[thechat] Building a computer

[Kevin Stevens]

Hi people
             Just wondering if anyone out there has any experience in
building a computer from scratch. My old machine is getting more erratic,
and as I'm getting better at programming I'm finding it gets very slow with
all the applications I try to run at once. I've had the case off loads of
times, and have a rough idea of what goes where, so I thought I would build
myself a new computer rather than getting an off the shelf model. Here is
the spec I am looking at and the prices where known...

Intel Pentium 4 1.5ghz CPU (£150)
Intel Motherboard (£150)
20 Gig 7200rpm hard disk (£80)
Burn-proof CD-RW (£80)
256 meg RAM

The rest of the stuff, case, power supply, graphics card, fan etc. will
probably be based around the spec above. There are some things I would like
advice on...

1. Am I kidding myself that I am competent enough to build a computer, i.e.
is it a lot harder than it looks?
2. What would be a fairly good graphics card to go with my selections? I'm
not a huge games fan, but would like something that is half decent but not
too expensive.
3. Have I missed out anything serious?
4. Any tips about potential pitfalls would be greatly appreciated.

TIA

Kev
kjs at ratking.co.uk