Originally Posted by BobyJo

My 2c worth of suggestions::
I would first start with a case that looks great, has super air flow features, no less than 7 case fans.
Then look at the most important appliance of all, the power supply.
Pick a power supply in the top end of the best, IMO no less than 450 watts.
For the MOBO, We suggest the ASUS A7N8X/Deluxe over all others.
In the cpu dept, The XP2500 Barton or the XP2800 Barton if probably the best in OC'ing, staying cool, and extremely stable.
Heat Sink is a no brainer, go for the SLK900 and place a Tt smart 80mm fan on top of the hs. This will keep the cpu in the 30c area.
In the Memory area, Mushkin Black PCB matched pair, or Corsair XMS matched pair would by the top suggestions.
Hard drives, the WD 80gb SE matched in a pair using Raid 0 will give you a 160gb hard drive and would be noticable faster than a singled 160gb hard drive.
The Radeon 9800 Pro DDR128 is the top choice. This video card is only $10 more than the 9700 Pro, but delivers noticable better performance.
We have used Lite-On DVD drives and CDRW Drives for a long time. I would suggest taking the 16X DVD drive, and the 48x24x48 CDRW w/burn proof. The 3.5 floppy should be a Teac.
Rounded Cables to all drives, SATA cables to the HD's make the view through the side window something to get excited about.