Workstation

Part	Model	Price
CPU	AMD Athlon 64 3000+	52
Motherboard	Asus M2N8-VMX	65
RAM	1GB Corsair DDR2-667 kit	52
Hard Drive	80GB SATA HDD	49
Optical Drive	18x Pioneer DVR-212D SATA	46
Graphics Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	Asus TA-881	59
Power Supply	Included with Case	-
Cooling	-	-
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	323 + Postage

Some people are on a limited budget, and want a nice basic desktop for Internet use and the like. This machine should be fine for basic tasks. This system, a cheap keyboard/mouse, a copy of Vista Basic or XP Home and a secondhand 17" CRT would provide a nice basic machine for just over $500.

$350 Intel

Part	Model	Price
CPU	Intel Celeron 420	58
Motherboard	Asus P5GZ-MX	69
RAM	1GB Corsair DDR2-667 kit	52
Hard Drive	80GB SATA HDD	48
Optical Drive	18x Pioneer DVR-212D SATA	46
Graphics Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	Asus TA-881	59
Power Supply	Included with Case	-
Cooling	-	-
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	332 + Postage

Here is an Intel version of the workstation, for those who prefer Intel's products.

$500 AMD

Part	Model	Price
CPU	AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+	117
Motherboard	Gigabyte MA69VM-S2	77
RAM	2GB Kingston DDR2-667	88
Hard Drive	250GB Samsung SP2504C	75
Optical Drive	18x Pioneer DVR-212D SATA	46
Graphics Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	Asus TA-881	59
Power Supply	Included with Case	-
Cooling	-	-
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	462 + Postage

This is a fairly good base system. The AMD chipset means it has reasonable ATi X1200 video. The case isn't too bad, its cheap but not sore on the eyes.

$500 Intel

Part	Model	Price
CPU	Intel Pentium Dual Core E2160	118
Motherboard	Asus P5GZ-MX	69
RAM	2GB Kingston DDR2-667	88
Hard Drive	250GB Samsung SP2504C	75
Optical Drive	18x Pioneer DVR-212D SATA	46
Graphics Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	Asus TA-881	59
Power Supply	Included with Case	-
Cooling	-	-
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	455 + Postage

$750 Intel

Part	Model	Price
CPU	Intel Core 2 Duo E6420	239
Motherboard	Intel DG33BU	149
RAM	2GB Kingston DDR2-667	88
Hard Drive	250GB Samsung SP2504C	75
Optical Drive	18x Pioneer DVR-212D SATA	46
Graphics Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	Antec SLK1650B	88
Power Supply	Included With Case	-
Cooling	-	-
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	685 + Postage

With a Core 2 Duo CPU and 2GB of RAM, this machine is a very quick workstation. Now this system uses an Intel DG33BU motherboard, which uses an Intel G33 chipset, which has superior performance to the 945G chipset (including video, uses the GMA X3100 chipset). This board also supports 1333FSB CPUs, for future proofing :)

$1250 Intel, Powerhouse

Part	Model	Price
CPU	Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600	682
Motherboard	Intel DG33BU	149
RAM	2GB Kingston DDR2-667 (x2)	176
Hard Drive	250GB Samsung SP2504C	75
Optical Drive	18x Pioneer DVR-212D SATA	46
Graphics Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	Antec SLK1650B	88
Power Supply	Included With Case	-
Cooling	-	-
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	1216 + Postage

Similar to the above, but taking the RAM up to 4gb and going to a Quadcore processor, this machine can handle some serious numbercrunching. Could easily be upgraded with a discrete video card (such as those found in the following recommendations) to be a very good CAD machine. This machine would be very adequate for research purposes, where numbercrunching power is the key.

$1000 Intel, CAD Machine

Part	Model	Price
CPU	Intel Core 2 Duo E6420	239
Motherboard	Gigabyte 965P-S3	115
RAM	2GB Kingston DDR2-667	88
Hard Drive	250GB Samsung SP2504C	75
Optical Drive	18x Pioneer DVR-212D SATA	46
Graphics Card	nVidia Quadro FX 550	329
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	Antec SLK1650B	88
Power Supply	Included With Case	-
Cooling	-	-
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	980 + Postage

$1500 Intel, CAD Machine

Part	Model	Price
CPU	Intel Core 2 Duo E6600	290
Motherboard	Gigabyte 965P-S3	115
RAM	2GB Kingston DDR2-667	88
Hard Drive	250GB Samsung SP2504C	75
Optical Drive	18x Pioneer DVR-212D SATA	46
Graphics Card	nVidia Quadro FX 1500	779
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	Antec SLK1650B	88
Power Supply	Included With Case	-
Cooling	-	-
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	1481 + Postage