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all this talk confuzzles me...

and I can say is: I have a 2 GB Ram in my slot but somehow it doubles up so I've got 4 GB DDRII Ram in one slot on my computer

so I guess my motherboard, graphic card and those stuffs are good?

The last Suggestion you have phrased earlier might possibly be the most Wise and Cheapest Means of making sure you could execute and enjoy Entertainment Products into Decent and Appreciable Conditions, since choosing to purchase and install brand-new or even additional Components inside your current Personal Computer could basically push back the Expiry of this same Platform without guaranteeing it might support Recent Video Games and Specialized Applications released within the months to come, and that's why considering to order another Station may not be actually that useless...

Ok; so now the next decision will be either to get a pre-made one or make my own. I know from looking at Jabba's thread in this same forum that building my own will be more fullfilling, but the main worries i have are price (i have £500 in my life savings atm) and my ability to make it. I just am not sure about these things. Also there's the thing will my parents will let me get a new one...?

I am noticing you have indeed ever considered the probable Consequences being implied by the assembling of a Personal Computer of your own, but I would want you not to forget that picking up this Means of getting a fully-functional Platform is way far from being as much Restricting and Expensive as the purchase of a Machine engineered and proposed by well-known Specialized Brands, since you may buy the Components and Devices of your choice at any time, without being forced to await for a consequent Amount of Financial Resources before ordering all of them...

I guess thats one pro but then they would probabily sit around in boxes waiting
Anyway, if i do decide to go down this road, can anyone help me because i think there is a lot more things in a pc than i can remember; i'm just not sure about this...

Following the Way I have suggested earlier might indeed make a few Ordered Products to await a certain time before being eventually opened up and installed inside a brand-new Platform built by your very own hands, but as some of the concerned Devices and Components might not be that Sensible to the Unuse and the Past Time, I guess this shouldn't disturb you too much, no matter whether you would have to be Patient in order to obtain the Machine you have desired so far. Furthermore, so as to get an Approximate Idea of your multiple Expectations, I would wish you to provide us an Estimate of the highest Amount of Money you would be ready to dedicate to the aimed Equipment, additionally to a complete List of the Parts you would like to favour compared to others...

Ok, well i'm not really sure about the budget as i might get a job so the income will be greater than standard pocket money from my parents but i know one thing: i would like to spend as less money as possible (not surprising). As for the computer itself, i'm thinking i could perhaps use some componenets off my current machine such as the processor; which i think is the best feature in my machine compared to the rest. I'm thinking that i would like this to be easily upgradable in the future as new technologies come into development. I think for this to work i really need to know more about the inside of a computer, so if you know any good sites i could look up that would be great!

For now, I do not know many Online Locations which could highlight and provide Precise Details regarding the Role and Features inherent to the multiple Components integrated inside a Personal Computer, but if you would be really willing to reuse a few ones being already shipped with your current Station, be sure that proceeding so might considerably reduce the Final Cost generated by a brand-new Platform, while reminding that it might equally be up to your Preferences for well-known and considered Brands, such as ASUS® or MSI®, for examples...

My two cents.

Remember the sit you are in now? buying a pre-built forces you to limit your upgrades in the future, but they are usually cheaper and come with the os and other software, some though is mostly trialware and junk.

A Personal PC (yes redundent choice of words) will allow you to tailor to your wants and needs, but requires some knowledge of PC building (easy enough to learn and we would be glad to help out on any questions you might have) and more expensive than a pre-built. You will need an OEM of the OS which can run you over $100 ( I know MS raised thier price, but unknown how much), a motherboard, your first prize posession and first priority on the upgradability scale, A video card, a sound card , a Hard drive, a floppy drive (I use it for boot purposes for old machines being a pc tech, but with boot cd capabilities on a lot of MBs and thumb drives that can be used for tansferring, which holds more and around the same price in most cases, making the fdd useless), an optical drive (cd-rom, dvd-rom, cd-rw... get it? I recomend an everyday cd-rom for stupid protection problems, see KOTOR intall thread in same forum to get my drift, and a writer of some sort. Aim for a DVD writer cause it also writes cds, but they can get pricey), RAM, CPU, CPU fan, and a case (some cases now in days don't have a power supply, so be ready for that. A PS is your your second prize posession for it provides wattage to everything you put in the PC. Min 400 watt.).

A network card is an option, but recommended. 10/100 min. Modem too is optional, too. These two depends on the Internet connection you choose. Highspeed, network card. Dial-up, modem. Not planning on an internet connection (you wouldn't be talking to us or reading this if you had ) forget both until you need them.

Feel free to add any other essentials guys if I forgot something somewhere.

As you see, it's tit-for-tat and really depends on your choice really (less hassle, less upgradability or more hassle, more upgradability). I personally recommend the BYO route because you don't have to really come up with a lump sum, just buy the pieces as you have the money. But if you are impatient like me, then you'll need a lump sum, and will be, as I said, more expensive.

I have a question: If i bought a motherboard that supports a newer processor (we'll say Intel Core single for sake of argument) do you think i could still put my own Intel Pentium 4 into it? I'm not sure if this is possible but i'm thinking a newer motherboard would support all lower models right?

1GB of RAM is a good amount. 2GB is going a bit overboard at the moment, at least until DX10 video hardware hits the market...

Ah, i've been wondering if i should upgrade my ram for quite sometime. I really hate how slow my 512 is being right now. I looked ASUS to check out how much ram my board can handle, but cant seem to find it.

Off-topic : I do not think so, OGEB', since you mustn't forget that additionally to their respective Internal Architecture, Recent Central Processing Units are way far from sharing Common Points with their Predecessors, which is equally applicable towards the Socket Support required by both your current INTEL® Pentium 4 and the upcoming INTEL® Core 2 Duo. Therefore, be sure that attempting to install the first one on a Motherboard primarily intended towards the INTEL® Products to come might not be that obvious, no matter whether some Manufacturers have ever designed Adaptators comparable to the one you could need...

Ah, i thought not, though it doesn't matter now anyway because looking at those companies' site's you said earlier i found a great and what i tink cheap website to get some hardware off of, so now my current plan is simply to buy a new motherboard keeping with the rest of my current comp and upgrading a few pieces at a time which will in time produce a completely different computer from what i have...
Link to e-tailer: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductI ... tID=322316
Link to chipset: http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/915p/index.htm
Link to motherboard: http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/intel915.php

Off-topic : All I can say is that you have made a nice choice, OGEB', since although ABIT® is not currently that considered and recognized compared to other well-known Brands similar to it - Such as ASUS®, DFI®, Gigabyte® and MSI®, amongst many other examples -, it has nevertheless kept producing Designs whose Lifespan could rather easily exceed the one inherent to Components engineered by most of the Firms I have mentioned above, which is possibly caused by the fact Performances aren't the main Objective pursued by this Company...

Hmm, i have made a mistake here, not looking for all the details because this motherboard supports socket 775 and the Intel Pentium 4 processor i have is socket 458 (something like that) so if i continue to keep my current processor i am going to have to reconsider another motherboard (that is unless it would somehow work with this one?)

Off-topic : As I may have told you earlier, trying to install an INTEL® Product like the one embedded onto your current Motherboard on a more recent one owning a LGA 775 Socket Support mustn't be considered, and that's why I would suggest having a look at Products fitting a little more your existing Components and Financial Resources, such as the ABIT® Designs referred through this PriceRunner© Section, which should possibly satisfy your Demand, especially in case you would choose to take advantage out of the Filtering Tools available through this Location...

I have been searching further and have come up with another plan, although i haven't really talked to my dad about any of this yet so i'll wait and see. In the mean time i have found that i could get a new compatible motherboard and CPU/processor for around £100 which is about $190. That would be including the motherboard i said above although i have found another one similiar that look a lot better deal: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Compare. ... CPID=14963 (thats the two compared) the one on the right has a newer chipset and can support core 2 duo (if i ever want to get it) as well as having great audio and graphics integrated (may even be better than my FX 5200 )
Well ill let you decide...

Off-topic : Eventually, you will be the only person able to determine which Internal Components could be worth the purchase, but in the meantime, I would merely tell you that ordering a Motherboard engineered by ASRock® is not that valuable, because of the fact this Manufacturer proposes Retail Parts whose resistance and capacity are way far from competing with those having made the Fame of both ASUS® and MSI®, which means taking advantage out of a recent INTEL® Processor on it might be proceeded at your own Risk...

I have now composed a list of potential items to purchase from http://www.scan.co.uk:

CPU: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductI ... tID=248389
Motherboard: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductI ... tID=434318
Memory: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductI ... tID=121514
Graphics Card(not a priority atm): http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductI ... tID=442872
Total: £202.44/$381.69