I'm building a new gaming PC. I have a 22 inch CRT monitor that can get really high resolutions but I don't think I'm going to go that route. When I first decided I was going to purchase a new PC then I really wanted to get a PC which played Crysis on very high settings with decent resolution. But as we all know that isn't really possible. I am also very set on getting price/performance out of my purchase and I don't have a budget. I'm just looking for opinions.

Proc: I purchased a Xeon e3110 for from buy.com so my processor is covered.
$207 free shipping

MB: I'm not really set on a motherboard yet. I don't want RAID or SLI (even though I wanted SLI at first... I've then decided that paying extra for the better MB, power supply, coolers, case is just not worth the 20-30% jump). I was thinking about this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813127031
($59.99 after $30.00 Mail-In Rebate)

GPU: I've done a bit of research on video cards as this is my toughest choice... But the 8800GS seems to be a great deal. At 110 dollars the reviewers said that it maxes out COD4 which sounds great. If the 8800GT or 8800GTS only gives COD4 a little bump in resolution and maybe a higher AA then I can't justify the 80-100 dollar jump for only this. I can buy the 8800GS then purchased the newer card 1-2 years down the road which will play Crysis great. I assume the GS can play supreme commander well.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130332
($109.99 after $30.00 Mail-In Rebate)

RAM: Haven't done much research on this... I would like lifetime warranties on all my equipment and I think some RAM might come with it. The motherboard I listed only does DDR2 800 and I don't really know if RAM speed makes much of a difference in games. I haven't seen benchmarks. This looks nice, thanks akhilles.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145034
($29.00 after $40.00 Mail-In Rebate)

Power Supply/Case: Looking for a cheap crappy flimsy ugly broken gross case (prefer it to be bigger to hold the equipment easily) with a 500W PS in it... I haven't been able to find one but I haven't been looking very hard.
 RAIDMAX Smilodon Extreme ATX-612WEBP Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811156098
($47.99 after $35.00 Mail-In Rebate)

$588.97 before rebates
- $135 rebates
+ $17.47 Shipping
                             = $471.44!!

Pretty good I think. I'm glad to hear no real complaints about the motherboard.

chuckm: Is there a difference between the RAM you posted and the RAM listed above? I like the rebate and it is cheaper and I notice the lifetime warranty. Hate that such a good deal is listed on that site. I hate signing up a bunch of places.

Thanks in advanced.

No, it's not impossible to build a pc for playing Crysis at high res maybe as a slideshow , but it's not possible for maxing out Crysis... yet.
 
IP35-E is decent. If you overclock, you won't be disappointed with it.
 
8800GS is a good low-end budget card at that price.
 
Look at Kingston DDR2-800 2x1GB or 2x2GB. Faster ram can make a difference. Whether the difference is worth the extra cost is up to you.
 
Look at Antec Sonata III with Earthwatts 500W.

Thanks for the suggestions.
 
I took your RAM suggestion and found some that look to be fine.
 
Any other opinions on the IP35-E motherboard?  
 
The Antec case looks too expensive for what it gives... Seems like there could be something cheaper with the same wattage. Any other suggestions?
 
I hope my setup would be a great gaming computer. Calling it a "low budget machine" just seems like I'm making crap ... But aside from Crysis, if COD and Oblivion are great bench marks and this machine can do them on 95% high then it sounds like a great deal... Especially upgrading video cards in the future.

you might want to check out the gigabyte ds3l motherboard.  it's the same price as the abit, overclocks well, and is good quality.  just a suggestion.
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128059

Thanks Umich. I suppose I am trying to avoid that motherboard due to all the DoA problems... Not that I care if the motherboard is dead when it comes (people overrated this so much), I'm more worried about the posts of people saying that it has died midway through using it. Sounds like some cheapish parts were used.

The Antec Sonata III is the cheapest good quality case/PSU combo I've come across. Only way to go cheaper and not fear your computer catching flames is to buy a cheap case and a Corsair 450VX or 550VX (cheapest at buy.com).
 
The 8800GS is a good budget GPU. It should play the games you want at playable frame rates, though on a 22" monitor I would consider getting a 8800GT/GTS to play at higher resolutions unless you want to game at 1280x1024 until your next upgrade.

Get this power supply;
http://www.buy.com/prod/Corsair-VX [...] 52646.html
Pick out one of these cases;
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6811119106
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6811147083
And this ram;
http://www.clubit.com/product_deta [...] =CA4360006
I don't think the Gigabyte board is any more DOA than any other brand. If you're judging this from reviews on newegg, about half of those noobs don't know how to hook up a power supply, take them with a grain of salt.

 
I don't really know the gaming experience difference between gaming on higher resolutions so I'm going for cheap and will upgrade to great later I think. What have you experienced?

I was gonna ring up chuckm. There he was. Could I take them with 2 grains of salt + some sugar?
 
Look for 9600GT deals. It's a much better card than the GS for sub $200.

^ Depends on the budget. The 9600GT is certainly the better card, but the 8800GS still holds up very closely to it. Their normal prices are about $30 apart, so for some people the budget may make or break the deal.
 
Here's a bit of a comparison between the two cards:
http://www.neowin.net/news/main/08 [...] 0gt-review
Look for the links in the "Screenshot of game tests"
 
Here are the best deals for the cards, so that you can decide what you want:
PNY 9600GT - $124.99 after $50 rebate
eVGA 8800GS - $109.99 after $30 rebate

e3110 order date, 3/20/08

Results for
PackageID:  
Sequence Number:  
Shipment Control Number:  
Zip Code:  
Weight (lbs.):  1.452
Date Description Location
 Mail Retrieved From Shipper  
Mar 30 2008 Received at UPS Mail Innovations Origin RPF Atlanta, GA
 Processed at UPS Mail Innovations Origin RPF Atlanta, GA
Mar 31 2008 Transferred to UPS Mail Innovations Destination RPF Groveport, OH
Apr 2 2008 Received at UPS Mail Innovations Destination RPF Groveport, OH

ahhhhhh! It's taking forever!

 
That sucks! I've been reading reviews about buy.com and their terrible customer service/shipping, I ordered something from them recently and I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be one of the lucky ones without any issues *knocks on wood*

I've never had to deal with their customer service, but everything that I've ordered from them has always been shipped to me in a decent amount of time. I just ordered a Corsair 550VX from them on 3/28 and it got delivered today (4/2). I've abused GCO like a madman, and nothing's ever taken longer than a week to get to me.
 
Sorry to hear that it's taking so long. Since it took 10 days to get shipped, it sounds like they were running low on stock and had to get more from the manufacturer or something. Did it say it was in stock when you ordered it? When it's listed as "temporarily sold out" you can still place an order and it'll get sent whenever they get the next shipment.

Yup it was in stock when I ordered it. It said "shipped" probably the 3rd day after I ordered it or so and barley was updated until March 30 as you see. Their site says "once it says shipped then it takes 1-2 days to arrive". Well I'm on my 11th business day or so lol. I ordered my other parts from new egg and they have just been collecting dust. :-\
 
Its going to Louisville, KY and it is in the hands of USPS now... Hopefully it will be here soon.  
 
Mail Retrieved From Shipper  
Mar 30 2008 Received at UPS Mail Innovations Origin RPF Atlanta, GA
 Processed at UPS Mail Innovations Origin RPF Atlanta, GA
Mar 31 2008 Transferred to UPS Mail Innovations Destination RPF Groveport, OH
Apr 2 2008 Received at UPS Mail Innovations Destination RPF Groveport, OH
 
Delivery Confirmation Information
USPS
Date/Time Event Name Location
Apr 2 2008 08:37PM SHIPMENT ACCEPTANCE  CINCINNATI,OH
Apr 2 2008 10:55AM ELECTRONIC SHIPPING INFO RECEIVED  CINCINNATI,OH

You need to contact them by email/phone about this.

Okay finally got it and I put it all together. I'm getting about 9600 in 3dmark06 which seems pretty good for a machine that is 475 dollars. And that is with nothing over clocked.  
 
I bought new games this weekend but nothing to really put it to the test. Company of Heroes, Supreme Commander work flawlessly. I'm planning on getting Crysis, COD4, and titan quest once I beat some of the new games I have.
 
Thanks everyone.

And everything runs really really cool. That case I bought is VERY good.

Grats!

Get a better PSU like a Corsair 550VX or a PP&C610. Also take a look at the P35-DS3L.