thanks for the information, I'm learning a lot. was planning on having someone put the computer together for me, because my experience with computers is limited to changing the graphics/sound cards and adding RAM. I'm going to try and put together a list of shit from newegg though, and after that I'll decide which route I want to go.
and I've amended my previous stance; CPU, video card, and PSU are the three things I want to splurge on.