Alright folks, let me level with you. I'm not what you would call a 'PC Gamer'. Hell the most I've ever done on a PC was play Majesty, Summoner (god help me), Arcanum, WoW, and Guild Wars. Even my computer is a crappy hand-me-down from a friend that cost me like $300 to get off of him. This same PC supposedly cost him $700 to buy from a local computer parts store (Waytec) back in early '06.

For the longest time I figured 'this is all I need', using this computer to play WoW from time to time, surf the net, and masturbate to some old school '70s pr0n (those extreme bushes and shitty film quality do it for me everytime =P). Hell I barely even play anything on my PC, even after I went through an 'upgrade' phase when I acquired a wireless keyboard/mouse from Staples along with a used 360 wireless receiver from the store so I could use my 360 wireless headset on Vent.

But something has begun to change that. I don't know if it's impatience for 360 ports of great PC games, or if it's the fact that I keep reading about these great old-school titles that helped inspire some of my favorite games on the 360. It could even have something to do with what Bill Roper said on 1up Yours, filling my head with sweet thoughts of loot and guns in Hellgate: London.

Whatever it is, it has suddenly made me want to go about the very scary prospect of building my own PC, using what little money I have and the knowledge trapped in my head from tech classes to build a rig capable of at least playing these games in the mid-high area with a great framerate regardless.

Now I do have SOME idea on how to build a PC, having done it a few times back in my computer tech classes in high school. I know which wire goes where, how to install an OS, partitioning a drive, all of that. But what I'm not sure about is what I actually NEED in order to build something decent.

You see, when we built the computers in tech class, we were given the parts already and told to build. If we screwed up, we at least had the teacher there to give us a hand, show us what we fucked up on. But I've never before attempted to shop around, find what I needed in order to properly piece together a working machine. Everything from what power supply to get to the motherboard, the case, even whether to get SLI or non-SLI to save on costs; all of this is proving quite frustrating to me.

So I've decided to turn to my fellow bots here on D-toid for help, since I'm sure many of you have your own PCs, and even more of you have built your own I bet. What would you recommend in terms of what parts to use? Course if you also happen to know a great site that sells PCs for a fair price, that could work too =P.

My price range is around $1000, and to give you an idea of what kind of PC I'm looking build, here's a list of games I'd like to play:

Clive Barker's Undying (played Jericho, loved it, and I've heard a lot of good things from people about this game in particular)
System Shock 1 and 2 (same with Jericho, only involving Bioshock. Plus everyone I talk to about it seems to have a fucking hard-on for these two games)
Majesty (would just love to play it again is all =P)
Neverwinter Nights (it's BioWare back in the day; how could I not want to try this?)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R
The Witcher (I know this game hasn't been getting the best scores, but it looks like something I could sink my teeth into come post-holiday)
Hellgate: London (looks like it will be THE game to play this year for MMO fans)

So there you have it folks; one man's attempts to cross over to the other side. I've always secretly been jealous of PC gamers, getting to play some of the most graphics intensive and generally creative games on the market, only for poor schmoes like me to get the 'watered-down' console version of a game later on. Granted with the 360 and PS3 this distinction is getting smaller and smaller, but I'd rather not take the chance that a great PC game won't make it out on a console for some reason (like S.T.A.L.K.E.R and Witcher).

I should also mention too that, if you have any other suggestions for games that I should try and pick up, feel free to tell me. As you can see, I tend to go towards role-playing games mostly, though I do enjoy shooter games that offer a unique experience.

Sorry to end this post so hastily, but I've got to get some sleep; got to get up early in the morning for work =P!