Does anyone have any suggestion as to where can I buy a PC online for cheap that would work well for gaming (as well as other basic PC functions)? What specs/components would you recommend?
Buiding it yourself will always be best. Otherwise, Falcon Northwest and Voodoo PC make some very nice, very fast gaming machines with off the shelf parts so they're pretty easy to upgrade. I have also heard good things about Monarch, but have not personally seen one of their machines.
EDIT: Just noticed you said cheap. For a cheap system, sadly I recommend Dell. Get one with at least 512mb ram, and an ATI 9600+. You can also get someone to build one for you, which would be your best bet...
If you are dead set of buying a prebuilt gaming machine, and you are on a budget, then ABS computers makes great inexpensive machines.
You can also check out the lower-end systems from Alienware, Falcon Northwest, VoodooPC and Hypersonic. They are high-end gaming computer makers but they have some midrange offerings too.