Buying/making a computer

i recently faced this decision myself. I spent weeks researching the pros of building one (or having a friend build it) vs buying a complete system.

Some benefits of building yourself are cheaper components, being able to customize to get exactly what you want, assuring the assembly is done with care because you're doing it yourself, knowing exactly what brand of components are being used, and savinge money on build costs and all that...but....

you are also in for some headaches...

you need to really do your homework to make sure everything is compatable with each other. You might get sent some bad components and have to go through some headaches with RMAs. You have to figure out how much cooling you need...as well as what cases are good as well as making sure all your parts fit in it. You'll also have to do the OS installation (shouldn't be bad) but also making sure of bios updates and proper drivers. Not to mention..it's your butt if you frak up while assembling this thing. A big issue (at least to me...and reason why I bought a build system).  warrantly. Yes, each part has a limited warranty for a year, but if you're not good at the whole build/updating thing, being able to pick up the phone and having someone else deal with the headache is good.

In the end, I decided to pay a little bit more (hell, when you have no $$$, what's a little more of it?) and bought a system from dell. They have some high quality, gaming specific computers now. They've also having some decent price discounts now, as well as a spring sale. I actually got a 2nd video card for free the day I ordered.

Summary: if you have the skills to build and know what to use...or if you have a friend who's willing to take that responsibility as well as the responsibility for being the first avenue when things go wrong, build it. If you don't have the skills, don't have someone who's willing to be your fix it person, and want a simplier solution, get one built.

my two cents anyway.