I have been looking at a new computer, but don't really have a huge knowledge of individual parts! 
 
My friend made one for me on a shopping cart and sent me the list, he also said he could build it for me for free :) 
  
 http://twinrova.co.uk/computer.png
   I've also looked at this dell one,    
 
 http://www1.euro.dell.com/uk/en/home/gaming_great_deals/fs.aspx?refid=gaming_great_deals&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1   
  
and it was this one on that page! 

Dell Studio XPS 8100 
Exceptional performance thanks to the Intel Core i7 processor and strong nVidia graphics!        
 
 
Both of them are more or less the same price but which is the better PC? 
 
THANKS :)
 

From a rather cursory look the Dell looks better, but it's also around $300 more..  I'm sure you can get better performance if you put that money into the custom rig.  You might also consider shopping around; I'm not sure the best places in the UK for PC parts, but stateside most people use newegg or mwave.

The second one, by far. I'd stay away from ATI video cards, really. Nvidia has been ahead for a while now. Plus, you know, the second one has 2TB of space.

this is a double edged sword, I recently offered to build my sisters new gaming rig with I7 etc but she settled on the studio xps and i gotta admit after setting it up for her and quickly cracking on crysis it's a pretty solid machine, xps service line has always worked fantastic for me if I've ever had problems with a previous machine I owned. Of course it's upgradable too and the link for the dell didn't show all the options you customised before your buy if it's the baseline machine upgrade that 240gs and you should be good to game..

" The second one, by far. I'd stay away from ATI video cards, really. Nvidia has been ahead for a while now. Plus, you know, the second one has 2TB of space. "

" The second one, by far. I'd stay away from ATI video cards, really. Nvidia has been ahead for a while now. Plus, you know, the second one has 2TB of space. "

" @newfound:  off the top of my head the I5 are just standard quad core but the I7's are quads with true hyperthreading meaning 8 logical cores  as oppsed to 4 so for encoding editing etc the I7 is the way to go for sure (don't quote me on that though) , also noticed on the one your mate offered to build there was no OS so unless you have one thats an extra 100+ off the bat. In my case with my sister the deciding factor was that she got a discount off the dell. this is a fairly meaty article giving a rundown of the I series cpu's  http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i5,2410.html "

The one your friend cooked up is overall better, and the difference of an i5 to an i7 is minimal at best.

Cheers guys for all the input for me I think I am going to go for the dell with an upgraded Graphics card!  
 
And like george said I'd have to be getting myself an OS system etc  
 
Also I may get a new monitor and I think if I go with the dell they can throw it in as part of a deal! 
 
Cheers for the help guys!

" @DCFGS3:  I've been stuck with a 4870 for a while, so maybe the 5xxx series has improved dramatically? ATI support for DXVA is utter crap, and generally if you run into any strange graphics issues playing games it's because of shoddy ATI drivers. Their openGL support is better, but the list of issues ATI cards have with DirectX games (especially some older ones) is insurmountable. "

Or you can get your friends build and get a i7 instead of an i5. You can at least overclock it, not sure if you can with a dell. Dells are usually overly expensive, however at least their monitors are usually quite good.

" @DCFGS3:  I've been stuck with a 4870 for a while, so maybe the 5xxx series has improved dramatically? ATI support for DXVA is utter crap, and generally if you run into any strange graphics issues playing games it's because of shoddy ATI drivers. Their openGL support is better, but the list of issues ATI cards have with DirectX games (especially some older ones) is insurmountable. "

"Maybe I could recommend the 460, but definitely not the 480 or 470. "