It's aboot time I retire my 5 y.o. gaming box. It's been good to me, but the last couple o' years I've just had to sit by the wayside as new games came out, knowing my computer wouldn't be able to do 'em justice. Since I'd never been a member of a forum with a computer section, I figger i could maybe take advantage of you people who, in all likelyhood, know a helluva lot more than I do about computers. I also thought a few of you would get a kick out of telling someone else how to spend their money.
I'm basically looking at buying components on a budget. I have a bud who can put the thing together for me, but he doesn't always stay on the cutting edge of what's out there so he doesn't wanna pick the stuff out for me. Again, I'm lookin' for just the box... no peripherals. I'm also not looking to get the best money can buy... just a good bang for the buck. It would mainly be used for gaming and a small bit o' web surfing (still on dialup here in
very rural Ohio
). I'd like WinXP Pro. The games I deal with are racing games and shooters, if that makes a difference. The sound card also doesn't have to be baddest available, as I'm just gonna hook it up to my old Logitech Z680 5.1 speaker system.
The budget is $1200. What should I buy?