Does this look like a reasonable setup?

[slimsam1]

She wants to be able to play The Sims 2.
Budget is probably around $350. Have hard drive, CDRW, DVD, floppy, case, PSU, etc.

Crucial 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-2700 - OEM
Item# N82E16820145059
$88.00

ABIT "NF7-S" nForce2 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU -RETAIL
Item# N82E16813127166
$75.00

AMD Athlon XP 2600+ "Barton", 333MHz FSB, 512K Cache Processor - Retail
Item# N82E16819103418
$97.00

AOpen nVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 Video Card, 128MB DDR, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "FX5500-DV128" -RETAIL
Item# N82E16814135141
$68.00

Product total:
$328.00

 

[Sentinel]

mm, get a Radeon 9550?

 

[Machine350]

I would maybe go a little lighter on the mobo, like maybe go with an asus a7n8x-x. The abit nf7-s is an overclocker's board. Also, save a few bucks by goin with either Corsair value select or Kingston value ram. Then go heavier on the video card, at least an fx 5700.

 

[ts3433]

Get some Corsair value PC3200 (to possibly carry over to another rig or just for the OC headroom)--it's around $78 at Newegg.
For a good cheap mobo I like my AN35N-Ultra.
With those savings maybe you can get a 9600 Pro or something.

 

[slimsam1]

Thanks, folks. This is what I have so far. I think I would rather avoid ATI... their drivers bug me. Or am I being old-fashioned? Is there an ATI that's better than the current nvidia card I have chosen for around $80?

Corsair Value Select 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 - OEM
Item# N82E16820145026
$79.00

Shuttle "AN35N-Ultra" nForce2 Ultra 400 Chipset Motherboard for
AMD Socket A CPU -RETAIL
Item# N82E16813150045
$53.00

AMD Athlon XP 2600+ "Barton", 333MHz FSB, 512K Cache Processor -
Retail
Item# N82E16819103418
$97.00

AOpen nVIDIA GeForce FX 5700LE Video Card, 128MB DDR,
DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "FX5700LE-DV128" -RETAIL
Item# N82E16814135140
$82.00

Product total: $311.00
Shipping & Handling: $ 11.98
Total (no tax for TX): $322.98

 

[Goi]

Sounds like a neat system. The 5700U is a great card but I'm sure the 5700LE is crippled in some way, probably lower clock speeds and slower, 64bit memory. In that price range check out the GF4 Ti cards too.

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

You could get the Sempron 3100 $99.00 dollars itself and the Gigabyte K8VT800M/3100+ combo for only 192.00 which only cost you 50 dollars more and get much better performance and have instant upgradability down the road. As in all the way to a full 3700 AMD64 chip. Just a thought. It would stretch the budget a bit but make a big difference in the future for upgrades. A cheap 512mb PC3200 is the same as your PC2700 (you can actually get it cheaper at this point to make up for the slightly more expensive motherboard/cpu combo)

Remember the Sempron uses the full PC3200 and you can get it cheaper

http://www.pricewatch.com for great prices