Good Computer For This Budget?

I'm looking for a computer from about $600-1200 (roughly) and am not really sure what would be a good one for me in my budget... I'll be doing these:

-Playing Games, Newer and Older, dont want lagginess
-Using Internet (Dial Up)
-Storing a good amount of CD's and transferred files (mainly music) from an external harddrive
-Burning CD's and DVD's
-Video Editing (Just a little)

Right now I can't install much stuff on my family comp because it slows it down and I can't customize it like I want... It's a Compaq Presario with Windows XP Home Edition and 180 Gigs...

So I'll list my current comp stuff, please give me feedback on if this one would do fine for what I'm doing.

Compaq Presario
180 Gigabytes harddrive
AMD Athlon 64
Windows XP Home Edition
DVD-Writer/ CD Writer
Expansion Bay(I'd have to put a drive in there, its empty)
7200 RPM Hard Drive
Comes with Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA)
512 MB PC3200 memory

I can't really know seeing as I can't put all of it on this computer, so if someone is really good with this kind of thing I'd appreciate it.

The stats you listed sounds like it should be good for your needs. If you are looking for some good deals on systems, let me take a moment to plug my favroite site: http://3btech.net/cases.html

They always have great deals and free shipping on everything. I have ordered about $3000 worth of items from them with no complaints.

i agree with lucassix. your computer is more thn decent and shouldnt have any problems with running anything more. from your post, i gather hints that you may want to use programs such as windowsblinds and maybe even litestep. these can both be run on the computer you have talked about. maybe some maintanence would clear up some speed issues. a defragmentation of your hard drive, adware/malware/spyware, virus scan(s) would be something that i recommend as those can speed up a computer exponentially.

a ram upgrade is also something i recommend as many gui replacement programs are very memory dependant unless you get a shell replacement which in my experience have run well on low-spec computers.

if you are intent on acquiring a new computer, the website lucassix recommended is great. they seem to have great computers for way below retail price. my only word of warning to you is to STAY AWAY FROM DELL. they are the scum of the computer world [i kid] and should be avoided at all costs[ i dont kid, and you will most likely save money by avoiding them]

once again, i think you should get more ram [ relatively cheap wherever you look] and maybe a decent video card as your current is integrated and is sometimes not suffiecient to run gui replacements, and other things as well. your computer most likely came with an open AGP8x slot and you could fill that for about 100$ [US/CAD] with a decent video card. otherwise, the only other thing i could think of is maybe a hard drive upgrade f your current is getting too full or if those other files [ from the external hard drive] would not fit on your 180 gig, is to get anohter hard drive. your computer is most likely sata compatible and i recommend those drives becuase most of them are very cheap [good quality though] and are usually priced around the 1.30/gigabyte range so are easy to integrate into a budget.

like 4ss_munk3y, I agree about the ram. For what you're spending, for the relatively little difference, I'd go for 1Gig/ram, at least.

And, depending on what your graphics needs are, the Intel maybe just fine for you (they're not too bad, I have a friend that works at Intel coding their graphics drivers), but if you want to do games, or high-end 3D stuff, you're probably gonna want to grab yourself a nice ATI card.