So you're a games freak. Spend hours surfing the net. You know what's out there in the technology stakes, but you just can't afford it. First of all work out what would satisfy your PC wish list, price it up and check out how much loan repayments cost. You'll find that a brand new dream machine will cost you a few pints less a week - and that has to be good for the waistline.
Games really test a desktop PC to the limit.
Fast 3D graphics and quality sound are of the essence. Add to that digital photography, digital audio and a bit of video editing and you'll need the quickest beast on the block. We're talking Pentium III's or Athlon processors crunching at around 1Ghz or faster. To keep everything smooth we need more than 128MB of system memory for the games to run off and upwards of 20GB of hard drive to store all the programs. Then there's surround sound speakers to make them roar and sound as if they are behind you.