[Swordmaker]

Still waiting for that less expensive workstation listing ... cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap... that’s the sound of economical crickets in the night...

[antiRepublicrat]

I'll do it. Now I don't expect the Mac to be far ahead since it's about to be updated, and Macs always have their least value just before an update (which is why you go to MacRumors to check the buying guide first). All from NewEgg, my favorite place online to buy individual computer hardware bits (ask any geek -- they rule). I'll stop when I get above the base Mac Pro's price. All numbers rounded.

2x 2.66 GHz Xeons: $1,568
Mobo dual Xeon PCIEx16: hard to tell, about $400
Video: $80 (but no dual-link DVI)
Hard drive: $70
512 MB FBDIMM x 2: $76*
DVD burner: $30
1000W power supply: $300 (even picked low-end)

We're at $2,522. I've already passed the $2,499 price of the Mac Pro, and I haven't even bought a case, keyboard, mouse, fans or operating system. Earlier comparisons had the Mac much further ahead since they were done at the beginning of a release cycle.

* You can't save by just getting one 1 GB chip because the memory system is multi-channel, and actually runs best with at least four chip slots filled.