Originally Posted by Sly

I have been working from my 2.8 GHz laptop for the past six weeks and it's really starting to drive me crazy. I want to build a computer but I have no idea about compatibility and everything in those regards... who can help me piece together a system that will work great and is for a great price? I am willing to pay for the help.

Speed is important, memory is important, cooling is important, hard drive space is good but not incredibly essential, though a redundant set up may be a nice idea. I will not be gaming from this computer so a high-end graphics card is not needed. I'm also wanting a 24 inch LCD. I'm thinking Windows XP.

Where do we even begin?