text: building my own pc (tower only)? i want the following specs (ballpark): 3.0ghz, 1gb ram, 100gb hard drive, and a dvd drive (i already have a cd-rw drive and decent sound & video cards). what components should i use to get a solid performing pc at a good price? am i better off going with a prebuilt system? good power supply (500w and good quality = key) get an amd 64 3000+ (or beyond) chip to save money and not run as hot you can get a 300+ gb sata hard drive for ~$200 get a motherboard that supports usb 2.0, sata, esata, and pci-e. a gig of ram is fine, get the highest speed you can afford. might as well get a dl dvd burner, they're like $60 bucks and well worth it. also, might want to get a good case thats easy to work in, stays cool, and is reasonably quiet.  pcs that sound like a 747 engine are not cool. video card is important and always worth splurging to avoid having to upgrade just months into its lifespan.