While it was a long and stressful process, you guys helped me in my quest to find the best system that my unemployed student budget could afford. I just wanted to post a recap of the stuff that I ordered (based on this groups input) so that everyone could share in the knowledge that I leeched off of you guys 
P.S. I'm not saying that this is a high end system nor do I want to start an AMD vs. Intel flame war.. This is just the best bang for MY buck.. Thanks!
Motherboard : Abit BH7- I was thinking about going with a SIS DC chipset board but noticed that some people had issues with the chipset/boards (based on posts in this forum).. Also, the BH7 is supposed to be a great overclocker - (purchased from excaliberPC.com)
CPU: Intel P4 2.4B - I spent a little more getting this from Excaliberpc ($280 shipped with BH7 motherboard-retail boxed) but liked that it was DEFINATELY a C1 stepping while NewEgg was still shipping a few B0s. Also worth mentioning is that Outpost.com has some very overclockable P4s for sale (I just couldn't justify the extra money since I won't be trying to push the CPU past 166FSB)
RAM: The place I think I screwed up in the sake of saving a few bucks - 512MB pc3500 CL2.0 memory from hardcorecooling.com ($100 shipped) .. Maybe I didn't screw up but I've been hearing mixed things about the quality of this ram.. I'll let you guys know my OC success if you want, but I'm afraid that this may be a bottle kneck.. NewEgg has some great prices on Corsair and OCz ram - I should have spent the extra money I guess
Video Card- Still a pending purchase.. I figure I'll go with Radeon 9500 pro... I think I'll wait until the 9800 catches on and the prices get cut a bit more ...
So far everything's below my original budget for a system that I HOPE will push 3.0ghz. Thanks guys for all the help and advice!
P.S. I'm not saying that this is a high end system nor do I want to start an AMD vs. Intel flame war.. This is just the best bang for MY buck.. Thanks!
Motherboard : Abit BH7- I was thinking about going with a SIS DC chipset board but noticed that some people had issues with the chipset/boards (based on posts in this forum).. Also, the BH7 is supposed to be a great overclocker - (purchased from excaliberPC.com)
CPU: Intel P4 2.4B - I spent a little more getting this from Excaliberpc ($280 shipped with BH7 motherboard-retail boxed) but liked that it was DEFINATELY a C1 stepping while NewEgg was still shipping a few B0s. Also worth mentioning is that Outpost.com has some very overclockable P4s for sale (I just couldn't justify the extra money since I won't be trying to push the CPU past 166FSB)
RAM: The place I think I screwed up in the sake of saving a few bucks - 512MB pc3500 CL2.0 memory from hardcorecooling.com ($100 shipped) .. Maybe I didn't screw up but I've been hearing mixed things about the quality of this ram.. I'll let you guys know my OC success if you want, but I'm afraid that this may be a bottle kneck.. NewEgg has some great prices on Corsair and OCz ram - I should have spent the extra money I guess
Video Card- Still a pending purchase.. I figure I'll go with Radeon 9500 pro... I think I'll wait until the 9800 catches on and the prices get cut a bit more ...
So far everything's below my original budget for a system that I HOPE will push 3.0ghz. Thanks guys for all the help and advice!
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