General Hardware section is quite simply snowed in with "rate my rig" threads, read some of those and you'll see the core components that get recommended again and again.