Need help building a gaming focused PC

Alright, 'm new to to this build your own pc thing, so I need help.

My budget is 1200$, and want to be able to play most games on their highest settings smoothly.

Thanks.

PC Hardware Discussion

Ah, my bad, excuse my ignorance =)

Alright, 'm new to to this build your own pc thing, so I need help.

My budget is 1200$, and want to be able to play most games on their highest settings smoothly.

Thanks.

pinksolidsnake

Not the right place for it, but 1200 is more than enough!

Lemme give you some rough ballpark figures for prices:

Motherboard: 100-150
Processor: 150-200
Cooler: 50-80 (optional)
Memory: 40-100
Video card: 150-250
Power supply: 50-80
Optical drive: 15-30
Hard drive: 60-120
Case: 50-150
Misc. hardware, wires, and "emergency" fund: 50-100
Windows Install CD: 120-ish?

I suggest going to newegg.com and checking out the prices. Its a lot of fun to create shopping lists and stuff till you get the best bang for your buck. Lots of details to be had.

I highly recommend going with Intel precessors and nVidia graphics...ATI and AMD are fine, but Ive had zero problems with what I suggested, whereas a few ATI cards have crapped out on me.