i just built my first computer yesterday and i'm using it as we speak ;-) i was forced into it b/c my [2006] computer crashed and wouldn't boot up. it's considered obsolete and would've cost more to repair/troubleshoot than to replace. so all considered, i had to buy another one [quickly].

anyway, desktops are extremely easy to build and upgrade nowadays. there is absolutely no reason to be intimidated by a build. if you have the time and the money, you can [and probably should] build your own.

i bought a " barebones " kit from tigerdirect which is now compusa. you can buy online or in store. i bought it in store b/c i couldn't afford to wait on shipping. anyway, the manufacturer is shuttle. it's an AMD kit, however, Intel kits are available as well. i went with the AMD kit b/c an AMD build is less expensive. speaking of which, the total cost was $272.17 USD [tax included]. here are the parts i used:

Shuttle SN68SG2, part# S451-3131
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400 CPU, part# CP2-AM2-4400
Centon 2048MB PC 6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory, part# C10-5046

hope this helps | good luck