Solution:

Buy Dimension 8400 from Dell.
Choose the following options:
3.0 Ghz Pentium 4 Proccesor
1 Gigabyte of DDR 3 533 Mhz Memory
XP professional operating system
SELECT THE CHEAPEST GRAPHICS CARD ON THE LIST AND SELECT INTEGRATED AUDIO

This Dell system should be less than $1000.
(if you select no monitor)

Then, buy a GeForce 7800 GTX graphics card for $600
(This is the fastest graphics card in the world right now, and it's well worth the money)

Then, if you really want an ULTRA POWERFUL machine, buy 2 more 512 Mb sticks of memory for under $175 (only 2 slots come filled from Dell)

You will then have a computer with the following:
3.0 Ghz Pentium 4
2 Gigabytes of 533 Mhz memory
GeForce 7800 GTX graphics card

This system will cost under $1750 and will be more than fast enough to play AOE 3 on ultra.

Go with AMD, they beat Intel in gaming performance and cost less money.

AMD Athlon 3700
256MB GeForce 6800GT
1GB Corsair XMS Memory
160GB HD
DVD-Rom
DVD-RW

Including the other essentials (case, power supply, motherboard...), you can get all this for around $1,200 at Newegg.com. This setup will run AoE3 perfectly.

Yes, going with AMD will definitely be the much wiser choice.

I'd give up on your Dell Dimensions 8400 Crusade Zeusmeister. It isn't doing you any good to try and push people to pay more for Pentium processors of which I have no relish for.

ok... i want to know a couple of things....

1. is building ur own computer cheap?
2. would it just be better to update my compputer now?
3. does it take much skill to make your own computer?
4. if i made my own computer what guidlines would i need?

here are my curent system setting,,,, yes i know there horible to go along wiht #2

windows XP
intell pentium 4 1.60 ghz
256 RAM
derect x 9.0c
nvidia Geforce mx 100/200

yes they're horrible

to answer your questions:
1. cheaper then buying one premade
2. probably not
3. not really, you can probably find some guides on the internet and if you are carefull while installing nothing should go wrong. If you're afraid of doing it yourself then there may be some stores who'll install the pc for you. But you'll have to find that out yourself, cause I probably live somewhere else then you
4. First you need to ask yourself what you want to do with it, then you should go look on some reviewsites to find out what fits you best. Then look how much that'll cost and then decide if you want to spend that much or if you can buy cheaper parts. For example a 160GB HD in stead of a 300GB one. Or a bit slower cpu.

Anyway, for gaming AMD is much better then Intel and AMD beats Intel in most other cases as well, but by a smaller margin. On top of that AMD is cheaper.

And heres a happy website of wisdome to help you build your own PC

aslo check http://aoe3.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forums/display.cgi?action=ct&f=1,22472,0,10 for more info.

[This message has been edited by fred_ernie (edited 06-28-2005 @ 06:33 AM).]

I came across this website recently. It's a generic guide about how to build AMD Socket 939 systems by yourself. I find it extremely helpful because of the step-by-step explanation, together with photos of every step, which is what most online guides lack. If you're following the suggestion by the others to build an AMD system (I'm another one recommending AMD ), this guide should come in very handy.

Just a note, don't follow the RAID0 setup instructions (they explain what RAID technology is about)...

That is a very good guide you found Duan Xuan. Thanks for sharing it. The only thing I was a bit shocked about was the pricing for their recommended custom-build systems. $1,300 for an AMD Athlon 64 3800+? As far as I can recall, they are not NEAR this expensive at Newegg.

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Im sure prices have droped since 2004, also newegg uses American dolars not Singapore Dollars, so that could account for the price diference.