if i were gonna build a system today....
I sure as hell wouldn't ask Modus for advice.That self centered ego maniacal know it all thinks anyone with an opinion different from his is of lower human importance than he.(sorry,I just left his thread)
School is still out on motherboard support for duron/thunderbird.
Athlon works on tried and true Abit,Asus,MSI, mobos(and others).Prices are going down on AMD products but will not drop as fast as Intel because of it Duron being tied to Athlon current price scheme.
Ram is going up fast.HDDs are slowing down,CD-rws as well are going down.Cases are $40-70 for good ones.