My local PC shop has given me a spec for a system that they say would be a good games machine for about £599.
Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 (2.33 GHz)
2048MB 667MHz DDR2 RAM
250GB HDD
nVidia GeForce 8600GT 256MB
MSI P35 Platinum Motherboard
7.1 HD Audio
DVD RW
Vista Home Premium
The system is Quad Core ready whatever that entails plus another £150+ for whichever monitor i fancy, they start with 19" widescreen TFT monitors. They have said they will knock the price down as i told them i have XP Pro and anti virus software already.
I'm going to look around the internet and local shops for individual parts prices but is that spec any good and how long would it's shelf life be? It sounds good to me but i've not much idea about more modern gear.