Chris I know what you are going to ask. And the answer is yes!!!! get an old p-2 system and some good cooling and you will have your best chance of flying right on by me in the benches. Stay away from evil things like New Intel chipsets. And don't even think about one of these new Nvidia cards! Why they are so heavy you could actually hurt yourself trying to install one. I would just be sick if anything happened to you. So just stick with the old stuff it was feather light and if you shop ebay you will see that the systems are just really cheap to build.
Remember P35...= bad bad.
8800 = bad bad
2900= bad bad
Now you know you don't want to be bad.
P-2 350mhz = Good good
200 watt
psu = good good
Windows 95 possibly 98 = good good
Benching seems exciting but it should be left to us professionals so all you boys and girls at home...... don't try this......
hope to see you clinbing that mountain soon!!! chris.........