my school is finally getting our computer team some funding for a new pc since we got 2nd in state last year in computer science. so if u dont mind check out the specs. and see if we've pretty much got everything covered.. and if u know ne thing else we need then let me know.. ima senior this year and i wanna do this right and leave them w/ something they will b able to use for a while 1) 120gig maxtor hdd 2) 2800 athlon processor/motherboard bundle 3) tnt2 vid card 4) floppy, cdrw, dvd rom 5) 2 512mb sticks of ram 6) 17" lcd flat screen monitor 7) thermaltake xaser III 1000a case w/420w surepower supply 8)thermaltake keyboard mouse bundle 9) 7 fans w/red quad led lights ne thing missing then feel free to let me know SOK

Get a bigger CRT instead of a LCD 1.cheaper 2.cheaper to replace 3.harder to steal Get some locking mechanisms on the case and external items. 1.what can I say people will steal anything not bolted into the ground A smaller boot drive And one larger for data 1.better porformance 2.saves on defrag time Get a gforce4 mx, tnt2s are way dated 1.the next version of windows will need at least 64MB of video ram from what I heard consider a Webcam/ headset microphone Speakers Get some Legal software

I agree for the most part (sans the paranoia) :) The card is history. LCD's are overrated in quality vs value. Two smaller 10,000 RPM SATA drives could be an option. 7 fans is a bit on the overdone side (unless your school is in Africa or the middle east), even for an Athlon XP. Jimi_l

Planned hard drive is not a problem -- set up at small boot partition, a partition for applications, and a partition for data files.

hmmm very good suggestions.. about the monitor.. we are leaning towards the lcd because they are light and easy to transport.. and if we got that we would definitely keep it locked down or chained to someone wrist... the 7 fans...yea i thought that was a lil much.. how many do u think would be suitable? we got them for the red glow inside the case since we have a clear window on the left side.. hopefully i can get it tricked out in red and black mods.. ne other mods suggested would b nice.. the 2 drives.. thats a good idea. i shouldve thought of that ..i have my home pc setup like that.. w/a 4 gig as the boot drive and then a 60 gig for data... "Two smaller 10,000 RPM SATA drives could be an option."-Jimi_l i take it those are hdds? yea we got the tnt2 cuz it was cheap but will probably up grade to the gforce please elaborate about the legal software..like examples and why very helpful comments thanks SOK

hello with running more than 512 megs of ram you wont beable to use 98-m.e as an o/s xp will handel the amount of ram np. and so should most linux distro,s have a nice day

They are indeed hard drives. Two of these- http://www.wdc.com/en/products/WD360GD.asp Running on a Genuine Intel board (which sports both SATA and IDE) and that processor you chose combined with some PC3200 DDR should be a real screamer. Jimi_l