when we first bought my own pc..it was a pentium 3 600mhz..one of the fastest of those time.. with 8MB gfx, 64MB ram and 10 GB hard disk..52x cdrom, etc costed $1000 USD approx..this computer was not for gaming at all.. infact it never ran any games properly.. no even need for speed 2 or 3
today we can buy a mid range pentium 4 PC with a good gfx card and a lcd monitor for under $1000 USD
Proof:
p4 2.8 ghz with mobo integrated lan and sound, 512MB pc3200 ram, 80GB 7200rpm HD, 52x CD-RW/DVD combo, fancy mid tower with 380Watt power supply, 128MB MSI Nvida gfx card, 56K moden, etc etc = $512 USD
17inch high refresh rate lcd monitor = $423 USD
if u are not an intel loyal.. u can squeeze more performance and gaming by using Athlon 64 3200+ without spending any extra buck $..
optionally high performance high dissipation heat sink $20
total $955 USD
who says lcd was exepensive 
remaining $45 usd for a cheap beer party 
today when i look back at the computer catalouges from early 90's and late 80's .. and advertisement such 386, 8MB ram, 300MB hard disk, 16 colour display etc etc for only $3750.. sound like a extremely nonsence dumb joke 
Edited by the boss