great choice to do it yourself.

I like both AMD and pentiums. AMD are usually a little easier on your pocket.

Don't forget that unless you have something you can use already you will need to buy an OS.

as always it will take 6 months to a year normally for the devil (microsoft) to work out their bugs. I know it probably sounds like selling out but the big box names are good ways to go. I really like Dell. in my experience they are affordable, high power, and their tech support is awesome. I agree ...

[/img]

if you have 2 sticks of 1G try each with the 500mg stick (the configuration you know works)

This should at least tell you if you have a bad stick.