Cheap Upgradable PC...

[justjc]

As I'm studying for the next 2-3 years, and don't expect to have money to buy a new PC again, in that time, I am thinking about making a pc from the following components. The computer will mainly be used for writing projects, and using the internet, but I also plan on doing some programming in Dreamweaver(or flash) and play some strategy games.
Cheap and Upgradable is the key words!

Mainboard: EliteGroup KA3 MVP (V1.0A)
- I know the reviews haven't been great, but ECS usually comes up with a bios that fixes the problems, and with the bios being a V1.0J they probably have taken care of the worst problems. The reason for this card is a that it's the only AM2 board to use the ATI Crossfire™ Xpress 3200 chipset, which will allow me to make the original graphics card(see below) into a physics processor when upgrading to a DX10 card.

Graphics: Sapphire RADEON X1600 XT
- It's cheap and does what I need. Plus it's a ATI chip so it should fit my mainboard nicely, and be able to be used as the physics processor(later on), as it's one of the cards ATI has demonstrated with. How big is the diffrence between this and the pro edition?

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Box
- The cheapest A64 CPU for the AM2 socket, I doubt the small X2 is worth the extra money. If nothing else going with the cheap one will make the gain from a later upgrade even better(and a guy like me, where money are important, won't feel as bad for changing it) The stock cooler should be allright, isn't it?

RAM: Kingston ValueRAM 2 x 512 MB (1 GB) / DUAL RAM / DDR II SDRAM / PC2-5300CL5 / 667 MHz / ? Bit? ns
- I've heard one GB should be the absolute minimum and these are nice and cheap.

Case: Apevia X-QPACK X-QPACK-BL/420
- Looks like a cool little case, that can be transported if I need to bring it with me, and it comes with a decent powersupply.

HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250 GB / 7200 rpm / 8 MB / Serial ATA-300
- Have only heard good things about it, and the space should be enough for a while, and a new one isn't so expensive.

DVD-Drive + Burner: What ever is the cheapest.

Floppy: None
- Is it really nessersary to have one these days?

OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
- Knowing that some of the programs I'll need to run needs XP Pro I end up with a Pro and the x64 version is choosen as it costs the same as the x32 version, and I read in another thread that most problems with it(about running x32 programs) were gone, so no reason not to go for it.

Did I forget something? Well if not that's my bid on a cheap upgradable rig, but suggestions are welcome(especially if I can save money, or need something)

 

[Cube3601]

From what you said you're mainly going to be doing you won't need a physics processing card. I'd go with a more popular brand mobo such as Asus, Abit, Gigabyte, MSI, etc. but that's personal preference. The X1600 series is, in general, still overpriced for what you get from it. I'd pick up a 7600 series or equivalent instead.

As for the 3500+, the cheapest AM2 processors are the Semprons. It depends upon how much future upgrading you're planning on doing. Whether or not you want something that 'just works' for now to upgrade later or want to do it right the first time. That hard drive is a nice one, you're right about the floppy (I don't have one either, flash drives all the way), but with XP I wouldn't bother with 64 bit. 32 bit runs just fine and faster than 64 bit with the hardware you're looking at. Might want to consider DDR2-800 RAM as well.

At this moment, personally, I'd invest in a C2D setup with mostly the same other parts as you've chosen now. I recommend that because it's the best priceerformance on the market at this point in time, and it'll probably add only about $150 or so to your tab to use an E6300 instead of the AMD chip. I'm one of those 'do it right the first time' guys.

Good luck.