I was thinking I'd probably just get a cheap case. Though if it vibrates or rattles, that would be an issue. The case is after all probably the part that would require most effort to change (well, either that or the motherboard). Maybe I'll at least look for something branded.
One thing that I suppose online shopping isn't so good for. Stuff like processors and memory can be judged on specs, but the best way to know what a case is like is to actually touch it.

http://www.google.com/products/catal...wAg#ps-sellers

http://www.google.com/products?sourc...ed=0CCAQrQQwAg

These are the two cases I have used most recently (the first is actually an update of the one I used 3 years ago, that still works perfect. I really like both of theses cases. Both were purchased for under $90 at fry's and can likely be had cheaper online. Like you said, I like to get my hands on them to make my choice, but I can recommend either of these without hesitation.

Bit of a bump here. The budget might go up a bit, thanks to having got some money as a gift.

Thus, would it be a good idea to forget about integrated graphics and buy a low-end graphics card? Certainly being able to disentangle the graphics choice from the motherboard choice seems appealing. And it also gives a small effective boost in RAM (since integrated graphics nicks some). On the other hand, there's always the trade-off - I could double the RAM to 4 GB for the same sort of price, or go for a more powerful Phenom processor, or even spend a bundle on a high-quality case.

A decent video card can be had for under $50 bux. I'd say the answer is a definite yes.

Hi,

Or buy the MB with a good on-board chipset then invest in a good case. The cost for a decent GPU is falling so when you do upgrade you will have the use of dual display when needed when you add the new display adapter.

The good case will allow you to rebuild for a few generations before the need to replace.

what users fail to understand in regards to the ati opensource drivers is he following:

1. radeonhd has hd support but the rest is virtually none, this driver bearly has commits.
2. radeon is the most advanced ati open source driver out there.
3. radeon has hd support in the git repository.
4. the best 3d performance can be found in the most latest kernel
5. in order to get best and newest possible 3 acc with the open source driver you must have radeon-next kernel tree, mesa, radeon and libdrm from git/svn.

OTOH I recently installed Slackware 13.0 on a system with onboard graphics in an Intel 82865 chipset. After netsearching I concluded that the best thing to do was to disable it and fit a (nVIDIA) graphics card. The Intel 82865 is an old chipset so this experience may not be relevant for choosing a new motherboard now.

Regards onboard vs. card graphics, onboard:

• is cheaper
• uses less power
• reduces choice
• cannot be upgraded

If you do go for onboard, it can always be disabled in favour of a card but that will be more expensive than going directly for the card in the beginning.

Overall this is one of linux's downfalls - no real 3D support.

Or maybe, "no real OPEN SOURCE 3D support."

define real. you mean DX? have you taken a look at http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...Unigine+Heaven ?