So. I'm (going to) be building a new computer.
 

Come this August I'm going to be building my very first custom computer. I've always gone the boxed desktop/laptop route before, and I want to take things more into my own hands.

Requirements? It must run SC2 (StarCraft II) at medium graphics. Preferably maximum graphics, but if that's a huge financial leap I can settle. Expect that game to be released this holiday season.

What big things must I keep in mind, down to what are the minutiae?

Allow me to direct you here:

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/tilted-...er-thread.html

It's a good time to build a cheap gaming desktop and there's tons of guides out there. Hopefully that's a good launch point.

Make sure you read lasereth's Video card buyer guide when you're getting ready to make your purchase. He'll get you the best deal for sure.

How much are you looking to spend?

Newegg has a decent mobo/cpu combo here:
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

A good sound card is really cheap:
Newegg.com - Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card - Sound Cards
This is really all you need as far as sound cards...if you even need a sound card.

Like cybermike said, check out that video card thread for a good cheap one.

And good DDR2 ram is pretty cheap anywhere nowadays. Just grab a couple of 1gig sticks and you should be good in that department.

A decent mid-tower case with good airflow will only run you about $50. I recommend just using an old case that you have lying around and replacing the mobo and stuff in it. This way you can also just keep whatever cd-rom drives that are already in it.

Starcraft 2 won't take much to run on high settings. Blizzard tends to keep their games on the low end side so that everyone can play them. Hell, my old crappy computer that's 7 years old can run WoW on low-medium.

Building a good computer that will run even Crysis on high will only run about $400 max. I also recommend looking at....I think it's called hotdeals.com for good deals on some of these parts.

slickdeals.net?