To build or to buy?

My parents are currently looking for a new pc, the Athlon setup they have at the moment is really showing its age now.

The choice is either i build them another one, or they buy one from Dell.

Here is the Dell spec.

E6300 C2D
XP Media Center Edition 2005 Incl CD
MCE to Vista Premium Upgrade
Basic Package, 2 Year At-Home Service
Dell™ 19" Value Flat Panel (E197FP) - UK/Irish
1024MB Dual Channel DDR2 533MHz [2x512]
250GB Sata
16x DVD +/- RW Drive
Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 3000
Integrated Audio with Dolby Digital 7.1 capability
Dell™ AS501PA Soundbar for use only with E15x, E17x & E19x flat panels
Dell™ Black Entry Quietkey USB Keyboard - UK/Ire
Dell 2 Button USB Wheel Mouse - Black
1.44MB Floppy Drive

Comes in at £635.87 Delivered, but their budget is really £600

This is my spec

E6300 Retail
2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair Value Select, DDR2 PC5300 (667)
250 Gb Samsung SP2504C SpinPoint P120
Asrock CONROE945G-DVI
NEC ND-7170A-0B
380W Seasonic S12-380 aPFC Hi-End PSU
AKASA Zen case
1.44Mb Sony Black Floppy Disk Drive OEM
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP2b OEM Single Pack
17" Neovo M-17B BlackTFT, 1280x1024, 12 ms, 500:1, 300 cd/m2, Speakers,VESA

£611.07 delivered from Scan.

Now i know its a smaller screen and doesnt come with the extra warranty.

Would you say that all the parts in my spec would work ok and is worth going for?

Thanks

Andy

I would say to build yours. The dell one probably wont be too upgradeable in the future.

Get the Dell one, but knock the warranty down to the lowest (1 year collect IIRC).

Both are similar, it's just easier with the Dell and you get a better monitor and graphics (not that's it's likely to be used much).

So is the GMA 3000 better than the 950?

The Monitor is an analogue one from Dell, where as the one i have included is both DVI and analogue.

Also parents wont use any of media centre's extras

But i agree with the 1yr warranty, does make it cheaper.

Also my spec can be upgraded which is also handy, not that i can see them wanting anything else, apart from a better graphics card perhaps.

Edit: Right going for the dell, no floppy, smaller hdd, no av, 1yr collect and return.

Comes to £504.25 Delivered