If I wanted to build a pc comparable to this, but without all the fluff and without spending tons and tons of money, what would I need and how much could I do it for? Curious and doing some research...

I looked at the 'standard' parts for the general model of Alienware PC you listed and made a price list on newegg.com. I tried to match the parts as close as possible- like I did 1366 motherboard/cpu. You could probably save some money choosing 1156 motherboard/cpu and get the same performance. You could choose a case that more closely resembles the alienware one, I went with my standard budget favorite the Antec 300. That would raise price a bit. I did choose a 750W PSU incase you would want to Crossfire 6870's in the future, if not you could save money get a cheaper PSU. Maybe something in the 600W range. Oh yeah the CPU I picked is minimially BETTER than Alienware one, because newegg.com isnt selling the i7-930 atm.

Also I didnt search for combo deals, or attempt to apply any current discounts (like 15% of desktop ram right now).

Dell PC 2199.00 vs Home Built 1156.90 + tax + shipping

Cool that's pretty much what I'm looking for, thanks. Anyone have any further suggestions?

You cold up the video card to a 6950, but that's a whole hundred dollars more.
Not sure why you want liquid cooling, iX series is damn good at overclocking even on air.

Well I don't know *anything* about computers these days... so.. like when I was building computers, liquid cooling was a thing for supernerds.

It still is.

I put liquid cooling in because the alienware had it. Also having used it, I doubt ill ever go back to aircooling.

Have you ever installed one yourself? They're not fun. And frankly, unless you absolutely hate fan sounds (even though the radiator does have a small one itself), there's no purpose to it.

There is maintenance involved with flushing fluids out which is another thing to consider.

You guys do realize that the "water cooling" setup that he's suggesting is simply a closed-loop system with a radiator, fan, and a water block that replaces the processor heatsink, right? They're dead-simple to install and require zero maintenance.

This. Closed loop systems are as easy to install as standard aircoolers. I've built 3 systems with them now (2x Coolit Eco, 1x Corsair H50). Been very happy with temps/noise.

They don't offer much more temperature-wise than the really good heatsinks in the same price range, but they're quiet and the water blocks take up a lot less space than a giant copper heatsink.

I've been pretty happy with my H50.

The real question here is: Do you need water cooling? If you were overclocking a pentium 4 to 5 ghz sure, but i7s run amazingly cool even while being overclocked.
Then again, I'm sure those things are silent as all get out.

Noise is the most annoying thing about computers.

I have that liquid cooling unit setup in my desktop. Doesn't keep it a whole lot cooler, but noise is greatly reduced. Worth it just for that, in my opinion.