I have been lookin around at gaming desktops and found that they seem way to expensive for what you get. So I decided I would just build my own and save alot of money, but Im not sure where to start.. I was wondering what a good base computer is to start from, because I am planning on just buying a used one and adding hardware. So any ideas and suggestions would be great.

P.S. I was lookin around for CPU's and GPU's and maybe some RAM, any suggestions for that would be great to. But they need to be good for the price..

You save a ton of money building. To put it into perspective, the computer I just built would have been about 1 000$ more from Dell, with lower specs to boot.

What price range are you looking for? Do you need monitor/keyboard/mouse? Do you need an OS?

9/10 -> The date the ATI Direct X 7 graphics cards are unveiled. You may wish to wait for it.

^ 11, too lazy to click because Firefox crashes almost every time I click reply or edit.

I prefer buying a PC already made, but with a lot of space inside. Just so I can add more ram or a DVD burner or something that I may need.

Here's two builds at different price levels - great value and very fast - but you may want to wait for DX11 cards next month. If there's any advice I can give you, it's build it yourself. If you want us to suggest parts it's helpful to give us an overall budget and what games/settings/resolutions you intend to play with it.

CPU: Phenom II X4 945 ($170)
GPU: Radeon HD 4890 ($180)
Motherboard: AMD 770 ($60)
RAM: 4GB DDR2 ($37)
Optical drive: CD/DVD Burner ($27)
Case with 450W PSU for about $40
Total: $514

CPU: Phenom II X3 720 ($120)
GPU: Radeon HD 4850 OC ($90)
Motherboard: AMD 770 ($60)
RAM: 4GB DDR2 ($37)
Optical drive: CD/DVD Burner ($27)
Case with 450W PSU for about $40
Total: $374

Bottom build will play any game (except Crysis) on High to Max settings at 1600x1200 resolution; Top build will do the same at 1920x1200. Transfer your existing OS to them, or if you can't then get OEM Vista Home Premium for $100 with Win7 upgrade coupon.

Intels Core i5 series will be released Sept 6th. Go with it. Its cheaper than the Core i7s but has good performance.

Well, the reviews have varied from same performance to roughly 10% less - I think some were using engineering samples with the wrong HT and turbo settings compared to retail chips. I'd wait for reliable reviews on this before committing. We don't know how the pricing situation will look - will the CPUs and motherboards launch at a premium compared to 1000-unit cost? Will AMD cut prices on launch day? So my advice is to wait until a few days after launch before choosing.

Quad-core could be overkill for your needs. If all you plan to do is game you could get equal performance with a fast dual- or tri-core. And finally we don't know how Win7/DX11 will change the benchmark picture.

Imo, wait about a month before buying. They are already starting to liquidate 4xxx cards, and there's going to be some great deals coming up. 4870s (512mb) were on sale for $113 AR recently, and that's bound to go even lower with the introduction of DX11 cards. You'll be in a better position to decide what's best for you at that time.

But the low-end Core i5 is about $190, that is CHEAP for the performance. Even with HT and turbo settings wrong.