After sitting back and critiquing vendors' efforts to deliver the perfect desktop year after year, we decided it was time to test our own PC-building skills. Instead of calling on a freelancer with years of experience, we traded in our manuscripts and red pencils for screwdrivers and thermal compound. Both of us had replaced a hard drive here and a graphics card there, but neither had endeavored to build a system from the motherboard up.

With a self-imposed budget of $1,000, we set out to assemble a fully operational midrange PC with ample power and versatility for the price. For the parts, we turned to our favorite online PC-component site, NewEgg.com. Everything we needed was in stock, and when the parts arrived a few days later, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. After a bit more than five hours of labor, the result was a very respectable PC configured to our exact specifications. This is not to say that the experience went completely without incident; we did run into a few snags here and there, some self-inflicted.