new system

ok, I've got this figured out.

gonna snag the lower-spec'd Asus from my local Best Buy for $399 total, along with 8GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive from amazon for $86 total.. as of right now, the Phenom II x4 is only $112 and the USB 3.0 PCIe cards aren't that expensive (like $30).
      so I spend $485 to get started off quite nicely, and a mere $140 or so to upgrade later on. still cheaper than buying the better spec'd system plus RAM and hard drive.

with initial purchases and tinkering:
dual boot Win7 and Ubuntu
main drive = 160GB
secondary drive = 1TB
12GB RAM
AMD Athlon II X2 220
ATI Radeon 3000
8ct USB 2.0
card reader
DVD-RW

I can't wait for a faster machine.. this poor HP has had it. Taryn might still get it- Orb through the Wii didn't work out so well.. movies encoded to iTunes need iTunes to play. but then I'd have to get her an LCD TV with all the correct connections.
       I need to win the damn lottery.