Hi,
I'm looking to build a reasonably quick rig which will be fairly futureproof without breaking the bank, quiet without resorting to watercooling and hopefully reasonably compact as the intention is to store the PC within an open fronted cupboard (with rear vents!).
One of my requirements is a PCI slot as I need to use a specialised PCI sound card but other than that, I'm fairly open to suggestion with regard to form factor, case (looks like it'll have to be a desktop as I'm quite limited with height), CPU etc etc.. I've had experience building PCs in the past but with Moore's Law; everything's changed in the mean time! I'll be using the machine for some music production, limited photographic work, usual surfing, potentially some gaming and HD output. Ideally working within a £500(+/- as required) budget, looking more towards AMD than Intel, potential to O/C
I'm thinking along the lines of:
1x Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
4GB RAM
WiFi
AMD Phenom II (which??)
....
Sorry for being rather vague, but if anyone can give me some pointers, recommended motherboards (possibly mATX), whether I go Quad or Dual core (quite like the look of the Phenom IIs), DDR2/DDR3, where the world is now with PSUs and any other useful advise, I'd be most grateful.
Regards,
Quicksilver.