becroydon said:
no forget nvidia, ati 5600xt pro is good and relatively cheap
I think you mean Radeon 9600 XT
by the $2000 price I'm assuming it's in Aussie dollars am I right?
if that is the case:
a $500 machine I don't reccomend
a $1000 is much better but still don't reccomend
$1500 machine
P4 3.2GHZ
Asus P4P800 - not sure if this has SATA ports
Radeon 9600 pro
average case, but make sure you're not getting less than 400W PSU and you should know the quality of the PSU
pretty average keyboard and mouse
CD burner and DVD (I suggest separate but that's just me) from Sony, Pioneer or LG
maybe a floppy drive if you'll use it
Windows XP pro
average 17" monitor
Seagate/Western Digital (I prefer Seagate) 80/120GB SATA HDD - or just an ATA100 if the P4P800 board doesn't have any SATA ports
Logitech Z-640 speakers
$2000 machine - I'd get one of these myself:
AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Asus K8V Deluxe - has a descent onboard 6 channel sound card, quality is v. good
you'll want to stay away from onboard video though
Radeon 9600 XT/9800 pro
a good case, pick one yourself but make sure you know the quality PSU you're getting, preferrably Antec and at least 400W
a 19" fairly good monitor, or if you go to any swap meets you might get lucky on getting a 21" monitor for $300-$400
Seagate/Western Digital 120/160GB SATA
Windows XP Pro
a CD burner +DVD combo, and a DVD drive or DVDR/RW - a DVDR/RW might be stretching the $ though
from LG, Pioneer or Sony
Logitech Z-640 or X-620 speakers - the X-620 are 6 channel so you will be able to get more from the onboard sound in the mobo