Dell Dimension 2400 (Pentium 4 2.66 GHz, 512 MB RAM, 120 GB HDD)

Pros: Cheap to upgrade, will play most games unless they require more horsepower, stable and reliable platform, tons of them out there so getting even the smallest replacement part is easily done.

Cons: PCI ONLY, 2GB ram max, No SATA ports, USB 2 only on front ports, Need to disable onboard video if you use a PCI video card. If you add a decent (Radeon 8600GS) video card, the 200W power supply is not enough.

Summary: It's a rock solid PC for a 7 year old PC. When I got it it had the original 1.4ghzP4, 80GB PATA HD, and onboard video. Playing ANYTHING was futile to say the least. Upgrading the HD to a 7200RPM 500GB unit, adding a video card, maxing out the RAM at 2gb and upgrading the PS to a 450W unit that was a direct replacement, this PC has pretty much been able to meet most needs. It will not play the latest and greatest graphics intensive shooters, but the Sims 3 really is not bad on it. XP Pro reinstalled on the new HD (original bit the dust at 3 years) it has been a VERY reliable PC to work with. Will it last another 3 years? Probably not, it's architecture does not support ANYTHING faster processor or bus wise, so switiching out the MOBO and processor (at which point I might as well buy a new PC) would be the only way to keep this beast going.

Updated on May 9, 2011

Oh and upgrading the processor to a 3ghz P4 with a 533FSB really mad this PC sing.... FYI this is THE upgrade to do! They do not make a 400mhz FSB 3GHz processor, but they do make a 533 which works fine. No lockups, no issues, and with my Radeon 8600 card, this PC is pretty decent and reliable.