Im just wondering if while mining for slush and running the newest gui miner if i have to setup a seperate miner for namecoins or install additional software, it sounds like its happening on slushs end but i just wanna be sure

Im looking to move up from 2 laptops and sneaking bitcoinplus...
If i were to spend 400 cdn dollars on mining hardware would i be better off building a lil shitty machine or buying some off the shelf mining box?
Most of the sites selling the designated mining hardware make it seem like a great idea but thats kinda their job, so if anyone could give a lil advice or dos donts that would be swell

Thanks a Bunch

I have been small time mining on a few machines at my home for several weeks, ever since the ddos attack on slush's pool i have not been able to connect at 1/40th the speed as before. does any learned-one know if this is still an issue on their end? Thanks in advance