Ok, well then consider building something like this. At the $1000 level, I think that you can build a better quality rig than Dell/Gateway will sell you:
Gaming Box (Box only) for around $1000:
Conroe E6300 1.86GHz 2MB Boxed $193+0 1/07/07
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115005
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 LGA775 965 Conroe $145+6 1/06/07
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128012
Corsair XMS2 2x512 DDR2-800 5-5-5-15 1.9v $122 1/07/07
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145566
Chenming CMUI-P-601AEB-0 Blk SOHO Tower w/o PSU $60+16 1/07/07
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811125480
OR Pick your own $75 bare case. Most do not like my choice here...
The CoolerMaster Centurion5 is a popular choice
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119077
Antec TruePowerTrio TP3-550 PSU Active $95-15+0 1/07/07
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817371002
Foxconn FV-N79SM2D2 7900GS 256GDDR3 $190-45+6 1/07/07
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814186003
Asus DVD RW Black DRW1608P3SBLK Retail $33+6 1/02/07
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827135078
NEC 1.44MB Black Floppy $6+6 1/07/07
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16821152005
WD 2500YS 250GB 7200/16MB SATA $80+6 1/06/07
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136055
Windows XP Home OEM $90+5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16832116169
If my math is right = $1,005
If you are not planning to overclock, then make these trades:
Kingston value DDR2 CL4 1.8v 2x512 KVR533D2N4K2/1G $117+0 1/07/07
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820144152
(Instead of Corsair 1G overclockable -$5)
For an even less expensive motherboard:
MSI P965 Neo-F LGA775 965 ATX Conroe $92+6 1/07/07
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130052
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=P965_Neo-F&class=mb
Hardwarezone Review MSI P965 7/21/06
http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?id=1987&cid=6&pg=1
(Instead of Gigabyte DS3 -$53)
This allows you to put some more money into the video card...
These motherboards are also quite popular:
Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 LGA775 965 Conroe $109+6 1/06/07
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813128017
MSI P965 Platinum LGA775 ATX Conroe $135+6 1/07/07
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130055
It's always hard to compare apples to oranges, but if you look at $1500 pre-builts you often get this stuff free:
Monitor, Office software, some utilities, an entire system warranty and maybe a printer and/or free shipping. Only the monitor really adds any value for most people. The warranty and tech support for some.
What you also get is a marginal psu, low-end graphics, cheap HDD, and a cheap but hopefully stable motherboard.