looking for advice for a new desktop

[ultimatednc]

Since black friday is coming up, i hope to buy a pretty good computer, my budget is pretty tight.

My budget for the new computer is $500-900 (not much, i know).
it'll be used mostly for web browsing, videos, and games
i would prefer windows xp, i hear all the other windows take up too much CPU
i play stuff like maplestory, warcraft 3, perfect world sometimes
i usually have a lot of music and pictures and stuff on my comp too.

that's pretty much what i'm looking for. i'm not against building computers if it's cheaper that way, because i'm on a pretty tight budget. however, seeing as the black friday sale is coming up, i'm not sure if i can get some cheaper parts/desktops,so i come to you community for advice.
just a heads up, i'm pretty noob with all the spec talk, but i'm willing to learn!
thanks everyone, hope we can help each other out!
(but probably just you guys help me, haha)

 

[Trotter]

What do you already have? Monitor? Keyboard? Mouse? Anything you can reuse, like DVD burner?

 

[MindoverMaster]

XP is 7 years old. Microsoft has stopped supporting it now. Any new security flaws will not be patched. The latest games will not work on XP. I suggest you get Windows 7. It does not use up a lot of CPU power. Currently, I am on Windows 7 Ultimate, a i5 760, and I am using less than 10% of the CPU power.

Building a computer is cheaper, and gives you a broader choice.

Answer Trotter, and we'll help ya!

 

[Yami]

XP is 7 years old. Microsoft has stopped supporting it now.

Just to be 'that guy', they extended support to April 8th, 2014

 

[MindoverMaster]

Didn't know that. But still, it is a 7 year old OS.

 

[ultimatednc]

Hey, sorry for the late reply, and thanks for the fast one!
@Trotter I can probably reuse keyboard, mouse, and monitor to save some money and maybe buy new ones later?

Oh alright, I just remember vista having horrible reviews so I was sketchy about anything new. I don't need super high tech functions, simple's fine with me
Thanks for the help!

 

[hubus]

vista and 7 are at some point pretty much different (despite what many say!). comparing xp to vista - xp take's vista, but when done so with vista and 7, 7 looks way more better than vista.
as said before, xp is getting older and older, plus I'm not sure if it's still available as oem or box for that matter.

 

[ultimatednc]

Alright I'll take your advice, windows 7 it is!
I've heard of a few incompatibility for windows 7 but that was a while ago, so I'm fine with it. Thanks!