I paid 869 US dollars plus tax for mine (940).
Here are the specs:

Intel P4 1.80Ghz
P4 AOpen AX4BS 845 chip set MB
512 SDRAM memory PC133
2 Maxtor 40Gb HDs
Acer 16x10x40 CD-RW
Floppy Drive
Gforce 2 AGP 64 Mb
SB Live 5.1 Digital
P4 ATX MidTower case (No Lian Li )
Altec lansing speakers
3Com 10/100 network card
KB
Mouse

This was in January. I know some components aren't that great, but it runs SOF2 like diarreah when you drink mexican water.

Hmm yeah... if your serious about playing games I dont know why you would consider an HP either.  Buying an HP computer is about half a step farther up the latter then a "State of the art E-Machine"

Buhahahaha

I have to say, primarily, I didn't get the computer for gaming. I got it for computer animation, as I am an animation student who needed a decent computer to run Maya and Animation Master. I thought that the fact that it had a DVD writer and and DVD player was useful too, because we dont have a DVD player at our house until now!  The gaming was an advantage of having such a powerful machine! Well, it should have been...          

Sorry to hear that,but that's exactly the reason why i don't buy these manufactured machines anymore,my first computer was an IBM Aptiva-series it was a good machine for the time being but with way too little options to play with,onboard-video,onboard-sound,a bios in which the only setting you could make was changing the time and date,etc.So i got rid of that thing for a fairly good price and bought a new rig for about two months ago,which is built by a vendor with all the components i wanted to have,and i'm very pleased about it.

AMD Athlon XP 1800+
Asus A7V266EX onboard-sound CMedia 8736 6 channel output.
(can be disabled in BIOS)
Creative 3Dblaster Geforce 3 Ti 200.
KingstonValueRam 512 Mb pc 2100.
Maxtor 40 Gb 7200 rpm ATA 133
Cambridge Soundworks SW 320 speakers.
Fujitsu Siemens 17" monitor

Come ON!!, give him a break!. how many people did'nt buy a POS their first time?. mine was a P3450 from PC~fukin~world!!!. at least he brought an Athlon

I have to say that I was quite lucky with the first computer I ever bought... (PII 350Mhz! ) it was from Tiny! I had the #### thing for eight goddam years, and never, EVER had a problem with it! I shouldn't have gone on that impulse.... I should have waited until I had enough money to afford a custom built one! At least then, I could have done without any flicking onboard poo-poo!
Oh, and to mock me even more, MP3s are beginning to jump and stutter... oh, HP... I HATE YOU SO MUCH! OH, and the internet is now making this cuntfuckshitbollockswank computer crash too... life just keeps getting better and better... Should I really have been punished to this degree for wanting the best?    

I've got an HP too man, I know how you feel all to well...  I remember more then once screamign at the top of my lungs

"WTF did I do to deserve this?!"

But I've learned my lesson now, never again.  The closest I'll come to a branded PC is the one I'm forced to use at work.

all you really need is a new mobo. you can get a good KA266 one cheap enough nowadays... oh and a new PSU!!, some dude with a Dell said they put a 185watt PSU in his Athlon 900 rig  

My personal opinion, HP should stick to printers.  Sure their computers are good for say a business, or someone who wants to replace their typewriter, but for most homes?

The first computer I bought with my own money was a NEC Pentuim Pro 200 (lol, memories).  And I can say the smartest thing I did was get the model without the CD-ROM.  
'Cause, on that model, no cd-rom meant no onboard sound.  Added a SB kit, and everything was perfect.

I think its just mobo's with onboard sound or onboard video that I can't stand.  I like having a choice.  (yea, you can add a sound card, but its not the same) Thats why I don't own a Mac.  

I guess I'm getting cynical in my old age of 23.  

My first computer was a ZX80, and my first PC was a 286-16 (showing my age here).

Reading this thread makes me realise how sucky the censorship code for this message board is =)

As a rule: avoid onboard video cards like the plague, avoid onboard soundcards too.