2gb vs 4 gb of system memory

[Gisli]

Not including a monitor.

[Drakhon]

Well, there ya go. Mine might be a good starting place for you, then. You can shave money off by going with a lesser motherboard, DDR2 800 RAM and a lower wattage PSU. For the PSU, the Corsair 620HX is amazing and also modular, so only the cables you actually need have to been in the case. You may also be able to drop the video card down a bit if you plan on going with a 22" or less monitor. Let me know what your plans are and I might be able to give more specific advice.

As a note, I just configured a near identical system to mine at the site that you mentioned in another thread. It came out to $2000 (with almost no markup on the monitor, though it was a slightly different one), which is $500 more than just the parts cost me. You just have to ask yourself if it's worth that much to you. As you have your specific budget, you are looking at sacrificing horsepower rather than increasing the amount you pay, but it's the same idea.

[Gisli]

A big chunk of savings could come from getting a EVGA 8800GT instead of the card you picked.

I'm willing to spend $100-200 to have someone put it together for me as part of my budget. Once it gets up there or beyond, its not worth it to me anymore to pay for the labor. Another option is my local PC hack shop. I'm going to check them out tomorrow. Some of the other configurations, like the one from Vadokri, are looking like a good place to start.