Building your own computer is great fun. Just do your research before you buy any components. There are quite a few tech websites that review all the new hardware. You will save many hours of headaches and RMAs if you read everything you can find on the type of system (Hardware Components) you want before you actually purchase the parts.
Best Bang for the Buck:
MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR or ASUS A7N8X (rev 2.0) nForce2 Ultra400 Motherboard
AMD AthlonXP 2500+ (Barton Core)
2x256 PC-3200 (Make Sure it is nForce Approved)
MSI/ASUS/Gainward GeForce4 Ti4200
LG/Lite-on DVD + CD-RW Combo Drive
WD SE 80GB 7200rpm HD with 8Mb Cache
Generic Floppy
A good Name Brand Case with a Good Power Supply (28a on the 3.3V RAIL and a Max Combined Wattage of 200W on the 3.3v + 5v RAILs)
Logitech Z-560 400W 4.1 THX Speakers
If you want a little better performance:
2 x Western Digital 10,000rpm Raptor SATA Drives w/8Mb Cache Striped on the SATA RAID
Logitech Z680 Dolby Digital 500W 5.1 THX Speakers
Take Care,
Capt. Richard J. Gentil, Pres.
Naples Air Center, Inc.
Custom Computers of Naples, Inc.