Ive built before, but have been out of the PC scene for some time and focused on home audio more so. Now I want to come back to my first passion.

I already have an XFX 7800 card so Im ok there. Im not a huge gammer but like making a fool of myself playing COD2 and NFS black now and then.

I have a mix of pc3200 and some 2700 (I think) but either way have enough mem to get off the ground for now. Around 3 gigs worth with 1gb being CosairXMS 3200. Up for advice on this.

I already have some well built cases on hand used for older amd64 machines. Im not a big "image" person, more a meat and potatoes guy.

I am a HUGH music nut, I went out and bought a carddeluxe from www.digitalaudio.com some time ago. Love it. I like to archive my vinyl and play digital in and out with it.

The rest is unknown for now. What I do know is I want to go with a AM2 slot MB as I like my previous AMD experiences (64 3000 and 3200 and some old XP ones too). Im thinking of going with a 3800+ for a cost effective solution. Im kinda partial to MSI boards but again, advice. As far as MB go drive expansion is a priority, I want to use Esata for mass storage of music and movies and am thinking of using a pair of Raptor 74gb drives in raid1 for safety and speed on the OS and main program front. Then use an internal sataII drive for game and other storage. Reliability is #1 for me, Im soo sick of comp crashes and driver issues so on. I want something that is fast and reliable. I rip CDs and archive all the time. I browse the net with many windows open at once and often rip while doing so, just me. I want a machine that wont freak on this.

Also does sata really give an edge with DVD/CD drives, like noted I rip and burn while browsing allot. Already have some nice DL16xDVDR drives a plextor and some toshiba units, however there ide.

Id like to keep the MB in the area of $150 but if its worth the $$$ would consider more. Oh and I agree the PS is the heart of a box, recc on a good say 500 or more PS?

Sorry for the long wind here just want to get this right!

Thanks for any input

Dave

newegg.com

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The mobo supports digital input & output. Throw in an e-sata card. You can change whatever you want. This is just an idea.