Okay, I am an experienced high end system builder so this is what you should put in the machine.
Athlon XP 2000+
Wait to see some more benchmarks from the new KT333 chipset and get the board with the highest performance
Swiftech MCX462 Heatsink - Don't go the watercooled route, it is a waste.
Cooler Master ATC110 case, excellent design and cooling.
512MB PC2700 - This is even super overkill because you will never use above 256MB unless you are running server applications at this time.
2 of the WD 120GB SE with the 8MB of cache in a RAID config
Audigy Platinum eX
The DVD drive does not matter
The monitor absolutely must be the Sony F520 if this is going to be an excellent computer. That Samsung stuff is only if you are trying to cut corners and you do not want the best. Currently the F520 is undesputibly the best monitor out. Also do not go for LCD as they do not have as brilliant of colors or dot pitch as CRTs.
If you absolutely want the best, go for the Videologic Digitheater DTS or Klipsch Promedia 5.1.
Get a DVD-R drive, unless you want to wait but the DVD+RW drives have a few minor problems with compatability, so hold off but definetely get a DVD writer drive in the near future.
A few notes:
You do not want to go the multi-processor route, almost all games and standard applications cannot use the power of both processors making it a useless waste of money that is not as powerful. Do not go the SCSI route as the performance diference is very little with the WD 8MB drives, just check out some benchmarks from Maximum PC and you will see that the WD 8MB drives are nearly and sometimes faster than the Seagate 15,000rpm SCSI drives. Just think about these things and post if you have anymore questions.
Athlon XP 2000+
Wait to see some more benchmarks from the new KT333 chipset and get the board with the highest performance
Swiftech MCX462 Heatsink - Don't go the watercooled route, it is a waste.
Cooler Master ATC110 case, excellent design and cooling.
512MB PC2700 - This is even super overkill because you will never use above 256MB unless you are running server applications at this time.
2 of the WD 120GB SE with the 8MB of cache in a RAID config
Audigy Platinum eX
The DVD drive does not matter
The monitor absolutely must be the Sony F520 if this is going to be an excellent computer. That Samsung stuff is only if you are trying to cut corners and you do not want the best. Currently the F520 is undesputibly the best monitor out. Also do not go for LCD as they do not have as brilliant of colors or dot pitch as CRTs.
If you absolutely want the best, go for the Videologic Digitheater DTS or Klipsch Promedia 5.1.
Get a DVD-R drive, unless you want to wait but the DVD+RW drives have a few minor problems with compatability, so hold off but definetely get a DVD writer drive in the near future.
A few notes:
You do not want to go the multi-processor route, almost all games and standard applications cannot use the power of both processors making it a useless waste of money that is not as powerful. Do not go the SCSI route as the performance diference is very little with the WD 8MB drives, just check out some benchmarks from Maximum PC and you will see that the WD 8MB drives are nearly and sometimes faster than the Seagate 15,000rpm SCSI drives. Just think about these things and post if you have anymore questions.