I'm thinking about buying one of those custom built towers on ebay. for about $350 (shipping included) I can get an "INTEL 2.4GHZ, CELERON CPU,2GB DDR /SDRAM, 512MB DDR PREMIUM GRADE RAM,52X CDRW DRIVE,40G ULTRA DMA FAST HARD DRIVE, 64MB AGP VIDEO 2D/3D CHIPSET GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR, SUPER DELUXE GEORGE FOREMAN GRILL, yadda, yadda, yadda..." it's got a 1 year warranty. My question, are these custom built units generally ok to buy as long as the seller is reputable? and can I use my win98se OS even though they say its built for win XP? I like win98 and don't want to buy new OS software if I don't need to. any help or comments are greatly appreciated!

I can say that you can use Win98 with it. Other than that, no comment.

Why don't you spend the extra $50 or so and buy an entry level machine from a local reputible dealer? No offense but you don't exactly come across as a "power user" and could use a local builder for the support. As to the Win98 comment, it was obviously not the voice of experience talking. I shant elaborate any further than that. Jimi_l

What do you intend to use the computer for? If you're going to play modern games, video editing, or other high-resource tasks you're going to have to update that computer fairly soon. Some examples: 2.4ghz processors were released in 2002, so it's technologically a two-year old computer. A 40GB hard drive is small by current standards. There's no DVD drive. It doesn't have a real graphic card. etc. If you're merely needing something for office-type work or internet use, nearly any computer will do. WalMart.com and other retailers have new computers in the $200 range that will print Word documents just as easily as an eBay custom system. You can also check the prices of the included components and see how much the seller is charging you for snapping a few parts together. Obviously his work is worth something, especially if there's a warrantee. Happy shopping, Bob

I agree, I can easily buy a new pc from a local shop for 350 bucks. $50 of that ebay price is likely set aside for shipping costs. Buy locally and you have someone to call if you have a problem. Skip

Thanks for the advice everybody, and you're right Jimi, I'm not a "power user" by any stretch of the imagination. My level of computer expertise is probably on par with your knowledge of the english language (it's "reputable", not "reputible", and "shant" is a contraction, requiring an apostrophe between the "n" and the "t", or alternatively, between the "a" and the "n"). I won't elaborate further... Also, I like Win98 because I'm used to it, not because I think it's better than XP or any other operating system. And don't get your BVD's in a bunch and write back with a scathing reply, 'cause I'm only TEASING! Honestly, I really do appreciate you taking the time to respond to my question. Have a great day.