How can i make my computer fast and able to play pc games?

I have an emachine T5048 with Intel Pentium processor 524, 160gb hard drive, 512 mb or memory. windows xp. i want it to be bad ***. fast as hell on the internet and able to play pc flight simulator games on it. what can i buy to hook it up? and how much? also whats the best laptop to get for my needs if its not worth fixing this one up?How can i make my computer fast and able to play pc games?
For today's games, that computer is crap, don't bother trying to upgrade it, you'll spend too much time and effort. Pentium processors are outdated, today's quality computers are dual cores+. 160gb hard drive probably isn't going to affect your lag at all, but it will help with increasing your available space for other software, or pictures/video. 512mb is also complete crap. A decent computer today runs at least 1gb, some go up to 8gb (maybe 16?). You didn't mention what your video card is, but by looking at the rest of your system, I can probably assume that it is also not up to par with today's demanding software.

If you're not playing demanding games such as Crysis or whatever, you could buy a new pc as low as $350.

If you're looking for that "bad ***" pc, than it's going to cost you around $600+.

Check out these sites for cheap, quality PC's:

www.newegg.com

www.tigerdirect.com



Don't buy a laptop unless you're going to college within the next 3 years and you plan to use it there too.How can i make my computer fast and able to play pc games?
you need good video cards most players use nvidia also graphic cards fast internet i use road runner with power boast 8mbps very fast for gaming no lag you may need a good gaming laptop mostly have built in video cards and video cards and can be replace any time but are really big but they have smaller ones know