Absolutely as far as specs are concerned. Just think about your future needs and would that entail opening it up to install a card of some sort. Understand the different types of expansion slots it has or doesn't have and what can and can't be used with them. My EMU 1820M is already an antique, the new ones are all strictly USB so you may never have a need for installing a physical card anymore. I'm such a geek I would find out exactly what mobo is being used and do a bit of Google research to get some opinions on it. Another reason for going custom built is the fact that almost all of the lower priced PC's advertise a great CPU because people understand that but then use a $59 mobo. When you do some reading you find that a $100 one is way better and if you knew the difference you would easily spend the extra $40 for it but in order to get that from a name brand it's not just the mobo, they only put it into their next higher level machine so it costs maybe $700-800 or so. Custom built is the only way to get that killer mobo without paying for the other stuff. This is similar to the way cars are sold, there's one option you really want but you can't get it without buying the whole "Premium Package" for $2,500 or whatever.

Bob

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