There's no way around it. If you want to play hardcore games on the pc, you have to pay for the hardware. If you're on a budget, then you'll have to wait until the hardware is more affordable.

The only other alternative is to go console and invest in an HDTV. That's what I would do. Any pc game I can play on a console, I'll probably end up playing on the latter. That's why my pc game purchases have dropped sharply within the last 3 years.

Since 2005, the only new pc games I bought were:
Battlefield 2
Command and Conquer 3
Falcon 4.0: Allied Force (repackaged Falcon 4.0)
MS Flight Simulator X
X-Plane 9

3 years worth. In the past, those would've been a few months worth.