PIII is a good choice. Go with 256M or greater on ram. 7200rpm hard drive is sufficient.
SBlive platinum is a good choice to start with.
Stay away from S3 chipset video cards. If you know someone who can buy the parts and help you build one do it. You have a much better computer. I use 98SE as it works good for me and is stable. I don't trust ME nor see a need for it.