I am in the market for a budget gamer for my teenagers. Best prebuilt I've found is Asus SLI M2N, Athlon 64 x 2 5400+, 320GB HD, 2GB DDR2800, twin ATI Radeon 4670's (512MB) running crossfire, 600 W SLI ready PS, Vista Home Premium 64 bit, DVD burner, etc for $700 from Ibuypower. Is this too good to be true? Can I build something comparable (crossfire, SLI or maybe even a conventional single card setup) for less money? Is this something that should be attempted if I'm not familiar with checking components with a multimeter? Are attention to detail and patience all that is necessary?
I saw an old thread where Homer made a suggestion list for a $1200 build and it looked really good! Would a $500-$600 gamer even be worth building? Should I stick with the prebuilt? Is there other prebuilt systems equal or less cost that can keep up with modern games on max resolution?
I apologize if any of these questions are a taboo for this site. Seems I have a knack for that. If so, please forgive: Yes, I'm a noob.