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Originally Posted by Avimimus
Wait to upgrade then focus on 1. RAM followed by 2. CPU followed by 3. Video card (which doesn't matter near as much).
Release is expected in and around mid-winter (or possibly later)
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I would reverse that order. Everyone today has 2GB+ in new computers and you will not get an fps increase from adding more. Be sure. The CPU is naturally important but the mid-range core 2 duo:s (like the E6850) pulls any game off without beeing the bottleneck. It's on the GPU where the magic happens - and thats where I would recommend you to put your hard earned dollars
OK - my recommendation for a gaming rig that runs any game fine today (and in the near future), without beeing super expensive:
2Gb+ memory. Add some if you use a 64 bit OS, I run a dual boot XP-32bit and Vista 64 Ultimate. I never run Vista 64 for gaming as the performance is worse on ALL games I have tried...
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 CPU - Good value for money...
Nvidia 88xx Series graphics card. Today this card is the only one to buy. There are some new cards on the horizon that may be worth waiting for, the 8800 GT (G92) is a "budget" card that looks interesting...
Regards /Mazex
My own rig below (almost a year old now so don't take it as a recommendation - a year ago I would naturally have endorsed it, but not in the "budget" class):
Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 (@3.0Ghz - 1200Mhz FSB)
Asus Striker Extreme NForce680i SLI MB
Asus GeForce 8800GTX 768Mb
2 x 1Gb Corsair PC6400 XMS2 XTREME CAS4 @900Mhz 4-4-4-15 2,1 Volt
1 x RAPTOR 150GB + 2 x Raptor 74Gb (raid 0) + Hitatchi T7K500 320GB
Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional
Zalman CNPS9700 Cpu cooler
Antec TruePower Trio 650W
Antec P180B Chassis
Dual boot - Windows XP SP2+ and Vista64 Ultimate
Finally, BoB may arrive in 2009 so hardware recommendations for that game are hard to foresee
Good luck! /Mazex