I am soo nto be coming into a modest insurance settle ment.
A healthy portion is going to a home network.

original plan:
station1main machine/server Slackware/XP
station2 slackware/win98
station 3 game machine for son win98
station 4Laptop mobile for wife win98/slackware
router
cable modem

New plan - (wife is NOT enthusiastic about this...need to get up and running in a stable fasion with web browsing capabilites)

station 1 knoppmyth (XP/Slackware?)
station 2 win98/slackware
station 3 Laptop
router
cable modem

I will be building all myself. Cost is a consideration.

In the past I have always used AccessMicro foor just about everything.
However, Tiger Direct beats the price by 15-20%, but does not have all Iwant.
Newegg is competitive but seems to lack in availability and choices.
I would prefer to use 1 vender for all.

My main consideration is the myth box. my budget is 600-650$
I wouldlike to be able to watch one station/ record another with 5.1 sound.
will I need two tuner cards? code/decode on both?
Sound card suggestions?
cpu speed/manf?
mainboard?
soundcard?
mem?

I would like to go with the shuttle case but all the mainboards only offer 1 agp and 1 pci.

http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1228

check the fourth post down add a second tuner card and wala... with the second card you will be over the $650 but lose the 512mg ram and go with 256mg and a lesser expensive card ie the tv wonder and you are all set...

You could trim the cost on toxic_d's config by going with a slower CPU and cheaper RAM. I've never had a problem with the Kingston Value RAM and managed to pick up 512Mb for ~$50 after rebate, but you can manage ~$75 even without one.

Having monitored it with "top" while running various tests, I can say that the CPU usage on my 2500+ was always below 25% and usually less than 10%, but the RAM was always close to 90% full. As a result I'd say, keep the Mb, lose some Ghz.