Well, for example you could build something like this:
- BAREBONE SYSTEM W/ BIOSTAR M7VIP & AMD XP-2800+ (case, power supply, motherboard, CPU) - $475
- 512MB PC-2700 DDR333 BRANDED ECC REGISTERED RAM - $170
- Ethernet Card - $20.00
- Floppy Drive - $15.00
- TOSHIBA 16X/48X DVD ROM DRIVE - $50.00
- 100 GB 7200 RPM ATA133 Hard Drive - $100
- Radeon 9700 Pro Video Card - $330
The motherboard has on-board 6-channel digital audio already, so you won't need a sound card. This is also not really even shopping around big time for the best deals on every single component. I just pulled this off a place I've gotten bare bones systems from in the past. You can also drop down the price of the bare bones system over $100 by dropping down to the XP 2700 CPU. You can pick up a keyboard, mouse, and monitor on eBay used. In December I bought a mint 19" monitor on there for $130. If you really shop around the Net and everything, I'd say you can build this for $1000 to $1200 complete...