bearstion

3,000 is a lot for that computer. I love Dell. In fact, I own 4 dells. The truth is building a pc with those parts would cost 1,600 - 1,800.

Having said that, I did not build mine. However, I did find a computer company to build one for 1,500 that Dell wanted 3,400 for. Now, I have had some problems but is 1 week down time worth 50% off to you?

For me it was. You might want a no-downtime-pc. If you do go Dell, get the 3 year warranty + parts & labor. They'll send a tech to fix any issue for 3 years for about $100 up front.

It only pays off if stuff goes wrong but again that is your choice.

Good luck.

Edit: Btw all computers are out of date after 18 months. The dual core will power any game until 2010 but after that it might not. Computer power doubles every 18-24 months.