CPU: Intel E8400 $269
Mobo: Gigabyte P35-DS3 $131
RAM: 2x1GB 800 A-DATA $62
HDD: WD SATA 500GB $132
Vid Card: Generic 512MB 8800 GT $289
DVD-RW: Asus 1814 BLT SATA $42
Case + PSU: Coolermaster CAC-T05 (w/ 460W) $108
Keyboard + Mouse: Logitech Deluxe 250 $15 and Internet 350 $23

Total: $1071

Versus

CPU: Intel CORE 2 Q6600/2.4Ghz/2x4MB/1066FSB/LGA775 *
MOBO: Asus P5K-SE S775 QuadCore P35 FSB1333 DDR2 SATA2 PCIEx16 GbLAN ATX
RAM: DDR2 2048MB(2x1G)PC5300 667Mhz Kingston
HDD: Western Digital 500G SATAII 7200 rpm HDD(16Mb Cache)
GRAPHICS: Albatron GeForce 8800GT 512MB DDR3 PCIEx16 HDCP 2xDVI-I HDTV
CASE: iCute ZL08-5G-BB 500W 25CM Fan Middle Tower (Black)

Total: $1031 (No mouse/keyboard included )

Those are my options so far, looking for something around the $1000 price range (AU dollars)

I personally would go with the first one because it comes with a dvd burner. However I would try to get a different brand of Hard drive becasue Western Digital drives are junk.

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Ubuntu 8.04.1

Gnome 2.22.3

Id go with the second only because it is a little nicer, and u can always add a DVD burner to it...

But personally, i would get an AMD processor. When AMD releases AM3, it will be backward compatible, which means u can use an AM2 processor on a AM3 supported MoBo (with the help of a converter) But using Am3 requires u to use DDR3 RAM... all this = more money...(always the case... bugger)