Well, my 3,000 dollar Macintosh from 4 years ago died.  I bring up price not to brag but because its relevant in my woes.

I have wanted to get a gaming PC since Diablo 3 was announced but I was holding off for a spec announcement.  Now that my desktop died I'm urged more and more towards a purchase.  I have an Alienware credit card and it's just itching to spend.

But it scares the crap out of me, losing a machine that cost so much, I feel like I was cheated on by the wife I don't have.  But it's this sort of, scared shitless at it happening again feeling.  I'm affraid if I invest in an expensive gaming PC it's just going to be pointless when it dies.  If it was a 500 dollar Walmart computer that died in 4 years... no biggie.  But If I'm going to make a serious investment I need to know it will last, a security you cannot have outside of your warranty's length.

I looked up online and the model of Mac I had, Dual Core G5 Powermac is prone to having logic board failures and power supply issues.  But I'm scared our janky power capabilities in this old house might have contributed to its death.  I use a surge protector but if it was the power supply that went out on the mac then did the surge protectors even help?

I'm just confused, and when I opened her up it was really dusty.  I don't know what to do about that, a computer tech once told me you shouldn't air duster your systems insides because it forces the dust into the board.  But I don't know what else to do.  I use an air filter in my room and I dust when I can, what else can I do? Seems like as long as a computer uses cooling fans it is going to draw dust in.  Which brings me to the fact that you can get liquid cooling on most Alienware systems... would that help?

I just have too many questions, I'm sorry... but this whole ordeal scares the crap out of me and shows me how fickle an expensive computer can be.  I'm really tempted to say screw owning a nice system and just use my laptop for internet not play games.  But DAMN I want Diablo 3 and some other upcoming PC games.

Just a quick question, are you looking prebuilt or build your own?

Also whats your budget?

Either way I can help you.

Also is quietness important to you?

prebuilt, alienware.

budget would be between 1,500 and 2,000

quietness is not important, reducing dust is most important.

Computers get dusty no matter what. It's good to clean the inside. Apple and others only tell you not to so you won't mess up your computer while dusting.

And I can't really help you with Alienware...I'd really advise building your own, and if not, look for custom PC sites other than Alienware...they're the most expensive you can get.

BenKenobi I know!! But I have credit with them and I really really love my laptop from them and am impressed all around with the company.

I could build my own but I really don't want to. I know its the best way to go but I'll pay extra to not have that hassle.

I guess I'll dust the Mac then and try pulling the ram before I take it to the tech center.

Have no fear, Crysis is here!

EA's Crysis-ready PC Costs $699, Specs Unveiled; Aims to 'Make PC Gaming Convenient'

Following up on word that publisher Electronic Arts was readying a line of Crysis-ready PCs, more details, including pricing and system specifications, have surfaced.

Priced at $699, the one and only Crysis Warhead PC was made with the involvement of EA, game developer Crytek, hardware maker Nvidia, and system builder UltraPC. It will launch alongside Crysis Warhead on September 16, and pack the following:

• CPU: Intel Core Duo e7300 (@2.66GHz)
• Video card: Nvidia 9800GT
• RAM: 2GB

The system actually represents the internal benchmark Crytek Budapest used when developing the stand-alone Crysis expansion, and is said to run Warhead with High settings at an average of 30 frames per second. "For us as a team, that was really valuable," franchise producer Bernd Diemer told Chris Remo. "We had a tangible border we could bump our heads into."

Squilliam, they have that???

After helping the OP.... what can I do to speed up my POS laptop?

I know about defragmenting, but I don't download many files so it's usually not too messy in there.

I notice there seem to be a lot of processes running when I check the task manager, I have no idea what most of them are, and they mostly say they are not using the CPU (system idle using 98-99% most of the time) but they are using RAM right?... I just want to know can I stop/delete some of them and will they just start again anyway each time I restart?

I mean I haven't even opened Internet explorer but it is apparently using 12,000k +

No unfortuanately they don't as i've just found out.

But in saying that, they have liquid cooling on the CPU so dust is less of an issue than for other computers.