Building a computer

[meebo1]

this reads like a foreign language - well it is to me.

[canuckbid]

Hello. If you serious want to build a good system cheap. I'ld type in UBUYWAREHOUSE dot net into a google search engine. You might be surprised how much computer you can get for cheap. Available world wide.
I'm sure you read "inbetween the lines" on this one meebo.

[heatemyfather]

A friend who has a very very good understanding of computers (not just PCs) built himself a very fast PC for gaming. One of the things he told me was how much performance he got from using fast RAM coupled with the right motherboard. I think this is where you should start - really investigate the fastest RAM available, then find a motherboard that can handle it AND a decent CPU, the rest should just fall into place.

Hard drive speed shouldn't be too much of a factor - 7200 rpm and the current SATA incarnation should be fine for most people's needs.

Stick with Intel CPUs, nothing else comes close, and as others have already noted don't be swayed by quad core as most games programmers don't have time to program for them for the PC.

Make sure you get a powerful enough PSU to cover your graphics and CPU usage as these will be the main draws. May sound obvious but it's shocking how many PCs come with barely enough power to drive the hardware.

Stick with NVIDIA for graphics.

Don't forget to optimise your OS too - hardware is no good unless it's backed up by good software, and while Windows may be a slug out of the box but it can be kicked into shape to run games pretty well, I'm sure you'll be able to find guides on how to do this.