help me im a lowly nub

Well you're being a bit too vague there but to start make a list.

Case ie tower, small form factor etc

Power supply, 300watt, 500watt, 800watt etc depends on what else you get

Motherboard AMD or Intel support?

Graphics, AGP, Onboard or PCIEPRESS? Dual? Quad?

Harddrives 1,2,3 or 4 RAID? 1 or 0?

Mem max? speed ddr ddr3? 333/400

DVD burners cd burners card readers etc etc, the list goes on but you at least need to give an overview of what you want and would expect from your machine plus a budget of some sort.

Have you ever built a computer before?

What is your spending range?

I'm guessing a desktop even though we're in laptop forums

Try this site here. You can build your own computer or go with a prebuilt and its alienware....so its beefy

http://www.alienware.com/product_pag...l_default.aspx

thats what happens when I post before the coffee is in my system

whats your budget?

For a basic box (i.e. no monitors, no external peripherals), you probably need the following:

1. CPU
2. Motherboard
3. Video card
4. Power supply
5. Case
6. Memory
7. Hard drive
8. Removeable media drive (e.g. DVD-ROM drive, DVD-R drive)
9. Cooling
10. (Optional) Sound card
11. (Optional) 3.5" floppy drive

And for the most part, that order is generally the order you start picking things as well.

Once you decide on a CPU, you limit yourself to a subset of motherboards. When you have CPU, motherboard and video card, it dictates the lowest wattage PSU you can get.

(Of course, you can always flip the order. If you decide on a motherboard first, you're immediately limited to the CPUs that motherboard supports.)

The above then gives you a general idea of how big of a case you need.

Memory is dictated by the motherboard. And the rest is add-ons so you can pick them later. Though mind your budget!

A ballpark figure can be established simply by going around to different online computer parts shop, like Newegg or Zipzoomfly.

for what you posted in specs I dont think 1000-1200 dollars is going to cut it. Theres alot to know about all this. I reccomend newegg.com for alot of things. Theyt have a great selection and low prices.

You first need to decide weather you will be getting an amd or intel chip. That will allow you to pick a compatable motherboard. when you do pick a mobo pick one with the newest "socket". sockets are the things prossesors fit in. the newer the one you get the longer it will last when upgrading. You also have to pick a prossesor that will fit in the socket though so be careful.

For a power supply you need to get something usually over 500 wats. Theres alot of different features that come with power supplys and if you google around a bit you should figure out what most are.

Video cards pretty much have 2 leading brands. Nvidia and ATI. They are both good but some people like one better than the other. Those companies make the chips for smaller companies that make the accual card. so you could find an XFX nvidia card. XFX is simply the brand who made the card. Again google alot and ask here.

A case is pretty self explanitory. You need something with enough space for your needs and the features you will use. They come in all shapes and sizes. On newegg.com browse through untill you see something that looks like it will fit you and check out the reviews people have left. These can tell you alot about how a product is.

When buying memory make sure it is compatable with your motherboard. If your motherboard supports ddr2 memory get ddr2. If its only ddr then only get that. Google a bit more to find out the speeds and stuff.

Hard drives depend on two things... size and speed. The size is based on your needs and how much you need to store. The speed (rpm) wont usually make too much of a difference on everyday use but it may help some. Generally the average speed is 7200 rpm and the faster of the two is 10000.

For dvd roms and all that get what you need again. If you need to burn alot of stuff get a burner. Use newegg to find which are quality producs and which arent(use this for everything =P).

There is usually sound already build into your motherboard but if you think that you will be doing alot of stuff that requires a quality sound system you may want to purchase a good sound card. They vary in price but you can get a decent one for as little as 50 bucks or less. Try looking at creative for a good company.

Just research a ton and it will all slowly make sense. Google and newegg are great freinds here for information.

In terms of applications, zero difference. Pick which ever one you feel more comfortable with.

If you're willing to wait, the Core 2 Duo desktop chips should be coming out "soon". Wait for that and the resulting price wars to get better price pickings.

From what i'm aware of the P4's temp raises much faster than the AMD. I have a P4 with a nice antec case. just need to have proper ventalation

He can easily build what he needs for $1000-$1200...

BenQ 1650DW DVD Burner - $35
Coolermaster Centurion 5 Case - $50
Seagate 300 gb 7200rpm SATA2 - $100
ASUS M2N-E Mobo - $97
X1900GT 256MB - $270
Antec NeoHE 500W PSU- $100
Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 - $204 - $40MIR = $164
AMD AthlonX2 3800+ - $297 (This will drop to around $150 July 24th)

All of that only costs about $1100. After July 24, that same setup will be under $1000. I would say that that rig is pretty fast. Especially if you overclock the processor. I say wait till conroe comes out though. They have the lowest end one priced at $216 on release. The lowest end conroe is probably competetive with an AMD 64 X2 4200 or so.

Redundant Array Of Independent Disks <-----clicky

No read the link I just posted and make a decision for yourself on your needs. Choice> speed or backup

is your friend

just remember that losing a disc in RAID 0 means you just lost both disks..
for my two cents, I'd buy the parts and put it together myself and I'd avoid ATI and AMD, but that's just me.. I'd also recommend mwave.com over newegg.com. I had a very bad experience with newegg on a defective (and used) return and I'll never support them again..
once again, that's just me though