Alienware has just been bought out by Dell, although the transaction isn't final yet.

Husband did a ton of research before we bought our new computer. Depending on how much you want to get into these things, he was very fond of tomshardware.com for reviews and comparisons.

Muesli to add that tommyrot is correct, the higher the number the better.

However, note the prefix. I believe that the X... cards from ATI are newer than 9... cards.

nVidia has a few ranges going at the moment. The GeForce 4/4mx cards are pretty old at this point. After that, I think you can identify the series based on the first number. GeForce FX starts with a 5, GeForce 6 with a 6 and GeForce 7 with a 7.

They then add all kinds of suffixes to confuse the issue and delight the compulsives.

You can get a basic Gateway DX110X and then install the graphics card.

Like this one: [link]

Or really any inexpensive computer with an available PCI-Express slot (The Gateway lists having one PCI-Ex16 slot free) and then disable the integrated video.

The problem is that you apparently need DirectX 9 support in the Video Card and integrated video is very unlikely to have that. But your processor requirements are pretty low, so to get a computer with a Video card that supports DX9 you'll probably have to pay a lot more since all the other components will be beefed up to.

My other recommendation would be not to skimp on the memory. I would put 512MB as the minimum and 1GB as recommended. It's relatively cheap and you get a good bang for your buck.

Over the years, we have learned that more memory is always worth it, and more disk often is.

You gotta look out for the letters after the numbers too. An ATI card that ends in "LE" is going to be a crippled version that costs less.

But your processor requirements are pretty low

You always want to overshoot the recommended specs, I think. I'm not saying that publishers lie through their teeth when they write them, but they certainly have a vested interest in not scaring people off.

I don't think you can buy a new computer that isn't going to overshoot the processor spec.

Actually, looking at the Gateway DX110X

[link]

You can upgrade the video from integrated to an NVIDIA 7300LE for $60. The question is, is the NVIDIA 7300LE any good? The "LE" at the end means the performance has been downgraded in some way.

Second Life may not run on graphics/video cards other than the ones listed above. Unfortunately, if your graphics card includes any of the following words, it's NOT compatible with Second Life:

* nVidia cards that report as a RIVA TNT or TNT2 The following cards have not been tested with Second Life, and compatibility is not certain:

* nVidia cards that report as Quadro

How can I tell what a card reports as, for the love of Mike?