ok heres what I have right now, price is listed at the end. all from newegg so just copy and paste the names and search them to find the quick.
processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ (I have heard that you can easily overclock this to be as fast as the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+.) $460.00
graphics card: SAPPHIRE 100131L Radeon X800GTO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X (I am unsure of which graphics card to get, this ones seems like a good balance of performance and cost. I just need a card with which to play bf2 until I have enough money to upgrade if you have any suggestions.) $170.00
memory: CORSAIR 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 400 (this is something I am also uncertain about, Im not sure how big of a difference the Pin makes or even what it is really. I only know low is good and high is bad...right?) $239.99
sound card: Creative Sound Blaster SB0570 Audigy SE 7.1 (I was under the impression that sound cards aren't very important so I just got a cheap one.) $35.00
Hard Drive: HITACHI Deskstar T7K250 HDT722516DLA380 (0A31637) 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s (I dont know anything about hard drives or quality brand names so I just picked one with 160 GB and Hitachi was kinda fun to say so...) $64.99
Case: NZXT LEXA-NP Black/ Silver Aluminum Construction Plastic Front Panel ATX Mid (this received very good reveiws and the only down side seemed to be the price but that is an issue for me so do any of you have a good word about another, less spendy case?) $119.99
motherboard: ASUS A8N-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD (went strictly on the reveiws on this one, I have no Idea what to look for in a motherboard but the reveiws were very good across the board.) $104.99
cooling device: Thermaltake CL-P0257 Blue orb II CPU Cooler for LGA775 & K8 (I was planning on learn from you guys on how to overclock and though my knowledge of it is limited I know that I better get something other than the stock cooling) $42.99
power supply: ASPIRE ATX-AS520W BLACK ATX 520W Power Supply 115/230 V CB IEC 950/ TUV EN 60950/ UL 1950/ CSA 950 (once again I decide to get one for the purpose of overclocking but just like the motherboard I have no what to look for in one.) $59.99
well did I forget anything? if not then this comes out to be roughly $1300.00. well guys good build, horrible build, or the worst assortment of rag-tag pieces of computer hardware you have ever seen in your life. Dont worry about hurting my feelings
(nervous smile)