Work Machines
Budget: <500USDNot much to say here, got a 1GB dualcore box with 250GB 16MB cache harddrive; only thing that was compromised on was having onboard video. This however isnt an important consideration for a work machine so it is an acceptable loss for the raw value of the machine
Budget: <600USDUpping the budget allows us to jump to the PentiumD 820 as well as add a discrete videocard, again a hell of a deal for what you're getting
Budget: <700USDWith the budget here we can finally get a balanced system based on the Athlon64 X2. The A8R-MVP is an added bonus: flagship performance for a far-from-flagship price
Budget: <800USDHere we move to the X2-4200 and away from "included" (although decent) power supplies.
Budget: <900USDThe budget here now allows us to upgrade the harddrive as well as the RAM.
Budget: <1000USDThis is a very formidable workmachine: two 250GB high performance drives, a proven motherboard and CPU, 2GB of RAM and an excellent power supply. Realistically, after this machine we're just looking for ways to spend money (except when it comes to the later SMP machines)
Budget: <1100USDAlthough I am normally opposed to putting such a gaming oriented motherboard in a work system, this machine offers an extensive amount of support for infrastructure: twin RAID5 configurations and an obscene amount of HDD connectivity justify the motherboard switch
Budget: <1200USDThree 300GB drives (so ready for RAID5 configuration), an aftermarket cooler to allow the system to handle virtually any heat related issues that may (but probably wont) arise, this box will serve as a fairly robust data archival server if needed. Very good for people looking to do video processing and animation.
Bigger Budget?
Well short of a $2000 budget, not much really is going to be improved here without seriously unbalancing something. With the higher budget, we can finally move to a Opteron 2xx configuration for true SMP/SMT (ideally Opteron 265 or higher). To balance this out, a decent RAID5 and memory configuration are needed (explaining the cost). Throw in the cost of the eATX case and various controller cards, the prices will climb very quickly.