Complete Newbie Asking Basic Questions

[Peja]

Hello everyone, love the website.  I honestly do not even know why I got interested in having my own MAME setup in my house but for some reason it really intrigues me.  Playing Pac-Man in a local arcade probably helped fuel the fire.

Anyways, a few weeks ago I won a 32" 1080p LED tv in a free drawing.  I have also been sitting on a computer I built awhile ago but never used.  AMD Quad core, 4gb ram, onboard nvidia hd graphics that I can beef up to a pci-e card no problem.  So I was thinking, maybe this would be a good setup since it is free?  I know a lot of people like arcade monitors better and if you tell me not to waste my time with the LED I have no other use for then I won't use it.  However, if it isn't as bad as some make it out to be and I can play the original arcade games, as well as other consoles games such as n64, ps1, NES, Genesis, etc etc etc then I will use the LED and save some money and time.


Next I am looking for advice on a 4 player, "franken" panel.  I know these things can be as elaborate as you want to make them however, I would like one just like DeLuSioNal29's setup, maybe minus the tron stick but who knows.  Are their plans for these or do people just wing the dimensions themselves and get them to look amazing?  Also, is something like that expensive to make or is  just as expensive to buy the premade ones that run about $700-$800.  (ie http://www.mameroom.com/Products_QuadController.asp) Not sure if linking is allowed here, if not, I am sorry!
So DeLuSioNal29, if you stumble across this, let me know how you made this and what parts you used.  THANKS!!

As for a cabinet, I may ask the guy at the local arcade if he has any used ones that he doesn't want to fix and I could possibly refinish or fix on up to fit my LED flat panel and new Control Board.  I do not have the greatest wood working skills so building one from scratch may be tough. 



That is enough questions for now and thanks to anyone that can answer my questions and steer me in the right direction on what I should do.  I am not totally helpless and am familiar with soldering and wiring btw. 

Great message board and lots of useful information so far!!

Peja