I am torn between computer builds.. any computer nerds available for opinion-n-talk?

[Trey Yeoman]

You are terribly, horribly wrong on both counts. Unless you have money to basically throw away there is definitely such thing as overkill. Let say you go out and get that super new computer. You spend a bunch of time configuring everything and you are playing WOW and life is good. Now your friend comes over and says what did you spend on that rig. You say $1,500. Next day you head over to your friends and they are playing WOW on their $500 dollar computer. (remember the OP is talking about just the computer, not a monitor) You think well my WOW game is definitely crisper. Whats that next to your friends computer "Oh yeah I got a new ipad too. Oh and did you see my new Bumble Bee BP." I am not saying that the $1500 computer isn't going to be faster and totally awesome and all that. What I am saying is that at the end of the day its a lot of money to spend on technology that will be half that price next year. Unless you "need" it, its overkill. So decide how much you really want that screaming new machine.

Oh yeah and Dell customer support is no worse than any of the other big names in my experience. There business support is great.

Well it's also in reference to priorities... for die hard gamers, the statement about no computer buying and usage is overkill, is a valid statement... for someone that doesn't play video games as hardcore, and spend more time with the snakes and music (ipod/ipad etc) would probably completely disagree with that statement...

I have since this post decided on a build that costs like 800 dollars... which is good for me Intel I5 dual core 3.4 ghz, 4 gb of ddr3, 1/5tb hd, and a nvidea geforce gtx 460 (fermi) graphics card... basically much less than what I had planned before and not a SUPER COMPUTER, but it will run WoW better than my last computer and I will still have another 800 bucks for other things

(I don't know if I mentioned that I am shopping on a budget of 1,600 dollars... which is refund money from my college... so it's free money... that I get back... AFTER I pay for my classes, books, and special lab fees... )

[Egapal]

Well it's also in reference to priorities... for die hard gamers, the statement about no computer buying and usage is overkill, is a valid statement... for someone that doesn't play video games as hardcore, and spend more time with the snakes and music (ipod/ipad etc) would probably completely disagree with that statement...

I have since this post decided on a build that costs like 800 dollars... which is good for me Intel I5 dual core 3.4 ghz, 4 gb of ddr3, 1/5tb hd, and a nvidea geforce gtx 460 (fermi) graphics card... basically much less than what I had planned before and not a SUPER COMPUTER, but it will run WoW better than my last computer and I will still have another 800 bucks for other things

(I don't know if I mentioned that I am shopping on a budget of 1,600 dollars... which is refund money from my college... so it's free money... that I get back... AFTER I pay for my classes, books, and special lab fees... )

So you have absolutely no loans for school and you have $1600 coming to you?
If any of that is loan money then you are proving my point. That money you spend today will end up costing you a lot more by the time you pay it off. I am the head of IT/IS for a small company so I know a thing or two about computers. The problem with getting the better system is diminishing returns. You will probably get a great system for 800 dollars. $1600 will not get you twice as fast a computer. The pricey super fast stuff is going to devalue quickly. It has nothing to do with priorities. You say no computer is overkill as if $1600 is the most you can spend. I know people who have spent over $3,000 on a gaming rig. Its overkill. You want solid state drives, I can get most of the benefit with non of the downside out of a striped raid for less than half the cost. You want to see real speed. Setup a ram drive. Not that you need to. Most modern games require a killer video card more than anything else. The original poster is making a big fuss out of a bunch of factors that don't matter half as much as the video card. I stand by my statements.

[Trey Yeoman]

So you have absolutely no loans for school and you have $1600 coming to you?
If any of that is loan money then you are proving my point. That money you spend today will end up costing you a lot more by the time you pay it off. I am the head of IT/IS for a small company so I know a thing or two about computers. The problem with getting the better system is diminishing returns. You will probably get a great system for 800 dollars. $1600 will not get you twice as fast a computer. The pricey super fast stuff is going to devalue quickly. It has nothing to do with priorities. You say no computer is overkill as if $1600 is the most you can spend. I know people who have spent over $3,000 on a gaming rig. Its overkill. You want solid state drives, I can get most of the benefit with non of the downside out of a striped raid for less than half the cost. You want to see real speed. Setup a ram drive. Not that you need to. Most modern games require a killer video card more than anything else. The original poster is making a big fuss out of a bunch of factors that don't matter half as much as the video card. I stand by my statements.

Well I am the OP and I am making no fuss about anything... especially not a "big fuss". I am merely asking opinions on making a computer on my own, and what parts and programs I should use. I have no college loans, the budget I have is federally regulated money that is part of an academic program, like a scholarship, and after classes and books I get the left over money.
At this point, I am probably just going to go buy a computer from best buy, I don't feel like dealing with all this stress and what not. Maybe I will just pay someone to build it for me and order the parts for lol! 800 bucks with 100 labor and I don't gotta do anything and I know it will be done right. That sounds good to me.