Tiger Direct Question - (Barbone PC kits) Options

[superstitious]

I was reading up on the barebone stuff and it seems like you get more for your money, as far as hardware is concerned. The optimist in me says it's similar (ok, not the same, but theoretically...) like buying furniture and putting the pieces together. I get that I'm grossly oversimplifying, but I'm wondering if that's the general concept.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/ca...lc.asp?CatId=31
(for reference)

I'm looking into getting something different, something more graphic saavy as my computer is going on 5 years now and since my son needs a new computer, I figure why not buy a new one for me and give him my old system. Yes, I am a mean mom. haha

[mipadi]

I'm no expert, but a lot of those kits actually look pretty good. Here are a few pieces of advice I can offer to keep in mind:

• A lot of cheap kits have crappy power supplies. Do not skimp on the power supply -- it's one of the most important components in the machine. A fried power supply can take out a lot of other components.
• Along the same lines, unless you have a lot of hard drives or an über-powerful graphics card, you don't need a really high-wattage power supply. Something in the 400W range is probably sufficient, so don't bother paying extra for a kit with, say, an 800W power supply.
• I'd get something with an Intel Core 2. The Intel Core 2 Duo is sufficient; I wouldn't pay extra for an Intel Core 2 Quad.
• Unless you're doing some really intense gaming (e.g., playing the latest and greatest games at the highest resolution with the graphics quality turned all the way up), you probably don't need more than a 256MB graphics card. An nVidia 8xxx-series card is probably sufficient, although a 9xxx-series can't hurt (or the ATI equivs, but I don't know as much about ATI cards). If you're not worried about serious gaming, you might even get away with integrated graphics (but a separate gfx card is always nice).
• 2GB RAM is sufficient. More is always better, but I wouldn't break your wallet trying to get more than 2GB -- plus you can always add more down the road.