need entirely new pc...help me!

having suffered long enough I'v decided to get rid of this machine, driving me up the wall. I'v tried everything - ram checks, Hd checks...even the monkey at the computer specialists couldnt find anything wrong with it but when I got home it started freezing and crashing and all manner of hell - the usual cr*p basically, and its beyond me as how to fix it. I'm fed up with it. want something that will actually work and not waste my time not working as i struggle to work on it.
so - I have an xp2100 which could be used again, dvd and cdr drives monitor and mouse+keyboard.

I use it mainly for graphical manipulation (photoshop) and word processing/document creating and other -often hefty file size- works, hence need for a stable operating system and stable machine that wont go down on me during an important bit of work. [my current one failed to turn on when I was in the middle of an important bit of work for my degree...not funny, and I simply can't live with that any more]...but realising that I'll want it for more and I like a good game now and then I'll want something to handle that side of things too, nothing major but enough to be respectable.

I'm wondering would I do better to buy an entire machine, with the knowledge that it will work (i hope) or do I build up from scratch?

I have: asus A7n8x dlx (tired of it breaking down on me all the time, doesn't even read my cpu speed correctly - and I have tried EVERYTHING to correct it, bios flash, cmos replacement and god knows what else)...so want a differnt one, needs LAN/USBs, on board sound would be nice...
gf2 mx...I'll definitely need better
40gb hd...could do with more I suppose, faster+bigger - notice 1 day only at scan/aria often have them, as well as power units and sometimes cases.
512 of 2100ram (2x256) but could do with 2x512 of 2700...
and an OS, XP...

so would I be better off getting a pre-made machine, know it's been put together properly for me (thinking of hassle with parts and potential RMAs) or using D.I.Y which can come up expensive, yet ultimately getting parts desired?
i know Dell outlet might have some ok cheap builds but i find sometimes they're way too much for what you get...any other manufacturers out tehre that might suit me?
any pointers and suggestions would be very useful as I am at my wits end with this box of wiring sitting next to me, about to crash because I'm cussing it...just to spite me...

cheers for hel-

*blue screen of death!*

p.s. it took me three goes to actually post the above message here - and no, i'm not joking.
thats the extent of my frustration

OK, so all you really need is motherboard, maybe memory, maybe hard disk. If you have good components, why waste the money paying for a prebuilt, when you can reuse what you've got - you'd be paying for CPU, case, optical drive(s) which you don't need and compromising on the other components. OK, you might want shot of the graphics as well, but if you're not doing heavy 3D I can't see why. And I can't see that with good quality components you'd be any less stable than a prebuilt anyway.

fair point... but guessing either components aren't compatible or one part is duff somewhere, and just updating bit by bit might cause new parts to fail and I'd basically be getting no where at all...if that makes sense. just not wanting to risk shelling any more out and not getting anywhere!...bit f'ed off actually, i have to run win98 cause xp simply will not load up on this machine, i even reduce speeds as sometimes can be an issue, so clearly something i wrong. I'd feel happier if someone built one up for me safe in the knowledge that should it go wrong all i do is call them up etc. rather than try to rumage through all the parts looking for the fault which could be mobo, hd, agp, ram, cpu, psu...the list goes on and I don't have time to be messing about really, alreadly wasted loads of time trying to get something out of what i've got - with evidently little luck!
have been considering shuttles for convenience...

Well, it seems like you want the peace of mind you'd get from a prebuilt; I reckon you could do better rolling your own, but that aside, you could do worse than Evesham. Good kit, good warranties, reasonable prices, and their e-style II series appear to be Shuttle based.

i'd reccomend evesham if you dont want hassle too - my younger bro just brought a a64 system from there (on my reccomendation) and is (afaik) very happy with it

wish they gave a little more info on their systems (i.e. my dad's athlon system turned out to be using KT400A, which i would have told him to avoid), but generally okay systems & the support staff seem well trained

get a A64bit, i did and never looked back and i used photoshop every day. :D

Depending on the money (with you being at Uni) i would get:
1) Newer RAM PC3200 is the same price as PC2100 last time i looked on www.aria.co.uk (Kingmax) (arrh...the pc3200 is £2.50 more than the pc2100....)
2) Hard drives are getting cheaper, you can get 80gb's for £50ish. And 200gb for £100 in the bargin hunt (http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=14046)
3) Graphics card prices are falling all over the shop. If you can hang on to your GF2 for a little while more and wait for the new GPU's to come out the older ones should be considerably cheaper, but possibly harder to find.

I would also try and RMA the board back to where you got it, and ask for a refund, or a different manufacturer/model (Abit NF7-S :))

As for power i would say CWT, as they have something to do with Antec....i dont have one myself but they have had glowing reports....

All depends on the money really :) Try and re-use as many componants of possible.

Will

...no longer at uni but still, being an ex-student in current climes I have less than a few thousand...! (more than a few thousand the wrong way though!)
2.50 in the grand sceme of things i.e. 3200 vs 2100 is fine to me - given performance boost...
yup, noticed prices on HDs falling in 1 day onlys everywhere...no trouble there i guess.

like the sound of 64chip boards but they're more pricey...and i don't have a 64 cpu to hand...

have tried to RMA board but they're utterly useless people. i try to contact them and still nothing...recon on contacting ASUS direct would work??saddly though i think I'v just passed the 1year mark, in part thanks to the wafflingly useless people i got it from, and it appears i have my hands tied in that respects. or do I?

cheers for pointers

if you reported it before a year after it arrived then it was still in warentee and you can still claim :)

an a64 system will definatly cost more to start with - the XP3000 64 is still around £150 and the mobos are around £100 each - so thats £170ish more than you'd pay just to upgrade the mobo.. but then its a LOT more future proof - i mean look at socket A - it was first introduced over 4 years ago, and while you wouldnt want to run a fast socket A cpu on an origional socket A mobo you'd still be physically able to.. hopefully the new 742 (?) will last this long too.. rather than intel who change thier form factor every year or 2.. a real downside to buying intel kit imo. the chip wont run any faster under win32 but you'll get performance increases when xp/64bit and 64bit apps you run come out into the mainstream. if i were upgrading i know what i'd do...

(perhaps an a64 shuttle?? you could keep your old pc as a backup - youd need the shuttle (£200?) chip (£150?) ram (£100?) hdd (£100?) and you'd be done...)

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hopefully the new 742 (?) will last this long too..

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I understood that the form factor for the 64-bit Athlons was changing later this year, or is that only for the FX series and Opterons?

athlon 64 and athlon fx are moving to a new socket, socket 939. some 64s will continue to be released on 754 for a while, but 939 is the long-term solution

oh ok. i'll not buy one of them for a while then..