--BUILD-- a PC for a budget.

[liambiscuit]

I was originally going to make this over "help me find the proper hardware" but instead, help me determine if all this hardware is compatible and is not underpowered or overpriced

prices are rounded to nearest 5$. if more than one price is given, average will be done.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_8300_mgpu_us.html -- that board fits in my current case and is not outrageously overpriced or outrageously underpowered. = 80$

http://www.nvidia.com/object/buy_now_results_ci.html?id=GF8400GS -- that GPU fits the board, it is not a -killer- card, but i plan to upgrade most parts in this eventually. = 30$

I could rip the processor out of the machine I am using, but that is no fun =P

this processor: http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=phenom&cid=2966616771054947439&sa=title#ps-sellers provides the power I need, (well not need, but power is good until it corrupts =) ) and fits in that board. = 160$

Does this ram fit? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR2_SDRAM I am not sure... when I look at the top-down view of the motherboard... looks too small. if it does, that would be 30$ per 2 gigs. Going to go with 1 stick for now = 30$

I have a few 250-gig 20-pin hard drives laying around the house. not much of a problem. if it does http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=SATA+hard+drive&hl=en&cid=1071888079588455489&sa=title#ps-sellers doesn't look too bad. = 100$

Total without replacement HD = 300 on the dot. (add 100 for replacement HD)

What do you think about this system's configuration? is it overpriced, under priced? any foreseeable problems? Should I have gone with Intel? (I didn't just because generally they charge a bit for the brand)

am I forgetting anything?

Liam.

EDIT: I own a copy of Vista so no need for OS.

[Griff]

I'll start reviewing, but i need to know what this PC will be used for.

[liambiscuit]

Casual gaming. I'm not a big gamer, but I do like to try games that do need power. My previous desktop (the one this is going to replace) had trouble playing OpenArena. lol. *censored* Intel integrated graphics.

Right now I have an AMD Athlon dual-core 64 bit 1.9 GhZ, ATI Radeon 3200. in a notebook. just seems too little power.

I also enjoy coding, and compiling Visual C++ projects on this machine gives it trouble =0.

I don't want to exactly have a machine where it takes a millisecond to do anything, but I don't want it to lag.