$400 Gaming System

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811121002

HEC case with 585 watt PSU for 60, cheaper PSU I know, but showing 2 12v+ rails, one at 19 amps, the other at 20, so it may do ok. Think it's got free shipping too.

ATI 4670 video card, 80 bucks but 65 after mail in rebate

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127383

2 gb A-DATA ddr2 pc6400 for 26 bucks-free shipping

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820211165

Foxconn AM2+ board with free shipping for 54 bucks...should also be able to pop a phenom chip in later if you want.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813186143

Athlon X2 5200+ for 66 bucks. Free shipping as well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103210

So 286 for that setup, before the one rebate. Most of the stuff is free shipping. If you want you could even go so far as to grab him a 19 or 17 inch widescreen monitor. Or grab a better video card and maybe vista home premium.

Uhm, I thought the 8800gt and 9800gt were virtually the same card? If that's the case, maybe look at a 4830 as those are about that same price point as well. Granted the PSU may be suspect. The reason I chose it was because he said he was on a budget. On paper it looks like it would be ok if you don't put too much on it. But if you can afford to spend more, then yeah, get something better. But for a budget it might be ok.

@dirtmountain: no. I've lost faith in the quality of PC games, so I don't game a lot on them anymore. I'm out for a laptop during the after christmas sales. I still have my Xbox 360, and all the games I care to play are on it.

@ohiou_grad: yep, same card. Think Shadow was thinking I was going to buy an 8800GT, no if I buy a new card, it'll be a 9800GT or an equivalent Radeon piece. And I'm digging the setup you have, but I think I'll shell out another $20 for 2 more gigs of ram, and another $22 for a DVD player (his current PC has a CD reader, yah that old, so there is no way I'm gonna salvage that).

So far, what I've come up with is:

LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model GH22NS30 - $23.99

HEC 6C28BBX585 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 585W Power Supply - $59.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3160815AS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $41.99

MSI N9600GT-T2D512-OC GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - $94.99 (w/ $20 mail in rebate)

OCZ Fatal1ty Edition 4GB (2x2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - $42.99

ASUS M3A-H/HDMI AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard -
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADO5000DOBOX -

$120.99 for the combo.

Total comes to $400.44 w/shipping. Actually, my brother just informed me that due to my being a student of the school I go to, I get a free copy of any Microsoft product. I'm already downloading a copy of Ultimate 64-bit, Office Pro 2007, and some other stuff. Too bad I can't legally sell it to pay for the computer

And as far as monitors go, he already has a 20 inch Trinitron. Yes its bulky and old looking, but it works, and it has fantastic color (something flat screens lack for any small amount of money).

And btw, the reason I didn't go with your mobo recommendation ohiou wasn't because it was bad, but because I thought PCIe 2.0 support would be nice if he ever wants to upgrade the card. Anything ATI 4850 and up pretty much requires it, so one day when there is GTX 280 power at the $100 price point, and quad cores are cheap, it'd be good to know he can just put those two in and be loaded for bear.