Thinking about a gaming computer

[SlapHappyJesus]

I have been a console gamer all of my life, from Super Nintendo to my 360. I have been saving up to get a better HDTV and now have over $1,000 saved. Lately, however I have been thinking about putting the money towards a gaming computer. I figure if I save the money I have now, I could have over $1,500 by years end. My question is this. Would I be able to get a good gaming computer for that price, whether it be from a store, or built for me? I am not looking for anything to play Crysis on or anything, but I would like to play games like Fallout 3 and Mass Effect on high settings, as well as go back and play games like Shadow Of Chernobyl and Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines.Thanks.

 

[casemods]

I can line you out, just tell me where you are located and what shops are near you.

 

[SlapHappyJesus]

I can line you out, just tell me where you are located and what shops are near you.

I live in Plains, Pa, but there aren't really any places computer places near me. The only place I can think of going for parts is Brest Buy, and I would rather order on-line then buy my parts there.

 

[Ghost_Roadie]

the build in my sig has been in the works for about 8 months now and should give more than playable frame rates up to 1920x1200 on a single monitor and is sitting around $1600 CAD
you could go with a different case like the BETA EVO to save an extra 60$ and then it's a matter of picking which graphics card you'll need for your monitor.

this build is designed for gaming on a slightly overclocked system but keeping the CPU cores below 60C, also built as a silent rig because I'll end up spending quite a lot of time with it while working.

 

[obsidian86]

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/page-261222_13_0.html
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/forum-13.html