I would recommend you to get an amd 64 socket 939 processor, for a low budget the best bang for the buck is the amd 64 3500 socket 939, and for it, get the MSI K8n neo2 platinum nforce3 ULTRA. Then spend the rest of the money in a good case with good cooling and a 80G hd ( i think 80 gigs is just enough...people who get 250gig are crazy)..and get some good ram such as the pqi turbo pc3200 DDr400 cas latency 2-2-2-5. and u r ready because the sound is on the mother board msi and the only thing u need to buy left is the PSU (power supply. 400w minimum - recommended-, or maybe you could buy a case that brings a good power supply). i think your budget can buy that stuff. because u have already the higher things in price (graphics card and monitor...but you the only high price thing in the list i gave u is the cpu In conclusion i would recommend u to get: - amd 64bit 3200 socket 939 - MSI k8n neo 2 platinum nforce3ULTRA for socket 939 - hrad drive with at least 60 or 80 gigas of memory. - pqi turbo pc3200 2-2-2-5 - case with or w/o a good psu..the case should have good airflow ( cooling). - if the case dosent has a good psu then get a 400w psu from antec OCZ or thermaltake. The best is OCZ. newegg.com has good prices and good shipping. the rig im getting will be bought on newegg.com ( everything except for the graphics card which is out of stock in newegg, so im getting it for 7 $ more on unitedmicro.com.) [Edited on 10/29/2004 8:43:14 PM]