Mine cost just over $1500. Bargain shopping is a good thing, my friend.
Here's the rundown (thanks for giving the opportunity to talk about my new baby!)
Athlon64 3200+ Socket 939(couldn't rationalize a 3500+)
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum (hard to find these days, but know as the best mobo on the NVidia Nforce3 Ultra platform)
2x Crucial Ballistix 512 MB DIMMS (2-2-2-6, natch)
BFG GeForce 6800 Ultra OC AGP (on sale, couldn't resist)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 200 GB SATA (zzz)
NEC Dual Layer x16 DVD+-R drive (silver)
Antec NeoPower 480 (not too sure about this one, but it's too late to return it now)
Silverstone Temjin TJ05-SX case (silver, side window-sigh, termal monitoring unit)
Zalman 7000B cooler
For $1000, I'd still be looking at the 3200+ or maybe the 3000+, but I'd get a cheaper case, a 6600 GT card in PCIExpress if you can stretch it. I'd still probably go with the pair of 512s. You can definitely get a good power supply for less, but be careful to read the reviews on those. An Antec Sonata case might be nice, and then you've got the PSU unless you're going to be running a high end video card. HD-get SATA.
Gee, can you tell I've been doing massive amounts of research?
