My recommendation for a box:
Mobo - $130 DFI LANPARTY DK P35-T2RS. Cheap, within your budget, extremely OCable.
CPU - $170 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400. You could go with the 8200 or the 8600 if you wanted.
Higher price alternative - Go with the Core 2 Quad Q9XXX series. OCers are drooling over these. Although, that bumps the cost up $70.
GPU - $150 - eVGA 8800GT 512MB. Best card in this price range. Period.
Alternative - Radeon 4850 for $175. Big performance leap, small price leap. I cannot recommend a manufacturer as I primarily work with nVidia cards.
Memory - $80-100 DDR2. I'd recommend either OCZ Reaper or G.SKILL. 4GB(2x2GB) is your best bet.
PSU - $90 or $115 OCZ Gamestream. If you want room to SLI/crossfire or expand, get the 700W version. Otherwise, stick with the 600W.
Case - $50 COOLER MASTER Centurion 5. I recommend this case to everyone who is on a budget. If you want to spend more money, go with a Thermaltake.
TOTAL = $670 (using the cheapest options)
Yes, I left out a HD, CD/DVD, Floppy, TVTuner, extra junk that you think you need. Factor in however much you want to any of those.
Mouse - Razer Death Adder @ $60 or the Logitech MX518 @ $40. Don't go any further than these, they are your best choices.
UNLESS You play with a Claw or Fingertip grip, then you're best looking at different mice.
Keyboard - Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 @ $50. If you're after a normal form keyboard, I'm no use.
Monitor - SAMSUNG 2253BW @ $250 or the Acer AL2216Wbd @ $200 are really hard to beat. Yes, you want a widescreen monitor.
Beyond that, I have no clue what you need.
The whole thing should bring you close to $900-1000. If you want my $.02, get a new PC rather than an ATV/Snowmobile. A PC would be much more practical. I had the choice between getting a new PC and a sound system in my car. PC was a much better choice in the long run.
Please don't try to find a car for $1500. Unless you snag someone who is absolutely desperate, you'll end up with a piece of crap. Either buy a motorcycle (still really sketchy to find anything more than a 250/500 Honda Shadow or Kawasaki Ninja for that much) or save up a few thousand more and then get a car.
my current setup was about $700 a month ago and it's really damn good, the only thing i'd think about upgrading is the video card
Yeah, that 9600 is not exactly the hottest thing ever. I should have recommended an 8800 or a 4850/70. :\
