I have been looking at the ecollegepc website and have a few choices questions. I don't intend to buy anything in the near future as my present machine is doing quite well.

My needs are for playing adventure games, editing home video, messing with mp3's, general surfing, watching dvds sometimes.

I see they have many choices for cases. Is there a great difference in what they offer or is it mostly cosmetic?

What raises the need for extra fans? It seems most cases offer three four or more? Should I be adding more?

Same with the motherboard selection, what should I be looking for there?

Memory selection appears to go up to 24 gig. At what point to I hit overkill for my listed needs? I have four gig with my XP and things run fine?

I just like to be aware of what choices are of importance and what are not.

Thanks for your input as bigger is not always better.

Others will know more than I do, but the first thing you need to decide is a budget. Then you decide on a processor - which will determine your motherboard - and go from there. I ordered one from ecollegePC last night for $511. The individual who will use it only does basic email, web surfing and photos. I selected their "value" menu and the Core i3 computer. All I changed was upping the RAM to 4 GB and added a card reader and the 64-bit Windows 7 OS. The Core i3 unlocks onboard video on the motherboard which will be fine for her as she doesn't even do any gaming.

To some extent the cases are something that will appeal to you. But if you don't care about how it looks, then the stock ones are fine. Bigger and better video cards and other components will need more cooling.

Some cards develop quite a bit of heat and it is necessary to keep those cards cool. Sometimes the fans that come with the cards don't do the job because the card is in a confined space. AKA, the computer case. That's why it is good to have additional fans to help keep air flowing over those cards and other components. As Drac said, Coolmaster comes with a fan in the front of the case and additional fans can be purchased.

As to memory, more is good up to a point, and that point is the operating system (OS) you choose. Some OS will recognize large amounts of memory, while others will not; you'd have to research memory usage limitations when choosing the OS.

Really to start off you need to determine what you'll do with the computer, games, video, e-mail, pictures, etc.

Then, as you're doing now, ask question, see what others have and why. Find out what's needed if you game, video, e-mail, pictures, etc. Go to places like CNET and check their reviews on computer components (I mention this one because it's one I remember, try google or another search engine as well).

After you have an idea what you want go to some place like newegg.com and get prices (again I only mention this one because it's one I remember, there are others). Once you have prices then you can see if your budget can afford the components you'd like to have for your system.

And check out what traveler just ordered from ecollegePC. That will give you an idea of price and components if you go "up" a few notches from what I ordered last night for my friend.

Thanks for the suggestions. It is pretty much what I suspected. I like that Dreamer case with three fans included and the temp gauge on the front for only $29 more. I am guessing about 8gig of ram with a 550 watt power supply and the Nvidia gts450. Of course the SB Audiology XFi extreme 7.1 card is a must. It has the record what you hear feature so you can record any audio playing on your system. I have that now and it is a great feature.

We are not talking cheap here and it is a want not a need. I could do it but being a cheapskate I may wait a bit. I will let this fester for a bit as the XP system is still going strong.

How much more memory does win 7 require than what XP uses? 4 gig is plenty with XP. Will 8gig due for win 7, 64 bit?

I'm running 64-bit Windows 7 on 4 GB of RAM and it's more than adequate. Windows 7 is a pretty lean operating system compared to Vista. I have a little meter as one of my gadgets and it shows how much RAM I'm using. Even when RPG gaming, I seldom use more than about 3 GB.

32-bit XP cannot recognize or use more than a bit more than 3 GB of RAM. The 64-bit Windows 7 will recognize and use much more.

Thanks Drac I figured with every bump up in OS microsoft had hogged more memory. Good to hear Win 7 did not do that so 4 gig should work fine then. Processing video can get pretty demanding so if I can afford it when I take the plunge I will get a bit extra.