I like AMDs, so I ended up picking up an HP 3700+ based system with a gig. Machine was about $700 at Fry's.
Tossed a 7800GT in it and I was good to go. To save a couple hundred bucks and get in roughly your cost range, HP also has a 3500+ based system, and get the 6800GT instead of the 7800.
AMD > Intel as far as price/performance goes. Intel does have the performance edge on things like rendering/sound compression/etc., but AMD *generally* has better game performance.
Tossed a 7800GT in it and I was good to go. To save a couple hundred bucks and get in roughly your cost range, HP also has a 3500+ based system, and get the 6800GT instead of the 7800.
AMD > Intel as far as price/performance goes. Intel does have the performance edge on things like rendering/sound compression/etc., but AMD *generally* has better game performance.