All right, here is the "final" version of a light gaming, home/office system... any problems??? As always, thanks in advance!

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SONY Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1615/B2s - OEM
MSI RX550-TD256E Radeon X550 256MB GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
COOLMAX CP-500T EPS12V 500W Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
PNY Attache 512MB Flash Drive (USB2.0 Portable) Model P-FD512U20-R - Retail
LITE-ON Black ATAPI/E-IDE 5X DVD-RAM Write DVD Burner With LightScribe Model SHM-165H6S - Retail
ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3200BPBOX - Retail
Patriot Signature Series 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model PSD1G400KH - Retail
Symantec Norton Antivirus 2006 - OEM
Airnet AWD108 32bit PCI 802.11g 108Mbps Wireless Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16833338014 $23.50
Creative Inspire T3000 29 Watts 2.1 Speaker - Retail
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
SAMSUNG 940b Silver 19" 8ms LCD Monitor - Retail
TOTAL: $1099 (Includes S&H)
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-Rick

I would check in the gfxcard forum about that card. Hopefully they wont laugh too much. I believe it's just an overpriced 300, but they know better than me.

Get at least an x800. x550 is for better than integrated, so windows will run smoother. Not for gaming. I suggest the x800 GT.

It looks like that may not fit his budget. I was thinking more in the 700pro 6600 lines.
I should say that everything else looks taylor made to his needs. Fine choices.

Actually MSI has one discounted for $30 on Newegg so it is $99 ($29 more than this 550). Thanks guys, I will make that switch! I suck with video cards ... I need to take Video cards 101. I always look at the bit rate, speed, # pipelines, DirectX/OpenGL support ....., but I just don't seem to "get it". Can someone write a nice 3-4 paragraph explanation of these relationships and what to look for (I am sure it's been done 100X, so just point me to it)???? Thanks again. -Rick

X550 DAMN THATS SLOW GET YOURSELF AN X1600 OR X700!

I say get yourself 2GB of RAM, (2x1GB) if you're going to change anything. That way you can get to 4GB easier later by just adding 2 more sticks and you won't have to ditch the 512 sticks. Do you think you would upgrade later or just build a new system in a couple of years?

If you're going to get Vista next year it's definitely worth it. But if you're going to stay with XP for a while then you probably won't need the extra juice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820220079