operating system

[HondaH8er]

Thanks for the info. I'm gonna just build mine. I'm pretty technically inclined so i think i can handle it. Two more questions. What is the difference between the regular versions and the OEM versions? and Dont you think Pentiums are overpriced? I hear the new Athlons are just as fast but cheaper.

[malice4you]

i went intel only because you were using intel in the del (not that dell offers a choice)

in that case, buy an athlon 64 3500+ (SOCKET 939, *NOT* 754), Asus motherboard, and a gig of fast DDR (not DDR II)

for processors, it's better to spend the extra $15-25 on a retail processor, which comes with a heatsink and fan. OEM comes with nothing, and a decen HSF will cost more than that.

for other hardware, it will have to be up to you if OEM is a better deal than the retail packages. OEM packages usually contain only the product itself, sometimes a driver or required accessory, and usually only a limited warranty. Retail packages contain most or all of the products you might need with the main products (cables, drivers, manuals, dongles, etc), and are usually covered by at least a year warranty.

for you i would say it's worth the money for retail items since you probably don't have spare stuff lying around. only thing worth getting OEM are hard drives really...the retail ones sometimes carry a shorter warranty and only really include crap you won't need.

stuff you won't think of but will need:
buy a bag of spare screws...they should not cost more than $2
round IDE cables (if only for the CD drives if you get SATA main HDDs)
software (if you can, buy OEM CD creator 6 if you don't like nero, photoshop elements, power DVD, OEM XP itself, antivirus software, etc)
some cases do not come with a power supply
fans that will fit in the case to improve airflow and cool off specific things like hard drives and processor itself
fan controller if you buy loud fans
cables...internal external printer whatever...