ASUS A7N8X BUNDLE W/ COOLING FAN&ADM XP 3000+(400Mhz); CRUCIAL 1 GB DDR400(512MBx2)
ATI RADERON 9200 128MB AGP 8X DDR W/TV-OUT
CREATIVE LABS SOUNDBLASTER AUDIGY2 VALUE DOLBY DIGITAL7.1
BEST DATA 56K V.92/V44 INT PCI MODEM
DOES THIS SOUND LIKE A GOOD PC TO BUILD FOR AROUND $500

I don't know what US prices are like but, in UK terms, that's good value for money. I would question why you've decided to go for 1Gb RAM, just out of curiosity. If you settled for 512Mb RAM (which is enough for all but the really serious gamers or multimedia editors), then you could get yourself a faster processor with the money you saved

thanks djnafey, i am getting into a lot of graphices and it will help rendering a lot faster.

If you're wanting to do more graphics I would suggest a better video card. Also keep in mind that a computer's price is analogous to how long it will be before it's obsolete.