heh, if you're willing to spend up to $1500, you'll be fiiine.
I built my monstro rig for about $1500 Canadian. I'll dig up my bill and give you the specifics.
Intel Q6600 - $239.99 (overpayed)
BFG nVidia 9800GTX+ 512mb - $269.99 (couldve gotten it cheaper)
4GB Patriot Viper DDR2 800Mhz RAM - $124.99
Asus P5N-E SLI Mobo - $149.99 (cheaped out on this one, but overpayed regardless)
Thermaltake Centurion Case - $89.00 (eew!)
800W somethingsomething purepower PSU (very good PSU) - $100
22'' Monitor, 2000:1 contrast ratio w/ 5ms response - $200
500gb SATA HD - $89.00
Came to a grand total after tax of $1,426.02
I did pay alot more than I had to, after looking at this, but it's an amaazing computer. I can aaalllmoosstt max out Crysis at 1680x1050 resolution and get 30FPS+ at all times. Far Cry 2 runs even better. Everything else I've played I've been able to max out at max resolution with 60+ fps. Definitely worth it.