Looking to build a Gaming system, mainly for game Crysis, and similar games. Have about $1200 (or less) budget. Any recommendations?

I second jtt's build, but would offer a few suggestions.

If you already have the monitor/mouse/speakers/keyboard etc, you may as well spring for the Q6600:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115017

And definitely a good air cooler for overclocking:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835154001

I personally like 750Gb drives at your budget range for their sweet price/capacity/performance point:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136131

But if you don't think you'll ever use that much, don't bother.

This should optimize your full budget. If you do need a new monitor/mouse etc, stick with the E4500 and smaller Hdd, but still get that air cooler. E4500 isn't all too impressive until it's clocked up which it does superbly.

The OP is my sister-in-law and I have a few questions about this build. If she is happy with it, my wife and I will probably build the same system. I have built four or five computers myself in the past, but it's been over three years since. I'm competent when it comes to putting them together, but I am not confident when it comes to selecting parts. I haven't tried to do any overclocking, but would like to.

1. Would the case have room for a second card GTS, or GTX, if in the future, we decided to purchase a second card for SLI?

2. It's mentioned that the E4500 doesn't really shine until it is overclocked, what about the Q6600? Is there much of a benefit to overclocking the Q6600?

3. The two hard drives mentioned, Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB and Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB, they seem to be exactly the same speed, just different sizes? Is that correct?

4. If We were to go with the Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, would it work fine with the GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard? The mobo says it will run a Quad-core, which I think it's the same, but I want to double check. They are both the same socket and the FSB is the same.

Thanks

These guys (see links) took the q6600 high on air - but not for a budget though:
However these links offer a few overclocking hints for noobs and pros alike.
http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/rev [...] eview.html

http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/ove [...] nners.html

http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/gui [...] uides.html

I'm getting excited. Thanks for all the answers, suggestions. Feel free to make more. =)

I saw that Sonata III case, but didn't like it for a few reasons. First, it has a single rear 120mm fan. It did not look all that great for cooling, particularly an oc'ed system. Second, it has a door over its optical drives. I generally consider that a minor irritant. Finally, although I may be in the minority around here, I don't like Antec PSUs.

You can probably find some deals on the components you need at www.cjcps.com. They have pretty low prices.

I'd agree with Juiced about the Sonata III case and PSU combo. The PSU is very efficient and has plenty of power for any single GPU, since it has 34A on the combined 12V rails. If you wanted to get a different case than I'd suggest the one below. It's $75 - $35 MIR = $40!!! Can't beat this case at that price. Very roomy and cools quite well at this price. You just need to jump on it before 1/22, if you want to qualify for the MIR.
COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Mid Tower Case Retail
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Prod [...] e=10006342

Then drop it this PSU and your set for this combo:
$75.50 - $10 MIR = $65.50!!
CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W Active Power Supply Retail ***Free Shipping***
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Prod [...] e=10006428

or if you still like the Antec Sonata III case/PSU combo, get it here for cheaper:
$110 shipped!!! this usually gets a MIR at times, so shop around, but this is the best priced shipped that I can find without a MIR.
ANTEC Sonata III Mini Case Retail
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Prod [...] e=10005323
the one at Newegg has a $40 MIR, so it's final cost is $90, but you'll have to wait for the MIR to get to $90.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129024

I'm with the rest on the build, so get these to maximize your gaming.
Cpu - q6600 (if you OC later) or get the e6750 now and buy a Penryn Quad later when the prices come down.

Mobo - Gigabyte DS3L is good and solid board. If you need RAID than the DS3R would be the one to get. Other mobo's to consider are: Abit IP35-e or Asus P5K-se (both equivalent to DS3L). If you need RAID support the other alternatives are: Abit IP35 and the Asus P5k. All are solid and reliable mobo's. They each have their different options, so please check them out and see which one has all of the options that you require. They will all support Penryn chips when they come out (from what I've read).

GPU - 8800gts 512mb is probably the best GPU to get right now at a decent price ~$320ish. Then the 8800gt or 3870 from AMD would be the next step down. Those 3 selections would be the ones to consider at this point in time. There will be newer ones coming, but if your buying soon, I'd consider any one of them.

DDR2 - I'd get the 800mHz CAS 4 memory at this time, because its cheap and can OC well, when you get to that point. Get 2x1 gig's for XP or 2x2 gig's for Vista. I'd use Crucial/Corsair/Patriot/G.Skill/Kingston as one of the manufacturers of choice. I prefer Crucial Ballistix, but any of the CAS 4 memory would be good (4-4-4-12 timings to be exact for the 2x1 sets).

DVD burner - Get a "retail" version, so you don't have to buy the burning software seperately. The cost is usually only about $3-5 more to have the retail version.

OS - I'd personally go with XP Home/Pro instead of Vista, but I'm not the one buying. Vista will eventually be the way to go, but I'm not quite ready to jump on it, too many issues especially if your going to run older programs on your computer.

I'm about to build one of those as well. The person for whom I'm building it has an even tighter budget though, so I'll probably drop back to a HD3850 and risk an Antec PSU. We'll see.