I do all my own work; owned a PC building and repair shop a few years back. Although the industry has changed quite a bit, the basic premise is the same: The business is all f'ed up.
I bought all new components for a new tower three weeks ago. 500 mhz amd k6-2, 256 meg ram, 20 gig hd..... total cost was about $550 US dollars.
The difference 'tween doing it yourself and buying a dell, gateway, micron, or those evil chainstore carried brands (compaq, hp, packard bell, etc) is that you have no idea what's in the box when you buy them off the shelf. Is it a good motherboard? Is it upgradable?
The systems which boast P III 900 mhz and a free color printer... hmmm... you've told me the processor speed and brand -- what is the rest?
My advice (finally) is to build it yourself based on your own research and your own needs, not the Sunday ads in the newspaper.
Heh-heh-heh... Always seems that when I upgrade a system, I end up with two systems afterwards. Both using new and old parts. I'm a junkie. I can't help it. More is better. LOL
------------------
Got Galleries?
Post Your Fetish Galleries Here