Thoughts about buying this computer

[AtomSmasher]

I've decided to upgrade the computer thats in my arcade cabinet.  I figure if I'm going to have an arcade cabinet to play games, might as well have a decent computer to power it.

Anyways, this is the best deal I've come across:
http://www.ascendtech.us/customkititems.asp?kc=DTM863GXP3100PC

I'll upgrade it to 512 of ram, so its:
Athlon Xp 3100+
512 ram
40 gig harddrive

$235.98

and I'll steal the video card, sound card, and 120gig harddrive out of the computer I'm currently using.

It'll be a major upgrade from the 800mhz computer I'm playing mame on now, and should be able to play a lot more games.  Before I buy it, I figured I'd see if anyone knows of any better deals?  As some may remember from another thread, buying impulsively has cost me money so I'm taking my time from now on 

[Fozzy The Bear]

It's got a PC Chips Motherboard.....    Yeaggghhh!! The bear hurls his lunch.....

Don't touch it... PC Chips make probably the worst mobo's on the planet. It'll hold back that nice new processor that you're planning on fitting.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[Tiger-Heli]

A PcChips mobo with an SIS chipset - never was a huge fan of either one.

A look here - http://www.pricewatch.com/prc.aspx?i=347&a=421452 linked to http://www.pcdirect.com//container.asp?promo=pricewatch&PID=1&Sku=CT-BBA-SKT754-E looks pretty good - with the 3100 CPU and 512M memory comes to $235.00, no HD though, but BioStar makes a decent mobo and it is VIA based.

Or you could just go to www.newegg.com and see what they can put together for you.

[AtomSmasher]

A PcChips mobo with an SIS chipset - never was a huge fan of either one.

A look here - http://www.pricewatch.com/prc.aspx?i=347&a=421452 linked to http://www.pcdirect.com//container.asp?promo=pricewatch&PID=1&Sku=CT-BBA-SKT754-E looks pretty good - with the 3100 CPU and 512M memory comes to $235.00, no HD though, but BioStar makes a decent mobo and it is VIA based.

Or you could just go to www.newegg.com and see what they can put together for you.

Thanks for the input, but without the HD or cdrw its not as good of deal as I would of hoped.  I think I'm just going to piece together a system like I usually do.  After some quick checking this is what I've come up with:
cheap case
ASUS K8U-X Socket 754 mobo
Refurbished AMD 64 3200
cheap power supply with good reviews
CORSAIR ValueSelect 512MB ram
Total = $232.64
Cost is the same as the one you posted, but its an amd 64 processer, asus mobo and corsair ram, so it should have a bit better bang for the buck.  I think I'm getting lazy as I get older because I usually spend a lot of time making sure I'm getting the best deal and have never bought all my parts from the same store, but whatever, the prices at newegg are decent enough.

I'm trying to keep the old computer functional to give to my sister (whos still using a pentium 2 computer from 1998) which is why I'm buying a new case and power supply.  I can also just install the OS on the 120 gig drive I'm taking from the old one, I was hoping to keep the OS on a seperate drive but its tough to do that when trying to keep it cheap.  I also have a bunch of old cd-roms around, I guess I'll get to have a fun time finding out which ones work

[Tiger-Heli]

Thanks for the input, but without the HD or cdrw its not as good of deal as I would of hoped.

But your links also don't include a HD or cdrw either for the same price (but it's www.newegg.com and better components, so I won't complain).

  I think I'm just going to piece together a system like I usually do.

Can't argue with that!

  After some quick checking this is what I've come up with:
Refurbished AMD 64 3200

Didn't know newegg sold refurbed CPU's. . .

cheap power supply with good reviews

I'm a big fan of this FSP FSP300-60PN Power Supply.  Have used the Fortron version (and they are the same company) in two different computers.  The 300W rating is conservative, but it is $12.50 more and if you are satisfied with the reviews on the other one. . .

Don't forget the CPU heatsink.  I have really liked Arctic Cooling with my XP Barton (almost silent, not that that matters in an arcade cab), so would probably recommend this one for you.  Not exceptional cooling and the fan is somewhat exposed, but no problem in a case.  (Mine has a variable speed fan and I keep it on the middle setting so it is quiet).

Cost is the same as the one you posted, but its an amd 64 processer, asus mobo and corsair ram, so it should have a bit better bang for the buck.

The AMD 64 Processor might not help much in MAME (I think it's mainly an advantage with a 64-bit OS), but I can't argue against more processor for the same price.  The rest of your points make sense.

[AtomSmasher]

Your right, I almost forgot it won't come with a heatsink.  I still have an old oem one from my current system that just has a bad fan, so I'll just buy a $4 fan to fix it.  Also, I believe the amd 64 have better 32 bit performace over the amd xp chips, so I think its just better all-round to get the amd 64.

I'm going to go ahead an order this stuff, the only thing that makes me sad is my budget pc will have the same cpu as my (once) high end pc.  It seems like it would be time to upgrade my main pc, but I can still run all games at high graphics settings so theres just no need to upgrade it yet.  (plus when I upgrade it I'll be upgrading to pci-x so I'll need to upgrade vid and sound card at same time as mobo and cpu, so it'll be expensive)

[AtomSmasher]

Looks like the psu I put isn't in stock, so I went with SPARKLE Power Q ATX-350, I just couldn't bring myself to buy a 300W power supply, so this is a 350W from the same manufacturer as the one you posted.

My total after tax and shipping is $299.83, which isn't bad considering how powerful the computer will be.