Hey Pharaohz, thanks for your post. After reading it this morning I thought your idea was worth looking into, so I spent some time working on my budget & seeing what's available on the web. I think I might get this to work if I can solve some minor problems (I have to figure out how to use my current Sony case, despite it's crazy PSU placement & other minor issues it creates), but I definitely was able to find some similar gear to what you bought at some great prices.
I found a "newly pulled" Intel P4 3.00GHz 800MHz SL6WK 478 that comes with a one year warranty on Ebay from a reliable seller for only $37.95, and that includes the shipping. He says that it is an OEM chip - is this a good deal - seems awful cheap? It also does not include a heatsink, but they seem to be relatively easy to come by.
Gigabyte GA-8IG1000MK 865G "new" on ebay for $90 total
(I'm assuming I can connect my old 3.5" IDE drives and my old DVD drives - (ATAPI ATA/ATAPI-5) to this mobo?
2GB PC3200 Ram $59
NEW Chiefmax 650 Watt ATX Power Supply $30 total on Ebay
GeForce FX 5200 128MB 8x AGP For $32 (not a monster but I'm ok with that)
All that comes to $250 - so all I need to scrape up is another $75, and figure out how to rig the PSU to pull it off!
