Casing: All casing are the same right? NOT! There are three sizes - mini, mid and full. Unless you are really short of space, get at least a mid. Be sure your have at least three 5.25-inch drive bays (for DVD, CD-ROM, and CD-RW), two 3.5-inch drive bays (floppy and Zip), and at least two internal bays for your hard drives.

Other things to consider are power supply (at least 250W), removable side panels (trust me, they are very useful), additional fans (airflow and cooling is important), and colorful iMac like colors.

CPU: Intel vs AMD! Veteran Intel has been dominating this area for a long time with no much competition until recently. In comes AMD's Athlon, top speed at 700Mhz with better architecture then the PIII, it set to slice some market share away from Intel. Intel has fight back recently by releasing PIII-800. But then again, since you can never catch up with the high technology and price, why not save some money here and spend it on other parts.

My bet is the heavily discounted PII-450. Powerful enough to run the most demanding games yet it wouldn't burn a hole in your pocket. Other options include buying a Intel Celeron and overclock it by 150Mhz, or getting a AMD K3 for some 3-D NOW! gaming.

Recommendation: Intel PII-450

Motherboard: The recently released Intel 820 and VIA VC133 chipsets were considered flops. That leads us to the good old trusty 440BX chipsets. BX motherboards are incredible reliable and supports WINDOWS, Linux and BeOS. Plus the low price now, they should be on your grab list.

I'm using a Gigabyte BX2000. Its fast and good and hasn't gave me any problems yet. If you are after a good motherboard for overclocking, a few suggestions would be Soyo SY-6BA+III or the Asus P3B-F.

Recommendation: Soyo SY-6BA+III

Memory: Many of you guys don't know this but one of the best way of making your computer run faster and smoother is by having heaps of memory. Be sure to get loads of 100Mhz SDRAM (aka PC100). Bare minimum is 64MB but if you want to take on those power hungry 3-D games, be sure to have at least 128MB loaded. For those who have extra money to burn, go for PC133 256MB DIMM.

Recommendation: PC100 128MB DIMM

Videocard: Gone are the days when you have to have a 3-D card connected to a 2-D card wasting two PCI slots. 2D/3D cards that sits on the faster AGP slot have flooded the market. And the decision of which card to buy depends on which 3D chipset you want.

TNT2, Voodoo3, G400,...and the list goes on. But since these cards are not cheap, I suggest you do a little research before you grab one. I have a 3dfx Voodoo3 2000 and all I can say is "DON'T FOLLOW ME!" Voodoo3 cards are limited to 16-bit rendering and 256x256 pixel textures, while other cards like the TNT2 Ultra is doing 32-bit color and maxing out the AGP bus with high detail, 2048x2048 textures. But give me another chance and I will go for the Matrox G400. Though just behind TNT2 in terms of speed, this card has loads of features and wins my vote for card of the century.

Other things to consider includes memory and AGP support. 16MB might be good enough...for now. Load a 32MB card into your computer if you have the money to spare. AGP 2x cards is the norm now, but you might want to go for AGP 4x. Be warn that not many mobo has support for AGP 4x.

Just the start of the century and the focus has shifted to a new chip by nVidia. The name, GeForce. It's the first graphics processor to accelerate transform and lightning calculations. And its definitely the fastest graphics processor made ready for the next generation games, since present games don't support the transform and lightning calculation by hardware. My choice has changed from Matrox Millenium G400 MAX to Creative Labs Annihilator Pro. With good software bundle and great after-sales support, you just got to give it to Creative.

Recommendation: Creative Labs Annihilator Pro

Soundcard: Its time to throw away your old moldy ISA Sound Blaster 16. Soundcards of today is made based on one word, SURROUND. And surround is what these two soundcard, Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live! and Aureal's Vortex-based Diamond MX-300 is all about. The Creative and Vortex chipsets both offer 3D positional audio, but use different technology to make it happen.

When checking your must-have soundcard feature list, be sure they include hardware Wavetable support, DirectSound/DirectSound3D support, EAX or A3D compliance, and quad-sound output. Nothing sounds better than audio coming from four speakers.

I have a Creative SoundBlaster Live Value and I have only praises for it. I personally find the Live! card provides a better overall soundcard experience and it has great support from game developers. If you have the extra cash to spare, get the Creative SB Live! Platinum as it comes with a front panel control and easy access plug-ins for your midi player.

Recommendation: Creative Labs Soundblaster Live!

Hard Drive: There is the high-end SCSI version and the normal UDMA version. Although SCSI drives are much faster than UDMA ones, my opinion is that you wouldn't need it unless you plan to run a server. You will need mobo support or a controller card stuffed in a PCI slot if you set your mind on a fast SCSI or UDMA/66 drive. Most mobo have support only for UDMA/33 drives.

SCSI runs better in multitasking environment than UDMA. supports up to 15 devices per channel, can pump more data through its bus. and can execute up to 256 commands concurrently via a cool feature called Command Tag Queuing. UDMA, on the other hand, must wait for each I/O request to be completed before it can begin another. The difference becomes obvious when u start running multiple programs at the same time.

The faster the spindle rotation, the faster the hard drive. UDMA drives tops at 7,200rpm (5,600rpm norm) while SCSI drives hits 10,000rpm (norm 7,200rpm). As for space, the more the merrier. Thanks to MP3s, movies, and internet, you should look at around 10MB.

Recommendation: IBM Deskstar series (UDMA) and Ultrastar series (SCSI).

Removable Storage: There are many to choice from: Iomega Zip (100MB/250MB), Iomega Jaz (1GB/2GB), Castlewood ORB (2.2GB), CD-RW (650MB), and DVD-RAM (5.2GB).

The advantage of CD-RW is that any computer with a CD/DVD-ROM drive (virtually all) can read it. Iomega Zip is another popular choice with millions of Zip drives in circulation worldwide, virtually replacing the floppy. The new USB Zip drives make the deal even more sweet.

The choice you make should depend on the purpose. If you need to backup your computer, Zip drives and CD-RW would be good enough. But if you are gonna store MP3s, MTVs, Videos and things like that, I suggest either CD-RW or Jaz.

Recommendation: Iomega Zip USB 250MB

CD-RW: What you should look out for is the read/write/rewrite speeds and the bundled software. Currently the read speed tops at 24x, write at 8x and rewrite at 4x. But you won't be able to get this combination all in one drive.

Read speeds are important if you wanna use your CD-RW as a CD-ROM drive. Just keep in mind that having a separate CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive would enable you to write data and CD-audio files directly to the burner.

As for bundled software, Adaptec's Easy CD Creator is one of the best package around.

Recommendation: Plextor PlexWriter 8x2x20x

Modem: Most people surf the web using 56k analog modems. I personally prefer external modems for a number of reasons. It saves you a PCI slot, have indicator lights outside and is generally faster than internal modems. The new USB modems just make the deal even sweeter.

U.S. Robotics tops this area with their rock-solid modems, with Diamond right behind its heels. But if you offer download heaps of stuff form the web and is sick and tired of waiting, why not try cable or DSL modems.

Recommendation: U.S. Robotics 56k modem

Printer: Price is proportional to quality of printout, right mate? Wrong! HP printers all offer the same quality, PhotoREt II 600x600dpi, except for their professional models. the price difference for HP printers are the print speed

Canon has a number of new models this season with innovative technologies. Epson continues to break limits with their high dpi printouts. Lexmark came out with a number of quality printers too.

But you have to look beyond dpi when it comes to buying a printer. Print cost per page, actual printout quality and aftersales service are other things to consider. Although HP printers may cost more than its rivals, the print cost per pages is the lowest among them, have great printout qualities and the trusty HP worldwide aftersales service.