$1.5k - $2.0k computer.. Crysis? :o

Erm I built mine for £400 (Don't know dollar ratio right now) but could run Crysis at 1080p on high... It's not that expensive/demanding, especially for the lower resolution you want to play at.

You shouldn't have a problem at all running the game at those settings with that much money spent on a system. Mine cost me ~$1500 and I can run Crysis 1 around 70-100 FPS (depending on degree of OC) @ 1920x1080. It all depends on what you put the majority of your money in.

My order of importance: Mobo, CPU, GPU, RAM, HDD (or SSD) and whatever from there. But those are the biggest determiners in regards to performance.

And I would suggest NOT getting a retail PC. They are way over priced and for what you spend $2000 in store you'll only see $1200 in performance. Good luck!

If you get an HPE-590 for about $1600 base, you can upgrade the video card to a GDDR5 ATI or NVIDIA card and make Crysis....cry. We're talking 70+ frames a second. You can check it out here, http://goo.gl/DmpNB

Or two more 1680x1050 monitors and use multi monitor gaming. Then buy a 1200-1500$ computer that can play crysis with all three.

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=7...

Prices aren't too bad, their low end systems are alot cheaper then what you normally find.

Alright, so we've established that a good gaming rig can be bought/built with $1500 to $2000 - my question now is, should i pick out each part for my pc and then get it built, or should i buy a stock pc?

Honestly? It's about warranty and support. If something happens when you've built your computer...the forums will help you, but limited in accountability. If you go with a pre-build, or customized computer...you'll get not only forum support from other owners, but phone and tech support from a much larger community  

It's your choice, good luck  

PC building is the best way to go, although the prices on that site don't seem to be extremely pricey for what you get.

It's only the best if you're confident you can tech support it yourself, am I rite? lol

The link I posted earlier includes HP house call for on-site support.

Wet toilet paper can be quite handy if you happen to have a particularly crappy arse, tends to clean better than dry paper, just make sure that when its wet you double the thickness, or your fingers will go straight through it old chap.

Actually, you're wrong. When I did my first build I had no clue what I was doing (to a degree)! There were POST errors, product replacements, late nights looking up error codes and troubleshooting until I couldn't think any longer! But after that build, after everything was finally configured correctly, accomplishing that encouraged to delve deeper in computers and made me want to learn more. Also, it has given me valuable experience.

Now, I can now fully build a PC in no time at all. And, if any problems present themselves, more times than not I know what the issue is in a few short minutes. Just because you work for HP doesn't mean you should try and detour PC enthusiasts from strengthening their interest in computers on hopes that they might buy an HP (or stay in the "retail world" when buying a computer).

So, my advice is to build it yourself. It's more than worth it in the long run, both money and experience wise.

Sorry you took it wrong, I couldn't agree more with you. I don't mean to deter, I build my own computers. But I cannot build my own laptops, so I go with HP   Someone who might not have the time to learn everything about computers, POST error etc. may want a different option.

I never had any issues building my first computer...
I knew how everything worked though, I replaced most of my old computer before building my own. All in all, it's not anywheres near as difficult as it appears.

Build it. Get a good Corsair 800Watt+
Get a good midi-tower case.
Get 2xRadeon 6950's or 2xGTX560Ti's
Get a Core i5 2500K
Get a good P67 motherboard
Get 2x4GB DDR3 1600MHz 1.5v or higher clock (try and stay at 1.5v)
Get a 100GB Crucial SSD or OCZ SSD
Get a 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 or F4
Get Windows 7 RETAIL version.

Then:

Spend the next few years making love to your PC

+1