Thanks for the list Lasereth! that's what i'm looking for, suggestions of rock solid machinery.
I don'y mean to sound as if i want something that never needs to be opened, as even he like to fiddle around and build himself, but he lost it because he turned it off friday to go home and it worked fine, and would not post monday morning even after 3.5 hrs of trying the standard stuff we all do when a system un-expectantly doesn't post.
He sent me an email about
THIS barebones setup from Tigerdirect and i must admit to being impressed with all that it offers for that price. Tigers heaquarters is about 5 minutes from our house and we have family freinds working their, so he feels like their a good company and turns there first, whereas i turn to good ol' pricewatch
I'm going to take a look at that board though lasereth, as it may represent a betterdeal.
Thanks for the responses so far everybody! More are always appreciated.