[Athenian200]

It depends on your question... are you asking whether you should assemble it, how you should go about assembling, what components you should get, or all three?

I'd recommend paying a store to put it together after you get the components, but the main tip I have if you're doing it yourself would be to stand on a rubber static mat, discharge yourself by touching a screw in order to avoid damaging anything with static, and handle all the components by their edges. Also, get a well-designed case with a removable motherboard tray... it makes installation a lot easier. If you need specific tips, you'll have to ask me about it while you're putting it together... I can't tell you what to do unless I can "see" the situation mentally. Assembling a computer isn't a step-by-step process, you have to think carefully about how to make everything work together, and dynamically watch for problems in the process of assembly.

If you want a list of good components, I can give you one (I always keep a mentally updated one of what the better ones are)...

(Processor) Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 $1,030
(Motherboard) ASUS Striker II Extreme $450
(Memory) 2x OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 $700
(Hard Drive) 2x Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD (RAID 0) $340
(PowerSupply) Corsair HX1000W $310
(Video) 2x ASUS EN9800GX2/G/2DI/1G GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB (SLI) $1,120

You should have just over/under a thousand left to buy all the things left up to personal taste like case, dvd-rom, input devices, monitor, speakers, etc. That should be plenty.