Our low-end Econobox isn't designed to be the cheapest possible combination of parts. Instead, it's a solid and affordable foundation for enthusiasts on a budget. We've avoided cutting corners that would have limited future upgrade options, and at the same time, we've tried to ensure that the system doesn't actually need any upgrades to deliver relatively peppy performance

Processor
The Athlon 64 X2 3800+ is back from our August and October system guides—and for good reason. Intel's Core 2 Duo line doesn't yet extend below the $180-190 range, and Pentium D chips priced similarly to the X2 3800+ have lower performance and/or higher power consumption. Once again, we're going with the Socket AM2 flavor of this chip. Socket 939 is more or less an upgrade dead-end at this point, while AMD has said Socket AM2 motherboards will be able to play host to its upcoming next-generation quad-core processors. Besides, Socket AM2 chips are desirable anyway because of their support for DDR2 memory and AMD-V hardware virtualization technology.

Motherboard
Just as the Athlon 64 X2 3800+ has managed to hang on for three system guides in a row, the Asus M2NPV-VM has now made it into its third consecutive system guide. The board offers an affordable Socket AM2 solution with good integrated graphics from a quality manufacturer, and it also happens to be the cheapest Socket AM2 mobo we've found that features Nvidia's GeForce 6150 integrated graphics chipset. The GeForce 6150 has both DVI and VGA outputs, making the Asus M2NPV-VM ideal for budget users who need to drive a decent LCD monitor. The integrated graphics can handle some light gaming and video acceleration, as well, but don't ask too much of it—if you're building a budget gaming box, have a look at our alternatives section for a discrete graphics card recommendation.

Oh, and theM2NPV-VM also features PCI Express x16 and x1 slots, two PCI slots, four 300MB/s Serial ATA ports, two IDE channels, and FireWire.

Memory
Despite the fact that AMD's Athlon 64 X2 chips for Socket AM2 all have support for DDR2 memory speeds up to 800MHz, budget DDR2-800 RAM is still surprisingly difficult to find. In light of this scarceness, we've once again selected OCZ's 1GB DDR2-800 "Gold" memory kit for our Econobox. This memory seems to be marketed more towards overclockers than budget users looking for a no-frills RAM choice. However, the kit's price is rather competitive, so we see no reason to downgrade to a similar offering from a lesser-known manufacturer just to save a few dollars. You might be tempted to go with cheaper DDR2-667 memory, but the savings are small, and the integrated graphics chipset in our recommended mobo should benefit from the extra bandwidth provided by DDR2-800 RAM.

Storage
The hard drive market moves notoriously slowly, and Seagate's 320GB Barracuda 7200.10 hard drive has yet to be toppled as our pick for the Econobox. $94.99 for 320GB of capacity translates to slightly less than 30 cents per gigabyte, and that's pretty difficult to beat unless you start hunting around for rebate deals. We don't really cotton to mail-in rebates, though, and their volatile nature makes them a poor match for our system guide.

Low pricing aside, the 320GB Barracuda 7200.10 is a very complete offering: it includes 16MB of cache, support for 300MB/s Serial ATA transfer speeds with Native Command Queuing, and a five-year warranty. Slightly larger drives cost significantly more, and slightly smaller drives aren't significantly cheaper, so we think this drive is pretty much in the sweet spot for our Econobox.

As for the optical drive, we've replaced the NEC 3550A from our previous guides with a Lite-On SH-16A7S. This drive has just popped up on Newegg, and one important feature sets it apart from other offerings in the same price range: Serial ATA support. Indeed, the only SATA DVD burners have been expensive Plextor models for months now, and this is the first SATA DVD burner we've seen that carries little to no price premium in the U.S.

Since IDE is slowly but surely being phased out and a DVD burner is a device users tend to keep for a few years, going with SATA across the board just makes sense. We haven't yet tested this drive ourselves, but Lite-On has a fairly solid reputation, so burn quality should be at least competitive with that of other offerings.

Enclosure and power
We've decided to stick with the Antec NSK 4400 case and power supply bundle we recommended back in October. The NSK's price tag places it at the low end of quality case/PSU bundles, and it combines a very respectable power supply with a quiet and reasonably roomy case. The case includes three 5.25" bays, two 3.5" bays, three hard drive bays with rubber mounting grommets, and a speed-adjustable 120mm exhaust fan. The PSU is an Antec model rated for 380W that can supply up to 336W (28A) of power via a pair of +12V rails rated for 16A individually. That's more than enough juice for our Econobox, and you should have plenty of upgrade headroom if you decide to toss in a couple of extra hard drives and a discrete graphics card.

$70 may seem like a lot to spend on what seems like accessories in a budget system. However, a good power supply is an invaluable asset to system stability. You could get a $30 case/PSU bundle from a no-name manufacturer, and you might even end up with a halfway decent case out of the deal. PSUs bundled with cheap cases tend to be built from cheap, low-quality components, though, and that often translates into low power delivery, voltage fluctuations, poor stress tolerance, and short life spans. Cheap PSUs can jeopardize system stability, damage sensitive components over time, and potentially even flame out in spectacular fashion, taking several system components with them in the process. For an extra $40, the added peace of mind is definitely worth it.