Current Cost of Memory: $85 * 2 = $170 Months on List: Four Price Change: -$52

It is important to keep in mind that RDRAM must be applied in pairs to take advantage of the dual channels supported by the i850 chipset. As such, we are recommending a pair of 128MB RIMMS, leaving two slots open for future memory upgrades. While SDR and DDR Pentium 4 chipsets are fast approaching, RDRAM will likely be the best way to fully harness the Pentium 4's power.

Current Cost of Memory: $97 Months on List: Four Price Change: -$17

After registering another solid price drop, 256MB of PC2100 comes in at less than $100! PC2100 DDR memory delivers the highest memory bandwidth throughput of any Athlon-based solution right now, allowing the 1.33GHz processor to stretch its legs. Make sure and verify that the vendor you purchase your memory from is reputable, as we have heard stories of unscrupulous businesses selling PC1600 under the guise of PC2100 (same goes for PC133 memory as PC150).

Current Cost of Disk: $206 Months on List: New

This 7200, ATA-100 drive performs just a little better than the 75GXP we recommended last month. IBM recommends the 60GXP for audio/video storage, content creation, and multimedia/Internet applications due to the higher media transfer rate. With a seek time of 8.5ms and a 2MB cache, this drive really performs. Better acoustic qualities and lower power consumption are two other reasons that this 60GB monster is our pick this month.

If you're looking to upgrade to a RAID solution, two of these drives might be a little overwhelming (and expensive). For those folks, we'd recommend a pair of 40GB drives from the same family. Coming in at around $140, the effect on your pocketbook will be a little less apparent, and 40GB is still a significant amount of storage space!