thank you for all the responses.

Computers are just too confusing and expensive to experiment with when it comes to putting a cpu on a board and putting a fan/heatsink on a cpu. I tried it about 4 years ago on the endless suggestions to try it myself. I ended up with a large paperweight. I understand how it is cheaper and i understand how it would be overall better to build my own system. Alas, at this point in my life, I just don't feel comfortable throwing more money down the drain on a mistake that leads to another paperweight.

To be honest I don't know what i did wrong that it fried out... all I know is that I heard a pop fizzle and it never worked again.

So while it is more expensive and I am making what you all feel is a mistake, a prebuilt system feels like the only way to go for me. I don't have any tech savvy friends around me, just seems to be how it goes I guess.

Many thanks for all who have attempted to assist me. I do appreciate even though i may have sounded combative, it was not my intention.

I will have to continue to look and research and save more money as time goes along.