I recommend investigating your local vendors. I purchased parts for a computer from pc-cost.com a while back and when the power supply's fan died, I was going to have to pull it out of the computer, ship it back and wait for them to verify I my complaint. Then, if I was not fibbing, they would replace it. I was going to be without a computer for weeks. If it had been a local dealer, they would have determined it was under warranty upon inspection, and I could have gotten a replacement right away. Most of your local companies have web sites, and offer competitive pricing (but don't offer it to you on the sale's floor, becuase they have to invest time in answering your qestions.) They will still be more expensive than warehouse type vendors, but still less expensive than any chain electronic / computer company. If you do go with an internet vendor, be sure you know exactly what they are putting in your computer. Put extra $ in power supplies (crappy power == sooner repairs required). Good motherboards are essential (ABIT, ASUS, TYAN just to name a few). Check out www.tomshardware.com for advice on what works with what. You might be surprised to find some chipsets don't get along nicely with some video cards. These types are nearly impossible to diagnose, but will cause you lots of headaches. Also, I my opinion is don't buy intel. Why? Do you really want to pay the "Blue Man Group" salaries each time you purchase your processor? The cost of their commercials is outrageous. Not to mention that AMD chips generally out perform comparable Intel chips for most computer work (though there have been some tests that the P4 was tweaked to score well on). Maybe I'm a freak, but when I purchase a computer part, I want to know that the money that went to the company went toward R&D, not hype (or pretty commercials) Just my .02 eric