Hi there,
Thanks for all your advice and input, I thought I would let you know that I have finally ordered my sim/gaming rig. I think it will run just about anything I am likely to throw at it BUT on 11/9/03 when I first posted this and another few threads ( some on PC sites dedicated to squeezing the last Mhz from the god Pentium ), I knew nothing of the world of PC's at all as I am a Mac man. Its with the help of you guys and forums like these that we can all exchange our specialized info and help each others learning curve. My curve was straight up!!

Anyhow I thought I would finally settle with the following:

Shuttle SB61G2 800hz motherboard
Pent 4 @ 2.8hz 512 cache @ 800 mhz
1 G DDR Ram 400
30G Maxtor @7200
Cd /RW DVD
HIS Radeaon 9800 pro 128 mb 8xAGP ( E Bay purchase !! )
17" LG monitor

I will report in couple of weeks when I have had chance to sample the above and check the bank balance!
Thanks again