i am just learning polymodeling amd i was wondering if anyone in the game field could tell me what a good polycount to work with. so i dont go nutz and build a great model but its count is too high. thanx
well, every engine out there supports different things...
red faction - 5000 to 10000 because it has automatic LOD (level of detail) yet, for most games, aim around 1000-3000 for character models, and 1000-2000 for weapon models...
heheh, I'm workin on a game with some friends myself actually.... so, I needed to know the same thing! 
Just turn on the HUD for polygon details... go to DISPLAY > Heads Up Display
This will show you the number of polys, edges, faces, vertices, etc, both selected and unselected in the scene you are working on.
-(Scoooba)-
no, he knows how to VIEW the polycount, he wants to know how MANY his models should be to run well in games...
lol, thanks to both of you guys. that will really help out. good luck to you on your game