on a budget right now no more than 400. looking to upgrade at a later time and get quad core so the motherboard has to be able to accept quad core processors. this is the one pc option i have Intel Pentium Dual-Core Processor E2180 2GHz 800MHz 1MB LGA775 CPU, OEM http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=E21...fe80e65a21ff20 XFX PVT84JYAJG GeForce 8600GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150247 GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...9&Tpk=p35-ds3l G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231144 i just wish the motherboard was better than 2ghz. my current setup is gigabyte 8IPE1000-Pro G ATX 478 Socket 3.0GHZ HT 680 A Power PSU 3 cooling fans northbridge cooling fan x1600pro AGP 8x vid card 1gb ram installed (dual channel stopped working something corrupted dual bios) 2 x 160 gb HD SATA would be used for gaming most of the time and games i play are pretty cpu intensive more than memory intensive.