Alright, here are the specs and some pics of the case:

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 2.80 Ghz
Motherboard Brand: Gigabyte
RAM: Corsair 2 Gb DDR2-800 Mhz
Hard Drive: 500 Gb Seagate SATA hard drive
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce 7300GT PCIe w/ 512 Mb DDR2 memory
Drives: DVD-RW w/ Lightscribe, DVD-ROM
OS: Windows XP Professional SP2

Here's the case:

well if you really mean budget and I assume you won't do any serious gaming, video editing, and music editing, since the video card kinda sucks (and you can get a better card for the same price) and it does not look like your getting a dedicated sound card.

go with 1 gb of ram I don't think you would need 2 if you don't' multi task too much.

instead of a 512 MB video card get a 256 MB

I'll be doing gaming and 3D animation.

I know the video card isn't the best in the world, but from what I hear I can run Bioshock and Crysis (the two games with THE best graphics around.)

As for 3D animation, I've run Blender 3D for 5 years on an old 500 Mhz PIII, so I'll have no problem upgrading there.

Thanks for the input though!!!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I can build this PC for exactly $623!

well if your going to do 3D work don't you want a good card that can render your models faster, etc? Since your working with blender I know it does not support dx10 last i checked but i assume it will some day.

keep the 2gb of ram and you might want to think about getting vista and you certainly can find a Geforce 8 series card for the same price you might pay for the 7300gt

where are you buying the parts, Newegg.com

edit

only $623 well i guess if that is your budget vista will bumb up the price but you can find a good G8 card for around 50-100 bucks.

That all sounds really great, especially compared to my old bucket of bolts. But all I am really attracted to is your case....wow, that's....can I steal that? I could just enclose my bucket of bolts in that case and pretend I have a real computer....

Oh crap!!

I actually made a typo on the video card. It's actually a 7800 GT w/ 512 Mb DDR3 Memory.

Sorry about that. Oh yeah, I hate Vista because of the terrible hardware support and buggy features. I think I'll wait a while.

Okay...here are the final specs on my new PC. I am putting the computer together in a few hours.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ (dual core) - 2.6 Ghz
2Gb Corsair DDR2 800 Mhz RAM
XFX 8600 GT 512 Mb GDDR3 PCI Express x16
500 Gb SATA Hard Drive
Thermaltake Liquid cooling system
600 Watt power supply
802.11g Wireless
Windows XP Professional

TOTAL: $698

All parts were bought from Newegg.com, save for the Liquid cooling system which was bought on Ebay.

I build custom computers as a profession. Those specs are absolutely fine for gaming. My current computer isn't even that good and I can still play all of the new games. Stick with 2gigs of ram.

Last but not least - DO NOT GET VISTA!

Worst advice ever!

I'm planning on building custom computers as a profession. In fact, that's what I'm going to school for right now. Thanks for the opinions!!!

What MOBO? And what brand PSU? Never want to go cheapo on your PSU.

It's a good budget build but you probbaly should have gone with a 7900 card or an ATI 1950 rather than the 8600.


Also wondering why the liquid cooling, you don't have the kind of hardware that is going to be putting out excessive heat unless you plan on possibly doing a SLI setup later when you have more $.

Quite similar to what I just built a few weeks ago.
I've been closely monitoring the temp of the Athlon 64 and haven't seen it go above 43C; however, there is a problem with some mobos that the temp sensor doesn't get quite close enough to the underside of the CPU and read low temps. Still, I don't overclock. If I were into playing quick games, I think this would still be quite adequate, I use it for market feeds and charting (has to be quick), photography, music mastering, etc., and DVD movie construction, so I'd say your machine will be adequate.
By the way, that CPU temp is with the CPU fan and a side fan on the case; I just put in another hard drive, and with the case side off it hasn't topped 39C yet. Outside temp has begun to drop, though.

I changed a few things before I made my final purchases. Here are the ABSOLUTE final specs of the system. By the way, the reason I'm using a liquid cooling system is because I plan on overclocking. Nuf said.

SPECS:
Processor: AMD Athlon X2 6000+ 3.0 Ghz
Motherboard: Gigabyte
RAM: 2 Gb Corsair DDR2-800Mhz
Video Card: XFX GeForce 8800GTS w/ 320 Mb GDDR3
Hard Drive: 500 Gb Seagate SATA
DVD-R with Lightscribe
DVD-ROM
OS 1: Windows XP Professional
OS 2: Mandriva Spring 2007

The Case comes with 3 fans (one on side, one on back and one on top)

FINAL PRICE (w/ shipping): $945.34 (my budget was $1000)

According to information I recieved from a computer store near my house, this system will be able to play any game released within the next year or so. Of course, eventually I'll HAVE to get Vista. But I think I'll wait a while.

I see you added a 2nd operating system. May I ask how the dual boot process works on your system.

You should be alright to play most games and it's half decent for doing 3d stuff.

If your going to be playing Crysis which is a sexy game you are going to want Vista so you can run DX10.

COOLing. Make sure you put in at least two system fans. The exhaust, and preferably these days an intake fan. The PSU's fan, a case fan, and try and throw in something that'll pull air across your mother board, if you going to be doing video intensive activity; ie, editing, gaming.