First and foremost, let me apologize for my presense being that I am in every way considering computers - a layman. That having been said I would like to supplicate the expertise of this community in directing me towards a PC purchase most suited for me, the layman.

I have a slight whiff of direction to assist in proper diagnosis by you masters of the technilogical arts, I'll start from the top - my interests of utility:

I would use the system for photo manipulation (probably from scanned negatives rather than a digital camera - a future purchase) and making flash videos through the implementation of my photography and any other sources of media I could get my hands on. I would expect the primary programs I would use off the bat are Flash and the Latest version of Adobe photoshop because the programs are available to me. But, since I have infinticimal experience the graphics/video editing/creation I would expect with the capacity to do would spark my interests to more advanced technique and consequently more advanced software & hardware. I would need "room to grow."

Aside from that I am an internet junkie and a music junkie. It's plausible I may take the road of some friends of mine and dabble in creating techno on the PC, but that's just a scant possibility, not a necessity but once again the accomodation would be nice - "room to grow."

I am an admitted gaming fanatic.. *hangs head in shame* and i realize how these are very big resource hogs.

Aside from that I commit to non-resource intensive applications internet research and browsing, word processing, spread sheet work, etc.

-and now an overview of the type of specs I've become interested in as a relative goal, and also a list I had compiled at a local shop.

amd athlon xp 1600. 512 megs of DDR RAM. Motherboard capable of upgrade, expandable to 3 gygs DDR Ram (EX: Asus A7V266-E).
80 gyg 7200rpm hard drive DVD-ROM
ATI Radeon 64mb AGP DDR Graphic Card
56 K modem 3COM 10/100 Network Adapter
1.44 Floppy Drive Internal 250 Meg Zip
17# flat glass monitor (ie: trinitron, not the flat panel)
sound blaster live! keyboard/mouse
3 piece speaker systemw subwoofer
ATX Medium Tower 250w power supply
Microsoft Windows XP-pro

The three options I've been weighing are: 1) buy from a respectable big name by-mail PC maker (Dell, IBM, or Gateway). If I were to go that route, I would chose dell. I believe a system of comparable specs would cost me about $2,100 to $2,300

2) Have the sytem built by the local computer shop with the exact specs I listed, the cost would come to $1,960.43

3) Order all parts from various online retailers and put the sytem together myself. Price goes as high as 1,800 but there is the distinct possibility to pay less.. and much less.

My dilemma comes with option 3. I realize that I am a layman. I have installed perhipials, cd-roms, RAM chips, and a hard drive and it seems relatively simple. I just connect wires according to instructions and it seems to work! But I don't really know much of what I'm doing other than it seems simple enough. I have a big fear that something would go wrong and I, being the layman, would have nowhere to turn and starve in the colds of Siberia. But the potential savings are just too enticing.

With the knowledge that I am, in fact, a layman - what method of purchase would you demi-gods of electrical voodoo advise me?

the layman

PS: any additional advice on worthwhile and top value purchases would be appreciated

ok.
firstly, u mentioned the words "upgrade" and "dell" in the same message.
this procludes you from getting a dell.
some people like dell's (NOT me), but they are right buggers to upgrade.

a good thing to do is to cruse toms hardware alot... check out his guides to graphics cards, motherboards, ram, cpu's.

see whats the best and make a short list of the top 3 or so components in each category.
this way u know exactly what u need, down to the product number.
then u can go to a local store and have it built.

i suggest against building it yourself unless you hae had SOME previous experience.
lack of experience and stupidity are the leading cauzes for toasting AMD CPU's. (and probably alot of other hardware too!)

finally.
couple of pointers... to help u on your way.
1. try to get Cas2 DDR, not 2.5 or 3. (faster)
2. retail heatsink should be fine, but if u wanna shop around have a look here: <A HREF="http://www.dansdata.com" target="_new">http://www.dansdata.com</A>
3. AMD systems are typically hungry beasts. a 250W PSU is unlikely to cut it, and is most likely to cauze heartache. u dont need one that is too high, just decent quality. and u cant go past Enermax. get a enermax 350 or whisper 420 and u wont regret it.
4. see if u can find a decent case too. good ones typically are light (made from aluminium), have no sharp/jagged edges, are roomy, and look good


The lack of thermal protection on Athlon's is cunning way to stop morons from using AMD.

you might wish to consider an online integrator and a bundle type deal .. this would save you considerable money and would still get you all you need in addition to the satisfaction of doing most of the work yourself. Last year I did this through a company in Georgia.. monarchcomputers.com .. ( there are others out there also and other people will suggest them here .. DO check resellerratings.com prior to any online purchase though)what I did was purchased a case with psu, motherboard combination ( mobo and chip) and paid them 15 dollars to assemble those few parts and test them ( 15.00 for this service is rerasonable imho) I then bought drives, video cards modems etc elsewhere (and some of it there) and did the rest of the project myself .. I was up and running in about 3 hours after receiving all of the parts...

have fun it's great to make your own .. I just did a complete assembly of a system today .. from the ground up this time .. it's not all that difficult and you certainly get more computer for less money

{today's system}
**soyo dragon ultra motherboard (6 usb ports)onboard lan, and 6 channel hardware sound
**512mb pc2700 ddr 333mhz ram (kingmax)
**Pentium IV 2ghz northwood cpu
yamaha cdrw (2100ez)
sony 52x cdrom
**2 maxtor 40 gb ata 133 7200 rpm drives (haven't decided on which yet but this mobo supports Raid)
Visiontek geforce 3 Ti 200
full size atx tower case
enermax 461 psu

items with ** are new.. the rest are parts I already had from previous systems
whole deal cost me 960.00 for the new parts

lagger

<b><font color=blue>Computers run on smoke, I let the smoke out of mine and it quit working </b> </font color=blue>

...about building it yourself:

First, you get total control over <b>every</b> piece of equipment that goes into your machine. This is invaluable. There are a few good "system" vendors - but invariably, you'll get stuck with a few poor pieces of equipment, typically mother-board, power supply, or RAM. Also, you will pay a good deal more for these pre-assembled systems.

Second, building your own system isn't that hard - I really had no experience before building mine, but simply spending a month or two reading Tom's Hardware and other sites made me more than capable of putting together an excellent system.

Unless you are completely pressed for time <b>and</b> have money to burn, building your own computer is a far better investment.

<b>1.4 Ghz AMD T-Bird underclocked to 1 Ghz...just to be safe!</b>

Just thought I'd post my two cents, having built myself a new Athlon-based system a few months ago...

The first is that I found few discounts for building my own system, in part because I was being fairly careful about where I bought. These days, many companies are willing to assemble it for you for free, and this generally leads to a better warranty, if you're concerned about such things. If you choose to buy components and build your system yourself do your research on the store you're buying from - especially what their policy is on accepting returns of DOA components. Ideally choose somewhere which has been in business for a few years too... What you really have to watch out for (or at least where I am) are grey market parts - if your components have come in semi-legally the retailer likely isn't paying taxes on them, explaining why you get such a good price. However, it also means that if something goes wrong you have a battle on your hands and may well be SOL.

That said, building a system yourself is not a very difficult thing to do, especially given your past experience in installing components. Just be very careful with static and be careful when installing your heatsink. I've found that the system I built has been one of the least troublesome and most stable I've ever had the pleasure of owning. I also know exactly what went into it, which is nice. Personally I would stay away from the big brands, a la Dell or Gateway. Dells aren't bad choices - the new Dimension 8100 series cases seem very nicely designed, and they run fairly well, but you get less flexibility than building your own, and don't know about all of the components that went in.

The system you listed is fairly similar to mine, so just a few notes on that:
-If you buy the Radeon 64DDR, be sure to get a retail version (they have faster RAM, I know, and may or may not have a faster processor - that I've forgotten.) I like the Radeon family of cards, and the 7500 or 8500 might be a good bet if you have the money.
-You may want to invest in a 19" monitor if you can afford it, for gaming and general productivity. I have a flat Viewsonic G90f, and I find that it offers great quality at a reasonable price.
-I initially ran my system with a 250W power supply (the store screwed up theorder and I had to wait for a new one)and experienced no problems - the Radeon is fairly good for low power consumption. Still, at least 300W is better, and some of the Enermax models are nice in that they offer an extra extractor fan (right over the CPU).
-Be sure to listen to your speakers before buying them, as different sets offer VERY different sound quality. I like my Altec Lansing 45.2 system, and the 48s are good as well (enough bass to shake my heating vents at less than full volume, when I'm in that kind of mood, and distortion free to volume levels best described as painful). $40 is a reasonable price for such a set, and I find that lesser speakers sound anemic in comparison.
-Assuming that your prices are in US dollars before tax, your quotes seem high. I ordered my system from www.ncix.com, and priced your system, including assembly, at just over $1400 US before taxes (which you may not need to pay if you're out of state... They're a Canadian company, but have US pricing on their site, so I have no idea how the taxes would work). They also have a 2% cash discount, which applies if you pay by electronic transfer. They may be worth a look for you...

*As the username implies, I'm generally in the dark*