Mike, both systems sound great. I'm running an intel mobo, core 2 duo 3.0ghz, 4 gigs corsair ram, twin 160g hd, onboard HD graphics, xp pro. i spent about 400 for everything except hard drives...already had them. I use one drive for files i don't want to lose and the other for xp. this is my second full rebuild. first was my wife's HP, which gave me confidence to do my own completely.