I said I'd do it, so I'm doing it. I've decided to write a guide on how to make a PC for the general cost of a console (We're aiming at $500, today), and get it to play the top of the top of the line PC titles, Crysis. Welcome to Jetsetlemming's Hardware Guide.


First, we're going to need to start with some basic knowledge of hardware. The core of a computer is three things. The processor, the motherboard, and the RAM.
The processor is the brain of a PC. At the basic level, it does math calculations at millions of times faster than the human mind in order to process the data going on in the computer. The modern advancement in processors is for multiple cores. This essentially means that the processor can start not only doing calculations extremely fast, but can start doing multiple ones at once. The main processor companies are Intel, whom are currently leading the market with their Core2Duo series of dual core processors, and AMD, whose current processor line is the AMD 64 x2. We will be looking at the Core2Duos, which are cheap and powerful these days.
The motherboard is the body. It streams data back and forth between the other components, regulating it and controlling it. The motherboard typically also has built-in sound processing hardware, and on most budget PCs integrated video hardware. There are many different motherboard features and manufacturers, and wildly varying prices. The most important things to note are the processor slot, the RAM slots, and the expansion slots. We're going to be looking for a motherboard with a LGA775 processor slot for the Core2Duo processor, DDR-2 RAM slots, and at least one PCI-Express x16 slot for our video card.
The RAM is the short-term memory. Everything the computer is currently working on is stored here. It comes in easily exchangeable modular chips, and is easily expandable. The current top of the line RAM model is DDR-3; it's also what's typically used in modern videocard vram. It is fairly new to the market though and its price for performance ratio isn't good. We're going with the tried and true DDR-2, which is fast and quite cheap.

Besides these, there are a number of other parts we're going to have to select. The video card, the power supply (which, as you might have figured, supplies power to all the computer components), the case (the outer shell of the computer everything else is stuck in), the optical drive (the DVD player and burner built into the computer), and the hard drive (where all data the computer remembers long term is stored).

We will start with the Processor.
There are many difference choices and options in the processor market today. ATI and Intel both offer fairly good, and cheap models. We're going to go with the Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 processor. This is a 2.2 Ghz (Gigahertz, a method of measuring the processing speed of the component; this is per-core- both cores of the E4500 calculate at 2.2 Ghz simultaneously) dual core processor, with a fairly high performance and fairly low cost. Perfect for our needs.

Cost: $119.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115031

Motherboard
The motherboard is a complicated component of the computer. There are a huge number of stats to worry about, and vague performance statistics. For our needs, we're going with something simple. LGA775 processor slot, to fit our Core2Duo, DDR-2 RAM slots, PCI-E x16 expansion slot for the video card, and built in sound hardware.
Our choice for this is the GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L. It fits all our requirements and is a tried and true midrange motherboard.

Cost: $89.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059

RAM
RAM is DDR-2, and main thing of quality we want here is simply to get something reputable and stable. DDR-2 RAM is dirt cheap these days, and since we intend to play Crysis, we're going to get a lot of it. For these purposes, we're going with 2 G.SKILL 2GB PC 5300 DDR-2.

Cost: $39.99 for one, $79.98 for both.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231119

Hard Drive.
Hard drives are fairly cheap for fairly large capacities. The only real requirement we have here is SATA (the motherboard connector the hard drive uses to connect to the rest of computer) design. We're going with a Western Digital 250 GB SATA Hard drive.

Cost: $47.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136075

Video Card
Lots and lots and lots of options here. Tons of options. Ridiculous amount of options. The two main types we're going to be looking at are the Nvidia Geforce 8, and the ATI Radeon HD brands. We want something relatively low cost for this build, but with some muscle. After examining just about every videocard on the internet, I've settled on this one; the MSI NX8600GT Twin Turbo GeForce 8600GT 256MB. It's fast, it's cheap, it has a very good cooling system, it comes with a free copy of the PC game The Witcher, and has a $20 mail-in rebate this month. It's hard to argue with that.

Cost: $69.99 after rebate.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127306

Optical Drive
This is your DVD drive- that thing in the front you stick movies and music and games in? These are dirt cheap- we'll go for a DVD-RW (this means it can burn CDs and DVDs). Lightscribe is an option- this allows you to burn disc cover images in monochrome on to the top of the disc- but that adds extra cost and makes the drive overall slower. There's also the option for a Blu-Ray drive, if you want to splurge, and is in fact far cheaper than a PS3 at $120, but that's far beyond the scope of this article.
Comparing basic features with price, the part I've selected here is the Lite-On 20x DVD±RW 20x drive. 20x DVD burning speed (this means it takes you 20 times less time to burn the DVD than it would to watch a video the length of the disc- this means burning a full DVD takes about 6 minutes to burn a DVD), 48x CD burning speed (less than two minutes to burn a CD), and low cost.

Cost: #23.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106228

Case
The computer case houses and protects your computer, and there are hundreds of different varieties. The important features are accessability, ATX form standard (to fit our motherboard), case cooling and air passage, USB slots, 3.5" expansion bays (for the optical drives), and probably most importantly, aesthetics. There are a number of options, so feel free to browse for yourself and pick out something snazzy. For our purposes, the choice is the Rosewill TU-155 Mid-tower ATX Case. Sleek, black, and well designed, it also sports blue LEDs and clear side panels, the latest craze in PC case, and good air flow. This model also comes with a 400 watt PSU.

Cost: $54.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147001

Our final total: $486.92.



Other things to consider: Monitor, sound card, speakers, surge protector. The motherboard has a basic sound card built into it, but if you want advanced features such as EAX and surround sound, you'll need to shell out for a sound card. That's extra fluff however, and not covered by the article.
Since you're on a computer somewhere to read this, I'll assume you already have a monitor and most likely speakers to use with this new, kickass rig. A monitor and speakers are not included within the scope of this article, just as that big screen plasma TV and home stereo system aren't included with the cost of a console, but if you don't already have them (perhaps you're on a laptop or public computer) or looking to upgrade to match the output of this new workhorse, I can give some recommendations.
Firstly, go to TigerDirect instead of Newegg for monitors. They have a much better return policy in the case of dead pixels.
A good quality 20" or 22" widescreen LCD won't run you much more than $200 these days, and will work perfectly for a desktop environment. I recommend the HP w2207 22" Widescreen- It's an extremely high quality monitor, $250, and has USB ports built into the side of the screen. Very, very nice.
Speakers can vary to whatever your budget may be- from cheap stereo solutions to high quality surround sound setups. I personally am using seven year old Midiland brand surround sound speakers, and couldn't be happier with them. To each his own.