Barebones PC suggestions

Probably the best place to shop price is http://pricewatch.com
Probably the best place to checkout the vendors on pricewatch is http://resellerratings.com
Probably the best value for your dollar can be obtained using an AMD system
(I know, Intel has the dual hypoallergenic memory, but its not that much faster)

I just built a barebones off of pricewatch-amounts include shipping

cheap case with 550w power supply  new
(maybe 280w in real life-be careful on power supplies-easy to get ripped)     22.00
amd xp2500 barton core    new                                                                  67.00
pcchips m848lu 333 fsb - onboard sound- refurbished
(boots windows 98 from P.O.S.T. to desktop in 11 seconds)                          21.00
OCX 3500 Enhanced 2 x 256 = 512mb @ $45.00/ea new            90.00
ATI Radeon 9500 refurbished                                                   69.00
Western Digital 80gb 7200rpm 8mb cache 100mb ata ide new    67.00
Coolermaster heatsink/fan (bought local)                                  15.00
Case fan  (bought local)                                                            7.00
Total                                                                                                    $358.00

You would have to add a cd and a 3.5 and misc cables and fans
which I already had laying around-assuming:
cd burner     23.00
3.5              12.00
cables         15.00                                                                 $50.00  
Total All                                                                                                $408.00

This technology is between one and two years old but I think it would come out in the upper 3% of everything out there in terms of speed.  I guess the idea of building it yourself is to save money and get a better machine.  I wouldn't buy used drives or processors.  I was hesitant to buy a used mb but they were so cheap I decided that even if they were junk I hadn't lost much.  I bought the used video card because I built it for a gamer friend and I couldn't find anything less than $120 that ran decent.  I'm still kicking myself because I passed by an ATI 9500 Pro for the same price.
PCChips has a rep as a junk board but it boots Windows 98 from P.O.S.T. to Desktop in 11 seconds(actually 10.5 on one try)
Intel has faster fsb than amd unless maybe you move up to the 64 bit Opteron.  I don't know what that's about.  But AMD is usually faster on everything else and depending upon what your doing will determine whether the fsb is that big a deal or not.
As far as the vendors go, NewEgg has the best reputation and good prices with occasional hot deals-make sure you check out the vendor with the link above-some are ripoffs so you have to be carefull

If you have any specific questions, post and I'll respond.
 
 

I was just thinking, you mentioned you were looking at getting a P4.  I'd recommend you look at possibly getting an AMD Athlon XP chip.  You get a heck of a lot more bang for your buck.  And the AMD-based motherboards tend to have more features than the P4 motherboards.

Yeah, I like bizrate also.  The issue is how much risk you're willing to take.  Credible well companies like newegg and bizrate are safer but they're prices are usually a little higher than the rock bottom back alley sites.  Best results can probably be obtained by accumulating a list of credible sites and then religiously watching for specials and clearances from those site.  The $21.00 mb in my poor man's gamer above was a clearance from newegg.  Best of both worlds.

cgillet, still there?