I've built my own computers, for the most part. Yes, you get more control, get the satisfaction etc. But you end up being your own technical support department. If something goes wrong, you're on your own. A year or so ago, I got the bright idea to update the BIOS on my AMD K62-400. Two weeks later I brought it into a local computer shop. To make a long story short, I ended up with an (ugh) Intel Celeron motherboard, with all those nasty builtins (video, network, sound, etc.) I had worked hard to buy the humble parts I had. Those parts were given to me in a box. I could have gotten a brand new, more powerful computer for what I paid to "have this fixed." I haven't had the resources to try rebuilding another computer. Let's not be too quick to recommend that someone go out and build their own computer. Or, at least, let's tell them some of the cold hard realities, and possible pitfalls. Ron