I have never been one for much hardcore computer stuff, but I am getting a new computer soon, and I want to be able to play the top of the line games without crashing. Any suggestions for a good 'gamers' computer?

just buy a box that's already collected.

You need about 500ram, some nifty graphics card (minimum GeForce 4). A fast CPU, 2gigahertz or more I'd assume. And a soundblaster.

80gigabytes of hard drive or more would be good too. And that's about it.

You don't need a Soundblaster. Any motherboard you buy today will have an integrated sound card just as good as the cheapest Soundblaster. Save your money there.

I would recommend a pre-built one. I would have to recommend abspc.com (http://www.abspc.com/). I know several people that have gotten computers from them. They use good parts and give you a good machine for your money. Much better than getting a dell IMHO.

New computer chips and architectures are always announced in the new year (usually near the end of January. Superseded chips drop dramatically in price at this time.

Wait till the new year before buying a new computer. Even 2nd Jan is better than 24th Dec simply in terms of sale price.

You won't get time to play a decent RPG over Xmas anyway, with bothersome relatives and decorations and trees and batteries not included.

Consider getting an athlon processor, they're cheaper and generally faster than an equivalent pentium. The xp 2200+ is $68 US now and the 2600+ is $99.95 if you order online.