I think I have created a great desktop. [FINAL COMPUTER THREAD FOR ME]

[Sebster 105]

Avoid Dell. Seriously.

And their worthless cables
speaking from experience

[Ad Bot]

[HPRC]

How do these specs look for my desktop?

PROCESSORS   Intel® Core™ i7-860 processor(8MB Cache, 2.80GHz)   2.80ghz is rather slow, better off with a faster AMD quad core.
OPERATING SYSTEM   Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English   edit
MEMORY   8GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 4 DIMMs   Drop that for 4gb of at least 1600Mhz DDR3 so you can overclock
MONITOR   No Monitor   edit
VIDEO CARD   nVidia GeForce GTS240 1024MB GDDR3   Get a better GPU, ATI cards give you much more bang for your buck
HARD DRIVE   1TB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache   edit
OPTICAL DRIVE   16X DVD+/-RW Drive   edit
SPEAKERS   Dell AX210 Stereo Speakers   edit
WIRELESS   Dell 1525 WLAN PCIe card with11n mini-Card & external antenna   edit
KEYBOARD   Dell Studio Consumer Multimedia Keyboard   edit
MOUSE   Mouse included with Keyboard purchase

And what motherboard do you have? And if you are using a website to build it, build your own, much cheaper and much better off on choice of parts.

Another edit: Some rules for buying/building a new PC. Do not get a slow quad-core just for the sake of having one. Do not get a large amount of slow DDR3 just for the sake of having a large amount of RAM. Do not skimp on a GPU because of the above things. Do not forget over your PC with a stuffty motherboard. That is all.

[Sheath]

Also ATI are good cards. You can say they are not, but nVidia or ATI is always the way to go. But Intel cards... run for your life. AND DON'T loving STOP.

[Reactor Worker]

I feel this thread has reached critical mass in terms of poor advice, so how about we share a nice glass of "educated opinion"?

Getting a customized, pre-built machine from Dell or any other OEM doesn't make you the class dunce, and certainly isn't a bad decision in all cases. For a gaming computer it may be worth the time to build one yourself from parts; you often times save money, you have more control over what parts go into your machine, and you can learn valuable information about how a computer works and how to fix it if something goes wrong. The only significant trade-offs are that you must build it yourself (which can be a challenge) and you must handle any technical issues that should arise.

So, assuming you decide to build your own computer, what parts should I pick?

Let us start by selecting the processor we wish to use. There are various benchmarks, both artificial and real-world, that compare different CPUs to each other. You can see an example of such benchmarks here. What processor you end up choosing for a gaming rig mainly depends on your budget; whilst a Core i7 processors are quite powerful, they require the use of a more expensive chipset which will drive up the price of one of the other components you will need to purchase, the motherboard. On the subject on Intel vs. AMD, I'd caution you to not heed HPRC's advice as the number of GHz or cores that a processor has are not good indicators of performance across brands. A 3.0 GHz quad-core AMD processor may not be more powerful than a 2.8 Ghz Intel equivalent. My recommendation would be to go for the Intel Core i5 750 processor; it is quite powerful, it is affordable, and it will easily meet your needs for the considerable future.

I'm afraid I don't have time right now to finish this post, but I will update it this evening with the remainder of my recommendations.

[Sheath]

... I still think you are making an iffy decision if you go with Dell. It was only this year they uncovered that Dell knowingly sold computers with faulty pieces of hardware  during 2005 - 2006.

[Reactor Worker]

... I still think you are making an iffy decision if you go with Dell. It was only this year they uncovered that Dell knowingly sold computers with faulty pieces of hardware  during 2005 - 2006.

True, but by that logic you shouldn't purchase Microsoft, Nvidia, or Intel products because all have been found guilty of anti-competitive practices.

[Sheath]

Thats just one of the problems with Dell I've heard about. :U
Remember recently that Dell that exploded in an airport and everyone thought it was a terrorist attack.   

[SeventhSandwich]

Oh you.

But the only video cards or whatever it gives me are:

    nVIDIA GeForce G310 512MB DDR3 [subtract $130.00]
    ATI Radeon HD 5450 1GB DDR3 [subtract $80.00]
    ATI Radeon HD 5670 1GB GDDR5 [subtract $30.00]
    nVidia GeForce GTS240 1024MB GDDR3 [Included in Price]
    ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 [Add $50.00 or $2.00/month1]

Wait wtf are you buying an alienware?

[HaloHalo]

Wait wtf are you buying an alienware?

No. It WAS a Dell Inspirion Studio XPS 8100. But now I've decided to build my own. The parts I'm looking at will be updated on the OP.

[Righteous One]

Glad that you decided to join the guild of builders. Almost everybody who posted in this thread is handicapped.
anyways...

You do not need the armor. Although a great case it is overpriced. Shoot for a case between $50-100.

Wireless keyboards and mice are horrid for gaming. I advise you to avoid them.

The GD-80 is a bored made for overclockers. You are not one. You will see no performance difference between that and a $100 board. (I love the GD80 as I use it myself.)

You don't need a 700w power supply. As is, your computer would probably consume 500w. Get a 600w.

Don't get an aftermarket cooler. I guarantee that you will not be able to install it yourself and it is unnecessary. The stock cooler for the i5 will keep you at about 30c.

You don't need a 1.5TB I would advise that you get something between 500 and 1000GB.

And you don't need 1600MHz RAM. You will need to overclock it yourself to get it up those frequencies and even then you will see very little performance upgrades. The RAM will probably be set at 1066 stock.