Yet another 1st build spec:

[Birdy]

(Love this site, BTW)

Here's what I'm getting. Rig is for "fairly" intensive 3d CAD solid modeling. Hopefully spec'd to last 3-4 years. This will be on a home network (3pc's) sharing a DSL connection.
Gimme your opinions. TIA.

All items from Newegg.com U.N.O.

Case: CoolerMaster Centurion5 ATX (#cadto5uw)<=)parens indicate newegg item no's)
PSU: Thermaltake tr2 430W atx (#w0070)
Mobo: ASUS A8N-E socket939 (#a8n-e)
CPU: AMD Athalon 64x2 4200 Manchester (#ada4200bvbox)
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 250Gb 7200rpm SATA 150 (#st3250823as)
RAM: ~will buy 2-1Gb sticks @ crucial.com per their 'calculator' ~
Pri Optical: NEC 16x DVD+-RW / 48x CD RW / 48x CD ROM combo (#nd-3550a bk oem)
Sec Optical: ~none at this time~ (may scavange generic cd rom from older box)
Sound Card: Turtle Beach Catalina PCI (#tbs-3430-01) ~audio isn't a money maker for me. Just need something to listen to with reasonable quality
Video Card: PNY nVidia Quadro FX 1400 PCIe 128Mb (#vcqfx1400-pcie-pb)
FDD: ~recycled from older machine. Generic~
Keyboard: MS Digital Media Pro (#bx1-00005)
Mouse: ~recycled belkin 5 button optical (ps2/usb)~
Modem: none
Lan: ~recycled netgear 10/100 NIC~
Monitor: ~already have: Dell 2001fp~ (sweet! will add second when funds available)
Speakers: Logitech X-230 32 watt rms 2.1 speakers (#970123-1403)
OS: WinXP Pro w/SP2 (#e85-04026)
Extras: meh. Thats enough for now. May add 2nd HDD down the road.

Total $1494

Oh, and thanks for the "checklist" Panama Red. Very helpful.

[Cricket]

No need to add the Netgear NIC to this computer since the motherboard already has on-board LAN...unless you need two LAN ports.

And you might want to hold off on the sound card until you listen to what the on-board sound is like. Most on-board audio is pretty decent nowadays.

Cricket

[Birdy]

Good info.
Thanks.