This is my signature that I use on the nVnews forum:
Gigabyte P35-DS3R MB - Intel C2D E6750 - Corsair XMS2 2GB memory
EVGA 8600GTS graphics - SB Audigy 2 ZS audio driving Logitech Z-5500's
Acer 22" widescreen LCD on the A side - NEC FE991SB on the B side
Antec EA430W PSU - Antec SLK 3700AMB case
2x WD 160GB Caviar HDD's in Raid 0


I put this together myself this year for a little over $1K and it includes a 22" widescreen LCD monitor. Some parts (case, second DVD burner, sound card, 19" monitor) are leftovers from my previous build. I do quite a bit of FPS gaming and am a big advocate of the DIY mindset. The good thing about my setup is I can replace the current Core 2 Duo CPU with a Quad core down the road if I want with minimul effort. I don't think that's possible with a Dell, but I could be wrong.

It's true though that if you don't want the hassle of buying parts and assembling your own rig, a Dell would be a good mainstream PC to consider. I don't like Dell's because in the past they were very un-expandable; fitment of expansion cards was always an issue and if you wanted to upgrade you had to buy their components because the motherboard had built-in proprietaryness (probably not a word but you get the idea).

As far as Dell CS, I've heard the exact opposite from what Kex describes as "which has improved quite a bit and was always as good as anyone's", but that's all subjective anyway. I do agree that if you want to get into gaming then make sure your graphics card is up to the challenge. While my nVidia 8600 GTS card runs graphics intensive games like Doom 3, Halo, Half-Life 2 very well (+60 fps), some of the new titles like STALKER are giving me issues, although I'm not 100% sure yet the problem is with the card.

Oh and, you can't overclock a Dell.