Does anyone have any advice re:good or bad companies that will build custom pcs based in the UK? I don't have the confidence to build it myself but now know the sort of spec I'm looking for. I've so far investigated Mesh and pcspecialist.co.uk. Both have mixed reviews. Does anyone have experience with either or advice about any other good reputable companies? thanks again!

I used PC Specialist. It's a good machine. However, they do require a level of PC literacy, which I'm assuming you have, otherwise you wouldn't be here. Having specified a video card and a sound card, I was somewhat surprised to find that they hadn't loaded any drivers for them, so an average punter off the street would have been unaware of software rendering and the on-board sound being used.As it was, I loaded the drivers, and the system has been absolutely perfect since then.Petraeus

I've used PC Specialist twice and I imagine I will use them again when I next upgrade. Your mileage may vary, but here's a handful of points from my own experience:They give you the option to buy a PC without any video card or operating system, so you can re-use your existing stuff or buy more cheaply elsewhere. This is useful because some of their video cards are slightly over-priced.Their prices for a barebones PC (motherboard, CPU, RAM, HD, case) seem to be quite fair.Their RAM does not always have the fastest available timings: I bought the cheapest I could and then got some better stuff cheaply elsewhere.They were reasonably good at answering my e-mail queries.They spotted what they thought was an inconsistency with one order (power supply seemed too low) and telephoned to check that I meant to provide my own more powerful one.Both my PCs came very well packaged.Tim

Another vote for pc specialist here!You can even pay by cheque if you are not happy online shopping I did with mine after someone "borrowed" my paypal account Been running the same machine for over 18 months now no problems Only time I had to open the case was to upgrade the graphics I will definatley use them again Mark

Overclockers.co.uk do a nice line of ready-built rigs, some highly overclocked and tested.--Bryn