Lowcost Power System... Or an attempt I need Suggestions

[Toxicity999]

Alright, I'm building a new PC... It will take me forever to get the cash together total *cough*. Anyway... With little more description I'm working on fetching the cheapest possible parts to frankenstein a beast of a machine. I know enough about hardware sure, but even for someone who know's their way around newegg and that shady ally no one's supposed to talk about building a computer geared for Ubuntu, especially a cheap system, can be... interesting. I just began looking around not 10 minutes ago and have determined a case under 30$ that will let me abuse it in any way I'll need. Now this is a bare case, no includes, not even a powersupply. Throw out some names, what are your suggestions for a power tower? Keep in mind I'll be buying everything piece by piece so I couldn't throw out a rough final cost just give me any and all ideas of compatible hardware I can get the most out of at a low cost. (I'll probably ***** out the holidays for the Graphics Card, and CPU ;) )

[Compucore]

Enermax is a good quality power supply known with two fans built into it.

[Stew2]

I think you can get a Antec case with a power supply for a little over $60. Watch for sales. Any mobo will do but from bad personal experience I would stay away from VIA or ECS. I know lots of people think they are OK but I had nothing but problems with them. I personally like Asus mobo's. If you plan on eventually having some gaming or heavy graphics potential, go for a mobo without integrated video and get yourself a cheap video card (not ATI!) to start with. A slower computer with a dedicated video card will outperform a "hotter" machine with onboard video (generally). Ram is also very important, most modern processors are fairly quick but having 1 gig or better of ram will speed things up a lot. As far as optical drives are concerned, I would go for a combo drive that does everything versus 2 or 3 individual optical drives. Hard drives are cheap now and still going down so buy whatever you can afford and you can always upgrade it later. If you start with a good base your pc will be very upgradeable. You should be able to do this for around $400 or less if you watch for sales and use OEM components. Ebay is also a good place to get bargains on parts but watch your shipping prices, it's easy to exceed new price with some of the inflated shipping costs! Hope some of this info helps, if it doesnt please disregard my post.

Regards,
Stew

[centered effect]

amd 64 3000+ $113.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103537

foxconn nforce motherboard with nvidia onboard graphics -$58.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813186085

corsair value select 1 gig pc3200 (2x512 chips) - $79.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440

maxtor 80gb ata hd - $49.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144233

antec 380watt psu - $59.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103927

ams ATX case - (i like the looks personally) #43.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811180043

Total so far is 405.95. Add a dvd burner and you are set. you can upgrade to dual core and have sata and pci express.

[MenZa]

@centered effect: 80 gig ATA? Get a 2-300 gig SATA instead. This is the 21st century. Oh yeah, and DDR2 memory is a must.

[centered effect]

The original poster wanted a lowcost system. i did just that with the ability to upgrade in the future.

I would like to see your recommendation with DDR2 and a 2-300Gb Sata drive

[Toxicity999]

Eh.... Thanks, kind of lost track of the post, I've decided on alot already, but these thoughts really added to it.

[ssam]

you dont need a case :-)