Recommendation for a New Rig

[Asiankid0]

So I am working nowadays (teaching kids at a summer school...fun) to save up some money. I am planning to spend about $800 minimum and the highest I am willing to go is $900. This is including a monitor and a keyboard + mouse.

Some of the specs that I want:

Operating System: Windows XP preferred (I hate Vista for some reason...)
RAM: Preferably 2 GB or more.
Graphics Card: I love ATI, always used them, and always will. I want a card that can handle modern games well on high and has its own cooling fan (don't all cards these days have it?).
Power Supply: Enough to handle the graphics card and CPU.
CPU: I heard from a bunch of people that Intel cores are the way to go. Debating between Duo or Quad Core however....I am gonna use the rig for not just gaming, but also making videos and animations and models and etc...will a Quad Core be a better choice in this case?
Keyboard/Mouse: Just your basic, cheap ones~ not like I am gonna be a hardcore gamer....
Monitor: Big enough to enjoy the visuals but small enough to be not as expensive.

Thats all I can think of for now...if you guys want more information, just post on here. Thanks in advance for any feedbacks.

[Sakumo]

I think you should go Vista if you want the cheaper way for Windows 7...It's free with every Vista copy now..And Intel C2x lines are NOT a good bang for the buck...I would NEVER recommend it if you want a complete computer package..And do you have any other specifications, like hard drive amount, parts you're reusing, which currency you're using, etc.

[Liteninja]

Well, for OS, you could probably survive with the Windows 7 beta ... like most of the people i know, but i myself am sticking to XP.
Hardware, on the other hand, i would recommmend AMD for the current budget your aiming for....if it was possible lol. Intel is currently leadign the line witht he highest end processors, but on the other hand, AMD is currently offerring the better value at a lower price. I don't know if youd be willing to change your personal preference to intel or not....

[SnOwBunZz]

as for Corsairs, idk, I just read that brand name on some Nvidia cards (ones that come in pairs) a while ago.

Corsairs only produce ram and PSUs afaik. So it might be a bundle newegg offered.