this really helped me alot, im planing on custom building gaming pcs to sell on ebay and this has really helped me in the things i need to be looking for..... thanks im truely grateful :D

Forgot about this thread, I will post my request for info here:

In terms of building a higher-end gaming PC (doesn't have to be top-notch), how much money am I looking to spend in $U.S.?

is the gtx 460 (789mb) really that much better than radeon 5770? By that I mean does it warrant the extra $20-50

This thread is exactly what I've been looking for, so thanks in advance for putting all this together.

I was looking at your Standard Gaming Rig section, and I noticed the prices had already changed.  So here's how fast the prices have dropped in the 8 months since you posted this.  I put the new prices next to the old prices for comparison.  I guess I'm using this post as some public note-taking...

I) Standard Gaming Box

A basic mid-range build for gamers of all shapes and sizes. This setup will play 99% of modern games at max settings.

CPU: Athlon II X3 440 - $87 $75
MOBO: Asus M4A77TD - $85 $80
GPU: Powercolor Radeon HD 4850 (for 1680x1050 and below) - $100 (out of stock); ASUS Radeon HD 5770 (for 1920x1080 to 1920x1200) - $160 $150
RAM: 4GB G.Skill Ripjaws Series DDR3-1600 - $105 $75
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-450VX 450W - $65 $75 (wtf?)
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB - $56 $55
DVD: Samsung SATA DVD Burner - $20 (same price)
CASE: Cooler Master Centurion 5 - $55 (same price)
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium - $105 $100
TOTAL: The Radeon 4850 is no longer available, but since March, that Radeon 5770 rig has fallen from $738 to $685.

Hmmm........... that's really really tempting.  You say that can play 99% of games on max settings?

So I saved up a grand that I wanted to throw into a laptop, but everybody I've talked to on the internet and out in the real world have all recommended getting a desktop for gaming and then a cheap laptop for portability.  And yeah these prices are ridiculous.  I guess I'm gonna make the jump and build my first desktop.  By the next time I really really need a laptop (shouldn't be until March), I'll just grab some sort of netboke or notebook or notbook or whatever the new 2011 craze is.  And since I can save so much money from dodging the laptop tax, I guess I can get a much nicer monitor.

I'm gonna do a little more research and then maybe come back with some questions.

You can do better than that IMO. The guy has a fetish for Corsair PSUs and you could probably get a cheaper motherboard than that. Quite frankly theres no reason to get an enthusiast motherboard nowadays, they aren't any faster.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129024&cm_re=antec_sonata-_-11-129-024-_-Product

Thats a good combo for instance.

Is there any particular advantage or disadvantage to getting a combo like that?

I don't necessarily need the best computer in the world.  I just want to run StarCraft 2 and Portal 2 on max settings, and the computer I'm on right now seriously can't run Minecraft and Firefox at the same time, which is like a knife in my heart.

And I'll do a little video editing and I'm learning to use Flash right now, if that makes a difference.

Thanks for all the help everybody, and sorry for being such a hardware noob.

Well for a start the power supply is already mounted so that is one less thing to do on your end. Overall? Its a quiet case with accoustic dampening and a washable dust filter so its built well with all the features you really need. Its a better case with as good a power supply listed and with free shipping. Its not a bling case, it just does the basics well.

I don't have much time to help you out now but I can put together a system for you for a good price if you just tell me your budget, tomorrow.

The way I build computers is this

I put the 'fixed costs' I.E. Motherboard, case, PSU, HDD, ODD, Windows etc into one tally. These don't change no matter what you choose.

Then I put the performant items into another tally this is the CPU, Graphics card and quantity of memory as these can be varied as much as you want.

Then I try to find the best balance between price / performance by chopping and changing the CPU, GPU, and memory to find an appropriate balance.

However you also have an alternative:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227291

Something like that would be excellent for media and games and that 5770 is all you need for Starcraft 2.

It depends on how comfortable you are with building a system.

So far the only computer I've ever taken apart and put back together is a Nintendo Entertainment System, but I'm ready to build a PC if it will save me a hundred bucks that could go towards a bigger screen.  I'm more confused about what parts to pick than putting them together.

Do the DIY combos at Newegg make sense?  They give pretty good discounts for buying the parts in these specific packs, but I can't really tell the difference between this $655 combo, this $623 combo, or this $480 combo.  Those are cheaper than the iBUYPOWER one, but without Windows or the keyboard/mouse.

I guess my budget is about $1200, but that's including a screen big enough to play Wii on.  Basically, the cheaper I can build a PC for, the more I'll dump into a screen for it.  I'm currently TV-less.

If I wait two weeks, I can increase my budget if necessary, and possibly take advantage of any Black Friday deals, but I imagine those would help more with the screen than with the parts?