I just bought these parts and put them together. It was my first time building a PC, and it was easier than most lego kits.
I copied the build from Techreport,
http://techreport.com/articles.x/15381/2
(they also have builds in the $1000 and $1500 price range, but $500 is all you need to beat the consoles)
| Component | Item | Price |
| Processor | Intel Pentium E2180 | $69.99 |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L | $99.99 |
| Memory | 2GB Kingston DDR2-800 | $36.99 |
| Graphics | PNY GeForce 8800 GT | $119.99 |
| Storage | Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB | $84.99 |
| Optical Storage | Samsung SH-S223Q | $28.99 |
| Audio | Integrated | $0 |
| Enclosure | Antec NSK 4480 w/380W PSU | $79.95 |
| Total | $520.89 |
My build is slightly different, I went with 4GB of RAM, and I overclocked the e2180 (which was easy) to 3ghz on the stock heatsink and it's running nice and cool, and I got a good deal ($140!) on a HD4850 video card.
Performance:
A dream. Crysis on high settings running at 28FPS. Bioshock well over 70FPS, max settings (looks way better than 360 version). Assassin's Creed, Oblivion, Devil May Cry IV, GOW, Mass Effect all running great.
Simply put, the graphics for the same games are better than anything you'll see on PS3 / 360.
I'm looking forward to GTA IV - which will have longer draw distance, more detail and higher resolutions than consoles, FFXIII, and all the other multiplatform games :) Not to mention PC exclusives are going to rock this holiday.
For putting it together, I used the guide here:
http://techreport.com/articles.x/13671
And for overclocking, I used this beginner's guide:
http://techreport.com/articles.x/13815
I like TR's build guides because they update them every 2 - 3 months, and they do a lot of research into each part. If anyone knows any other good sites with build guides, link them up!
