guttboy,..that system I described is my personal system. I built it, and as far as tech support goes,...well,...needing tech support means something is broken (in my book anyways) as such, I never need support because I build systems that just work.
NOTE: I did not put a thing in the list abou thte OS. Add another $200 to the price for XP. Oh, I did forget to mention the mid-tower case, 300W P4 approved power supply, and 3 case fans is included in the above list.
If you can use a screwdriver, you can build it yourself. If you go that route, here are some tips.
1) Do not over tighten the screws that hold the motherboard in place. They only need to be snug. Get all the screws started before tightening them.
2) Get some tie wraps and anchor the power supply cables to the motherboard to the chassis. Do not tighten this, just secure enough to keep the cables from hanging in the case. If you are attaching the cables to a metal rail in the chassis, go to Radio Shack and get a plastic spiral wrap or insulating tube to cover the metal brace.
3) Read the motherboard manual from front to back. Note all jumper locations and make sure they are set correctly.
4) When adding PCI peripherals, make sure to use slots that are not shared with other devices. Typically, there are 3 PCI slots that do not share interrupts with anything else. Sometimes there are only 2.
5) Make sure you use a static strap that is grounded well when working with the various electronic components.
6) Take your time. Do not get in a rush.
7) When plugging in the LED cables for the various front panel LED's, note that the black wire is ground. Most cases use multiple colors for the positive wire, but black is always the ground wire. You will see this marked in the motherboard manual for rach plug.
8) When running the Ultra 100 HD cable, do not run it in parallel with the secondary cable and do not fold the cable in a manner that would crease it.
9) Before putting the motherboard in the chassis, put the CPU in place as well as the RAM. Use the anti-static pad that came with the motherboard to insulate the motherboard from the table you lay the motherboard on to insert the RAM and CPU. The CPU will simply drop in place, do not push it in place. The CPU is keyed so it will only go in one way. The pins on the P4 478 are very easy to bend, so handle it with great care.
The RAM may need some force applied so be careful when pushing it in the sockets. They are keyed and will only go in one way, but do require some pressure.
That pretty much hits the highlights, as far as getting the hardware goes;
1) RAM prices are high right now (about double what they were a month ago), so you may want to wait for them to drop again. You can get the RAM at
http://www.crucial.com. While you can find cheaper RAM, it is not advisable. Crucial/Micron RAM is about as good as you can get and worth the investment.
2) I would go with an Antec case and power supply. The Antec power supply is a tank. You can get more information about Antec at
http://www.antec-inc.com. The cases can be purchased at many online shops for better prices than Antec sells them for.
3) Here are 2 very reputable online stores. You can get cheaper, but for a beginner I think these 2 will suffice.
http://www.comp-u-plus.com and
http://www.microx-press.com. Okay, if you are not up to building it. I will do it for you. Let me know and I will get a formal quote for you, but it really is not that hard to build your own system.
One of the major advantages of building your own system, is you can upgrade it later on (i.e. add a bigger HD, faster CPU, more RAM....). The other advantage is, you are not stuck with some proprietary system that may not have the peripherals which work in all the various OS's available.
Hope that helps.
