07.01.2008, 17:38
Without a budget? Go crazy and grab the highest of everything. 
Realisticly? Memory is cheap, so get 4GB. WindowsXP will only use about 3.5GB of it, but hey, it's cheap.
Bang-for-bucks leaders are graphics cards with the 8800GT chip and 512MB.
CPU choice is a little dependant on preference, but the current Intel Core2Duo chips are good performers.
Motherboards are dependant on your choice: Future-proofing them a bit by picking SLI with nVidia's 780 chipset or a little bit more performance by picking Intel with the X38 chipset?
You can help by telling what the budget is, what the future brings in a year as an upgrade budget and what resolution your screen will be running.
BTW: Is this the right forum for this?
Realisticly? Memory is cheap, so get 4GB. WindowsXP will only use about 3.5GB of it, but hey, it's cheap.
Bang-for-bucks leaders are graphics cards with the 8800GT chip and 512MB.
CPU choice is a little dependant on preference, but the current Intel Core2Duo chips are good performers.
Motherboards are dependant on your choice: Future-proofing them a bit by picking SLI with nVidia's 780 chipset or a little bit more performance by picking Intel with the X38 chipset?
You can help by telling what the budget is, what the future brings in a year as an upgrade budget and what resolution your screen will be running.
BTW: Is this the right forum for this?