Please check the other computer threads in this forum, I made several posts including one where I compared the prices of an equivalent Alienware computer to one I built myself a few months ago. There was a $1000 difference in savings by building it myself. Granted, I don't have tech support or a warranty, but how much are those worth to you?
I think the best tech support is the internet. There are many forums across many websites that have knowledgable people willing to assist you in working out any kinks or problems with your computer.
.2GHz difference will not be "noticeable" unless you were using an application that pushed the performace of your CPU to maximum and then had the opportunity to compare two machines side by side or wrote down the benchmark numbers and compared them.
I upgraded my RAM from 1GB to 2GB a month ago and I have yet to "notice" a difference. The main reason is, I rarely did anything that pushed the limits of the 1GB I currently had installed. That's not to say it doesn't make difference or I won't ever use it, it's just a nice luxury to have.
I would highly recommend going with the new AMD Athlon64 chips, instead of a Pentium. There are a lot of die hard Pentium fans out there (I used to be one of them), but the recent benchmarks speak for themselves. Combine that with a cheaper price and it's hard to beat in my mind. It is also a commonly held belief by reputable sources (including Tomshardware and Maximum PC) that the AMD Athlon64 chips are better for gaming, though I have not myself seen any technical data to support this proffesional opinion.
Also, don't be fooled by just pure "clock speed." Intel has always had a penchant for pushing their clock speeds up as high as they can for marketability. The average person sees a higher number and instantly thinks better. It's a brilliant strategy, because Intel's sales speak for themselves, but there is a lot more to a CPU than just clock speed. An AMD64 Athlon 3500+ may spin at only 2.2ghz, but it WILL out perform an Intel Pentium 4 3.2Ghz and some 3.4Ghz (but not the EE series). Again, the benchmarks speak for themselves. One benchmark comparison, for
example and
here. Notice that in some benchmarks (Quake III Arena) the Intels will tend to at the top of the charts and others (DirectX9)the Athlons are on top. This is because the architecture of the two chips are different and have different strengths and weaknesses.
There are a few good online parts stores, but Newegg is my favorite. They have excellent customer service, shipping, reliablity, and low prices. I have never seen an negative comment about Newegg.
If you have any more questions, feel free to post.
Edited, Mon Apr 18 16:01:00 2005 by Kallirye