Wow!, thanks everyone for the feedback, I got much more than I expected. Now I will try to answer most of the questions.
GeForce vs Radeon: I hope this thread doesn't degenerate into a GeForce vs. Radeon Battle, not because it is unproductive but because it has been done already. Besides this is the wrong forum. Having said that, rest assured that I did a lot of research before selecting the card I did. At the beginning of my research, it seemed clear to me that the 8500 was the way to go. I only started to waiver after reading some of the forums here regarding driver issues, but I still felt the 8500 would be a better deal as long as the drivers worked with the system I was spec'ing.
What finally convinced me GeForce was the only way to go was a very detailed article that was linked from one of these forums (would you believe I now can't find it again, perhaps someone here can post the link if they know what I am talking abiout). Anyway, this article aong with a discussion of the driver issues, and benchmarks had screen shots from various games from both cards. It was not the screenshots alone that finally convinced me to go GeForce but they were the final factor.
In reality, for the system I am building for myself, I will be making due with my current Geforce 2 Pro until the release of the GeForce 4 Ti 4200, Provided it can be had for $199 as stated in the
tom's hardware article. But since I am building complete system for other people I needed to spec something with it.
OS and Software: I choose not to address this issue.
Choice of vendors: I chose only vendors with good reputations that could be researched. If a vendor had a bad rating or no information I would reject them. Some vendors (like a2zcomp.com) had better prices than the items I used but I chose a slightly higher priced item from a different (better reputed) vendor. I also rejected vendors who made it too difficult to figure out shipping costs. Lastly I rejected items that arrived at their price point via a rebate, I don't believe in rebates.
Mouse, Monitor, Keyboard: Although I listed a mouse and keyboard, my thinking is that these items should really be purchased locally. The choice of these items is more of a personal thing. Also, in the case of the mouse and keyboard (the floppy also) the shipping costs as relatees to the total cost is undesireable. I personally always buy my keyboards at Walmart for less than ten bucks. I just walk in start hitting keys until I find one that I like the feel of and thats it. In the case of a monitor I think you should look at them in person and select the one you prefer in the store. Most bargain systems are usually advertised without the monitor, so mine is set up to compare with them more easily.
Modem: My one glaring error, which I am surprised no one pointed out is the lack of a modem. Does everyone have high speed internet these days? I left it out because I don't use one, but my buddies need one in their systems. Anyone have a suggestion that is in keeping with the spirit of my system ??
Again thanks everyone for the input!
Does anyone think keeping this info on the site and updating as times change would be useful? I would really like to use the site for something that's helpful if possible.
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