Thanks for all the feedback guys! Especially for your in-depth analysis Gilga! I'll definitely be checking out the option you mentioned! My dream is to have a fast-loading dalaran that never lags! Is that possible with a great computer, or is some of that server-side?
Flame, did you ever get your computer?
I load Dalaran perfectly fine with my system, and I'm only running about a $700 machine. In Dalaran I get 30-40 FPS and everywhere else I would get 40-60.
A lot of the lag is server side, as the computer has to load thousands of items and dozens of players (server data as opposed to local).
PS. I am 100% against buying a pre-packaged gaming machine,
especially from Best Buy. Don't get me wrong, I like Best Buy. They sell the best TV's, Blu-rays, and games. But their computer hardware is greatly over-priced and is practically junk. Also, builders like Dell and others are particularly bad about putting parts in computers that don't work well with each other. RAM or the video card is usually the culprit. Also, Dell's are very, very hard to customize, and they end up costing you more in the long run. Dell's, as I understand it, (although admittedly I haven't looked into this in over a year) are built with specific hardware that won't fit in other systems, and new hardware (like motherboard) will not fit into the Dell boxes. Don't fall into the trap of seeing the big numbers on a computer and thinking it's the best out there. Honestly, I think a lot of that is just a marketing gimmick, and I doubt the computer performs as well as advertised (except for the i7, that's a nice addition!). One last thing: I hope it's not too late in saying it, but Odale really hit the warranty argument right on the head. You do still get warranties for parts, just not for the whole machine. And if your parts are well put together then your system will run much smoother than an "out-of-the-box" system anyway and will last longer.
I know I'm over .5 years behind in posting this, but I was just wondering to see what you got and how you like it.