Hey guys, what's going on?

It's time for me to get a new system, and I can't decide whether I should buy one or build one. I'll using it for image editing, 3D modeling and animation (Blender, Maya, that sort of stuff), and game modding and coding. My cousin, who is an IT guy, recommended I get a Dell Inspiron 530 through Dell University. Here's what it comes with:

[B]CPU[/B] Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E6550 (4MB L2 Cache,2.33GHz,1333 FSB)
[B]Operating System[/B] Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium - English
[B]Memory[/B] 3GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 4 DIMMs
[B]Keyboard and Mouse Bundles[/B] Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
[B]Monitor[/B] 19 inch SE198WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel Monitor
[B]Video Cards[/B] nVidia GeForce 8600GT-DDR3 256MB
[B]Hard Drives[/B] 500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
[B]Floppy Drive and Media Reader [/B]No Floppy Drive Included
[B]Mouse[/B] Mouse included with Keyboard purchase
[B]Network Interface[/B] Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
[B]Modem and Wireless[/B] 56K PCI Data Fax Modem
[B]Adobe Software [/B]Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 8.1
[B]Optical Drive[/B] 16X DVD+/-RW Drive
[B]Sound Cards[/B] Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
[B]Speakers[/B] No speakers
[B]Office Productivity Software
(Pre-Installed)[/B] No Productivity software pre-installed
[B]Security Software[/B] No Subscription (only 30-day protection)
[B]Warranty & Service[/B] 1Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor, 24x7 Phone Support
[B]Labels[/B] Windows Vista™ Premium
[B]DataSafe Online Backup [/B]Included 3 GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Yr

That system will run me about $870 [I]after [/I]shipping and taxes. That seems like a decent deal, but do you think I would do better if I built my own system?