AMD > Pentium
i went with newegg.com for all my parts.
www.pricewatch.com is alright.
AMD Athlon XP1800+
512MB PC2100 Crucial Ram
MSI KT3 Ultra mobo
Abit Siluro GF4 MX440 vid card - swapping out for a Ti4600 when the funds are available.
Maxtor 40GB 7200rpm Super-Quiet hdd
as for heat issues, i dont have any issues with my setup at all. stable 43C with no extra fans - just the retail heatsink/fan right now.
when gaming the temps go up to about 48C, nothing bad cuz i know people whose setups are running hotter than that @ idle w/o even being overclocked.
im going to be adding a hdd cooler in the near future and upgrade the heatsink/fan - and get a couple quiet case fans - just to keep things even cooler w/o sacrificing too much quietness.