Would somebody who knows hardware better than I do chime in on whether this is a good lowcost box for Blending under Linux?
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=4691267&sku=B69-0083&SRCCODE=WEM1941IM&cm_mmc=Email--Main--WEM1941-_-components
Thanking you in advance. I have a birthday coming up…
It should be fine, but the Video card will hold you back slightly. After you upgrade the graphics card to something like a 9800gt or HD4770 for under $100, then you’ll have a very capable machine.
The price is very good, the only thing I don’t like is the Mobo only has 1 PCIe x16 slot.
But that price… soo low 
Edit: Check out this one:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4665517&csid=
It’s a little more expensive but the power supply and drive are a little better. The Mobo doesn’t have a 64bit requirement to use all 8 G of ram, and it has 2 PCIe x16 slots (only 2 PCI though)
Looks like it doesn’t come with a Graphics card also.
Thanks, blenderheads!
Needs a better video card. a 9800GTX can be had for around $130 or so. I wouldn’t go the 2 graphic card route as that’s just used for some games and it’s far cheaper and you get better performance through 1 card at any rate.