I think the comments are pretty much indicative of today's lifestyle: a couple blackberries, an android or two, three desktops and two laptops, a WII, a Kodak internet player, the printer-- and maybe more here.

Well, I wonder if you can take a couple hundred in stamps into the Post Office and redeem them for cash...

This may be over-kill, but...

The benefit of these "barebones" and "kit" PC bundles comes from the parts included being matched up to work with one another. While assembling a PC is something most anyone could do, selecting the proper components is somewhat more complicated.

Some kits and bundles do not include; 1) an operating system, 2) hard drive, 3) optical drive, 4) keyboard & mouse, 5) monitor.
Both of the links you provided appear to ship with almost everything you need apart from the OS.

Assembly of these bundles is straight-forward, requiring in most cases nothing more than a screwdriver. Seating the processor and applying the thermal compound are probably the most challenging tasks. Items like memory and drive cabling are designed so that they only go in the "right way". Power connectors are similarly configured.

If you buy a bundle or barebones that is not complete, re-using components is acceptable in some instances, but you may wish to upgrade. Your 7-year-old PC's hard drive will likely prove inadequate in terms of speed and capacity. It's old CD (DVD?) drive will likely also be not up to the task (IDE instead of SATA, 24X speed, no burning capability, etc.). Your keyboard and mouse may be serial and some motherboards today ship without these connectors.

If you have to buy memory go with a vendor that sells you the proper type. I would recommend buying it over the phone after you receive the kit and have an exact motherboard brand/model to provide them. Call, give them the motherboard specs and they sell you the right memory. Most include installation instructions/tech support free.

Any SATA 7200 RPM hard drive, USB keyboard & mouse and SATA 5.25" optical drive should work with your bundle. If upgrading a monitor, read the description to see if the motherboard/video card has RGB output. Some are digital-out exclusively, meaning your old CRT monitor may not work. You may wish to purchase an LCD monitor, as the prices have fallen dramatically. You may also wish to upgrade to Windows 7.

I recently bought a "kit" from Tiger to update my son's aging hardware and found it to be worth the price, and had no issues at all with them.
I built my PC last year (Intel i7) using Newegg exclusively, and as always received exceptional service and value.

Hope this helps.

I currently have two Radeon 4890's but immediately before these I had a pair of nVidia 8800GTS 340's which I had no problem with. My new 4890's however had one die inside six months.

So fracking funny I almost wet myself.

Second this-- I use my DS409 for hosting my blog, website, iTunes sharing, photos-- I get around 11 MBps on mine and have had no performance issues.

Tin foil hat on... check!

Windows Defender is still installed on my Windows 7 installation with MSE, it displays a small message that says it is "turned off" and I should use another program to check for harmful or unwanted software. That's interesting, I had thought Windows Defender was still there and running behind the new Microsoft Security Essentials.

Key words here "stupid computer user", there is just no helping some people. Explaining the types of things they shouldn't do, sites they shouldn't visit and files they shouldn't download doesn't always help either.

I use both Macintosh and PC with CS4 (Office: Mac, Home Office: PC) and I don't believe I can't be just as productive on my PC as my Mac. I may use the PC outside the norm, but I have identical workflows on each. I really see no difference at all performance-wise from one machine to the other. I don't "play" with Windows and I resent that you assert I can only be highly productive when using a Macintosh.

Sure sounds like it would eventually become a series of one-ups, like grips up the bat or the barberpole. "My unit takes yours."; "No, my unit goes back 5 minutes and takes you". Rinse and repeat.

I don't know what your temps are, but mine were (all C, all idle) 61 CPU, 36-39 on the drives (5) and the 8800 at 63. I swapped out an old slow NZXT 120mm fan for a new 65 CFM Thermaltake 120mm and replaced the stock cooler with an OCZ I had bought and lapped but never installed. Now, the temps are 38 CPU 32-36 on the drives and the 880 idles around 58 (upped the fan to 80%). It was likely a combination of dust and low RPM/CFM fans. I have another of the Thermaltakes I'm going to put in the front soon. Thanks for the reply.

Three are Maxline 250GB server drives, one is a WD2500YD server drive (in the enclosure). It's likely the older Maxlines are generating the heat. My computer drives are Western Digital WD5000YS 500GB (x4) and a Seagate ST3500630A system drive 500GB. But, they're in with a hot 8800 GTS Nvidia card and my CPU in an Antec 300 with 5 120mm fans. Likely not enough air flow :(

Agreed! Powering and cooling the five internal drives in my tower (1x system- 4x raid) was/is a struggle, let alone twelve TB drives in a conventional tower setup. I would rather opt for a couple external mini-towers with controllers. Even then the cooling on these units is typically not up to par. I'm currently reviewing a 4 bay NAS cube that has nice features, but with a full load of drives it struggles-- temps went from 75 with one drive to 120+ with all four. Just because it can be done doesn't mean it should be.