Of course, you can get 500 MHz DDR RAM now from Corsair. $378 for 2x0.5 GB from newegg.com
For the kind of money that Dell wants for the 8300 I would buy a nice display and about 6 $400 Athlon machines and set up a Beowulf cluster instead. >:-D
Why am I reminded of an [link|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=104428|LRPD] you nominated? ;-)
I hope you get the box!
Cheers,
Scott.