Critique my potential new toy...

[vsp]

I'm in the midst of justifying the cost of a new system to myself. My current alleged computer is a Packard Bell (pause for laughter) Pentium 133, which is a 133 in name only because the rest of the architecture is brain-damaged. 40MB RAM, a 4MB video card, an 8MB HD, a SCSI card with an external CDR (two, actually) and a scanner on the way, and it still runs like a constipated wombat and can't run Galaga at full speed without frameskipping.

It's still suitable for the Internet and a fair number of related applications, but it's been six years with this beast and ME WANT NEW TOY and they're a lot more affordable now. So there.

Things I have in mind:

* Everything I've read so far in doing a moderate amount of homework suggests that the Athlons are the way to go right now, in that they're more bang for the buck than the P3s and (especially) P4s.

* If you're going to buy a new computer, buy as close to state-of-the-art as is affordable. My rule of thumb is this: Buy a cutting-edge computer and in one year, you're no longer cutting-edge. In two years, you're entry-level. In three years, you're below minimum specifications for new Windows apps. Buying less than cutting-edge simply reduces your viability time.

* With processor speeds spiraling upwards at a rapid pace, a great video card is more valuable than a great CPU speed, because a substandard video card can become a bottleneck very quickly.

* It's difficult to have too much RAM or too much drive space.

* I am not a big 3D gamer (I'm more into MAME, Visual Pinball and such than Quake/Unreal/etc.), but I dabble with 3D games enough that I don't want to skimp on those capabilities.

* My existing Office 97 disc will be just fine; I don't need the latest and greatest sets of MS bloatware, or to pay an extra $150 for a system because it's got MS Works and six months of AOL or MSN packaged with it.

* I am not ruling out a dual-boot with Linux or FreeBSD at some point, but don't have the cojones to set it up right now.

* I'm on the brink of violating one of my major rules (always buy Dell or Gateway), largely because Dell does not believe in Athlons and Gateway has limited customization options. A local company (Alpha Computers in Malvern) has a good rep from some people I've talked to who've bought theirs there, and they can customize a system for me any way I'd want it.

With all of that floating around in my head, here's what I'm considering:

* ASUS ATV133 motherboard, ATA100, 4xAGP, 4USB Jumperfree, AT-Raid0, 266MHz FSB, six slots
* Athlon 1300 processor
* 256MB PC133 SDRAM
* 30GB 7200rpm ATA100 HDD
* ASUS GeForce2 32MB GTS video card
* 12x8x32 CDRW drive (LG)
* SoundBlaster Live (debating other options here)
* USR 56K modem
* Win98 2nd Edition (I get the CD, not a dopey restore disk option that would wipe the HD, and I keep legacy DOS app compatibility)
* Subwoofer speaker system
* ATX tower, 4 bays (3 open), two fans
* Floppy, mouse, keyboard
* 1 year parts + labor warranty, free tech support

at around $1040 before adding a new monitor, which is also something I'm debating (17" or 19", get one there or shop around...)

This should blow the doors off of whatever I throw at it for the foreseeable future, doesn't have all sorts of OEM bloatware preinstalled, has room for a DVD-ROM if I choose to add one later, and (with the possible exception of the SB Live, which is notoriously buggy with certain apps) doesn't have any big gaping holes leaping out at me.

Discuss. Does the above sound reasonable? Any changes you'd make? How should I have them configure this if I want the option of dual-booting Linux later on?

jeff. always up for new toys