I know the Pound is screwed vs other countries, but none the less, Hardware is CHEAP... and the best thing is that, this year over any other year I can think of, last generation stuff is waaay up to the job of playing the latest games.
A 22" monitor is now quite common, with 24" screens easily available at sub £200 brand new.
The original Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad cpu's still rip through most games with ease, the relevent mobo's are cheap and DDR2 is so cheap as to make it a virtual steal.
Last years video cards are SO CHEAP as to make those 22" screens easily and stunningly filled with the latest eye candy, and it matters not one jot how big the games are, cos SATA drives are CHEAP!!
PSU's are now sensible money, cases are the only thing that's still quite expensive, but they last a long long time so it's money worth spending.
It's a remarkable time, a recession.