lets face it...you're a gnutella network user, and being real that means to use the stuff you have downloaded you pretty much need a windoze machine...run from Vista...get an OEM version of XP pro, and while 64bit would be grand a heck of a lot of programs need 32bit to work properly AFAIK...the only disadvantage of OEM is that it is locked to a certain BIOS code on your MoBO upon first registration so you can't transfer the OS to a new machine...UNLESS that machine has the same MoBo or close to it...as an example, this machine I'm using right now (MoBo, CPU, and OS HDD's) originally resided in another physical MoBo...and the MoBo's are exactly the same...the old one was an ASUS P4C800e-deluxe but I found that it had a faulty fourth DIMM slot when I finally added in another 2X512 set of matched sticks to use a full 2GB of memory...so I had to RMA it...if you have paid attention THIS machine is my internet machine so obviously I would just up and DIE if I didn't have internet access...so I took the MoBo from one of my DAW's and put all of the other parts (cpu, ram, video, HDDs, etc) and put them in an ASUS P4C800 deluxe (notice the subtle difference, the-e deluxe has an ICH5R (RAID) southbridge, and other is just an ICH5 (non RAID)...I'll skip the whole long story of the subtle differences, but The_Point is that the machine started right up (woops...except for the MoBo detecting the different (NEW in the MoBo's eye) and having to forceably enter the BIOS and changing some settings..oh yeah, then I had to fix a missing NTDLR file...it was after this was resolved that the machine started right up) and didn't even hiccup over the change in the MoBo's...they are exactly the same (hence no change as far as XP OEM was concerned) so window's doesn't even realize that this is the case...in fact you could probably make a set of machines using the same MoBo's and install just one OS of them, use the same serial...and Micro$oft update probably wouldn't hiccup either!...

OEM saves you quite a few bucks compared to the 'retail' version...I ended up using XP MCE on this machine just because it was $10 cheaper than just XP Pro...Pro has a few other networking capabilities than MCE does but this can be 'hacked' so no problemo...you can even spend a few more bucks and get the IR receiver and remote and go the full MCE package...that costs about $40 bucks more...anywho I do heartily advise you BUY an OS and be confident that the only hair up your a§§ will be those created/allowed by M$...

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So Long and Thanks for All the Files
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Beware of the big 3 insurance companies in Texas! Read your policies carefully (maybe you'll need a lawyer) Allstate, Farmers & State Farm are overextended and their 'coverage' is worthless...a true waste of your money Read This

Peerless' "dream machine" for the above situation (budget)(sans DVD burner???) would be:
MoBo:

Stability: Intel BLKD975XBX2KR 975X P4/P4EE/Pentium D/Pentium XE 1066 at ZipZoomfly
Performance: ASUS P35 P5K Deluxe Wifi Motherboard Retail at ZipZoomfly

CPU:Intel Core 2 Q6600 Quad Core Processor 2.4GHz 1066 MHz LGA775 8MB cache Retail at ZipZoomfly CPU Core 2 Duo E6420 2.13GHz FSB 1066MHz 4M LGA775 Retail at ZipZoomfly[/url]
Ram:OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 Platinum SLI-Ready Edition OCZ2N10662GK Memory Retail at ZipZoomfly
Case:Enermax ECA3052-B Chakra Mid Tower Case (Black) at ZipZoomfly
PSU:Antec TruePower TRIO 650 650W Power Supply at ZipZoomfly
HDD's: 2 of Western Digital WD1600YS 160GB 3.0 Gb/s 16 MB Cache 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive at ZipZoomfly
Video:ASUS GeForce 8500 GT PCIE 512MB DDR2 Extreme Silent EN8500GT SILENT/HTD/512M Video Card Retail at ZipZoomfly
Sound: Onboard...
OS:Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 w/SP2B - OEM
remote:Microsoft A90-00007 Remote Control and Receiver for Media Center PC wi at ZipZoomfly

that's around a grand right there....

still need a monitor, burner, keyboard & mouse, and maybe a couple of extra fans (preferrably one blowing over all 3 HDDs)....

the above MoBo/CPU/RAM combo could be very nicely OC'd by an easy 10% (pushing the cpu to ~2.65GHz)...the cpu is retail so a stock cooler should be included.....

I guess I failed to meet your budget, but your desire to not have something be past technology in 6 months requirs using some of the most cutting edge technology which costs a few bucks more!

I guess a comparable analysis between bare bone would be that my dream machine cost $915-$955 according to the chosen MoBo..for OC'ing I'd choose ASUS...

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So Long and Thanks for All the Files
_____________________________________________

Beware of the big 3 insurance companies in Texas! Read your policies carefully (maybe you'll need a lawyer) Allstate, Farmers & State Farm are overextended and their 'coverage' is worthless...a true waste of your money Read This