Let me preface this post with two things:

1. When building a box for myself...I don't like to go cheap. 
2. I have a Dual P3 1Ghz box with 1GB of RAM that I originally built in 1998 that is still outperforming a lot of off-th-shelf new P4 computers being sold by many manufacturers.
   • It has an Adaptec 39160 Ultra 160 card and Drives
   • It started out as a P2 400Mhz machine and 256Mb
   • In 1998 I built this "scream machine" for about $800. Had I ordered it from HP, Gateway or Dell, it would've been a server...and it would have retailed for somewhere around $2,000 or more. 

So now, 11 years later and after a similar computer with an MSI piece of junk M-Board (that is supposed to run at 133Mhz FSB) I am realizing that a man can not live on Laptop alone...and that it is time to build a new box.