The key is to make your list of YOUR wants or needs then hit the phones. You can save alot more than Headies 150 bucks believe me.
And if it takes you more than an hour to put that together then somethings wrong. Buy a dell etc and buy a proprietary MB that 9 of 10 times won't upgrade much but RAM.
Try to stay away from MB's that have built in this and that. Some of them refuse to shut down say the built in video which usually is less than you want after a month. Lots of tricks to it. But we made good money selling them for quite a few years. Headaches for Joe Know it all newbie puter owners got to be more than the profit was worth. We built p3-450's for about 300-400 including the ATS cases when they were selling out the door for 1200.
If you go used, make sure its in an ATS case or the MB will be useless to swap out. And get the highest wattage you can get. 250 minimum. Clones from shops built the way above are industrial grade and you can't get much better except going to a micro or mini computer. (the big uns)
We still use a p2-333 for a server and have 233p1's in use as well as a cpl 166's etc. They are great for storage or isolating certain programs on such as your quicken etc. (turn it off and its safe from net prowlers when you're online)
Whew! Have to get a drink. All sweaty now
