xp310

Hello Everyone!

I am planning on purchasing a computer from Dell. My current computer, which is 5 years old, was home built by a relative - but I no longer have the luxury of having one built for me now. I am looking into purchasing a customized computer from Dell, but I just want several opinions on it before I spend the money.

Here are the important specs:

XPS 720 Black: Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 (8MB, 3.33GHz Factory Overclocked)

Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium

Memory: 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs

Video Card: nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB

Hard Drive: 500GB - Seagate 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache

Optical Drive: Dual Drives: 48x Combo + 16x DVD+/-RW w/dbl layer write capable

Sound Card: Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer (D) Sound Card

Price: $3,069

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Here are my questions...

1.) I realize it's cheaper to build your own computer, but I cannot. Am I drastically overpaying?

2.) Is the "Intel Core 2 Extreme" better than a "Intel Core 2 Quad"?

3.) As for everything else, is there anything I should change about the customization of the computer?

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I want a computer that can play high end video games (Bio Shock; Crysis); Microsoft Office 2007; PhotoShop CS3; Video Editing Software; and I also want to be able to multi-task with alot of windows open at the same time.

Please give me your feedback, but please note the techy details of hardware is way beyond me so please keep that in mind when replying.

Thank you in advance!