Im starting to see the advantages of building a computer rather than buying one. The computers I've bought from Hp/compaq offer very little options to tweak when i go into the bios, can some one point me in the right direction?

You're absolutley right. I have compaqs and in some i cant even access the bios... Even an updated bios.

But honestly, in most computers other than a compaq, access to the bios is very easy.
To flash the bios, i would go to the pc or motherbord manufacturer and download the bios disk from them.

There are instructions of-course but it's as easy as turning the computer off, putting the disk in, and turning the computer back on.
And don't forget to NEVER EVER interrupt that process. Let it finish or you're screwed :)

To flash your BIOS you'll need to boot your computer with no memory manager or TSRs and run flash BIOS program. The software 'flashes' a new BIOS image into the BIOS chip after which you'll have to reboot your computer. You can find flash software for you BIOS in the drivers section

Awdflash for Award BIOS
Amiflash for AMI BIOS

Notes:

Most flash software will ask you to save the current BIOS. Choose Yes, so that you can always flash back to the original version if you're having problems with the new one.
Disable the System BIOS Cacheable option in the BIOS before flashing.