Here's my stab...some will like it, some won't, but my .02

Athlon XP 1600+ CPU -$55, NewEgg
ECS K7S5A mainboard (includes onboard CMedia sound and onboard Ethernet, takes either PC133 or DDR SDRAM, and easy to replace later), $55, Newegg
Taisol heatsink/fan, AMD recommended (not for overclockers but quiet and reliable), approx $20-25
Antec SX630II Case w/300w PS, $70-90 from different vendors
256MB PC2100 DDR DRAM - Choose brand name (Crucial or Kingston ValueRAM) for about $65-70 almost anywhere. If you have the cash, buy 2 of them and go to 512MB of RAM.
Western Digital 80GB Special Edition 8MB cache Caviar HDD, $107 at NewEgg. 3 year warranty.
ATI Radeon 8500LE vid card, approx $90 from many vendors (if you have more budget, a Geforce 4 Ti4200 for $130-160)
CD-ROM or DVD - Pick from tons, I prefer Toshiba if you're going IDE, but easy and $30-80 depending on cd or dvd
Floppy - equally easy, figure $10-20
Monitor -Don't skimp on this. Samsung 955DF, probably $300-350, 19" max 1600x1200@75Hz (recommend 1280x1024@85Hz)
Speakers - You make the call. Keyboard and mouse are also personal (I use IBM/Lexmark 102-key clickers, and an MS Intellimouse explorer 1.0)
If you want a CD Burner, yamaha OEM IDE's are probably the best, an 8x4x24 or 8x8x24 should be available new for $80. If you need a modem, don't skimp on this either unless you plan on broadband internet soon. Spend the $50 for an OEM US Robotics 56k PCI hardware V.92 modem .

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AMD Athlon XP 2000+ aircooled
ASUS A7V8X-RAID mobo, Enet, SATA, 1394, USB2.0, all dat junk
512MB Crucial DDR
AOpen HX-08 case, Enermax 430wPS
80GB WD Spedial Edition 8MB cache
(all SCSI) Plextor 40x CD, Yamaha 8x4x24 CDRW, Seagate DDS2 DAT
Visiontek Geforce3 Ti200
Adaptec 2930U2 SCSI
ATI TV Wonder
SB Audigy MP3+