" JimH" jimh_osudadATyahooDOT com wrote in message
. ..
I am planning to put together a gaming (and general use) computer for my
son as a high school graduation gift.

Here are my specs so far:

MSI K8N Neo4/SLI motherboard (w/built in SoundBlaster Live chip)
Althion 64 3000+ CPU, Socket 939 version
2 GB DDR400 Corair Ram
256MB Nvidia GeForce 7800 GTX video card
Antec Performance TX640B Series Case
Plextor PX-716A dual layer DVD 16X
Maxtor 300GB DiamondMax hard drive
Viewsonic 17" Thinedge VP171B LCD flat panel monitor
Windows XP Professional OEM

He already has a decent keyboard, speakers and optical mouse. I will
also add a DVD player so he can record copies of the DVD's he owns.

I can do this for around $2,000.

Any suggestions or comments?


Oh one more thing Jim - the MSI board is very nice - but there is one issue
with it that I hate. The chipset heatsink has a fan on it. One of my fan's
got a dust bunny trapped in there and it overheated and it killed the mobo.
I would suggest an abit board without a fan, but with a larger heat sink on
the chipset. (on the picture its the little fan next to the cpu)...
something to think about...