Ok to firstly build a computer you need the following
Case With A Decent Sized Power Supply
If you using it for hardcore graphics and gaming etc... i would recommend a 600-650w PSU
now to start the fun stuff
you need the Motherboard AKA Mainboard
i wouldnt touch midi i would recommend full ATX if you using it for that stuff so you can go all out with SLI which means multiple graphics cards and cooling and more slots and upgrade capacity
ASUS and GIGABYTE would be the best to look at for the components
www.asus.com.tw
www.gigabyte.com.tw
CPU now this is where i would recommend AMD over INTEL Anyday reason being INTEL has there new Quad Core which is supposed to be fast right and is fast but!
AMD is one step ahead and always is when it comes to graphics with there SSE4a instructions which intel aint got yet and VIVO plus 3D Gaming Gears and just took ATI out which is just as big as NVIDIA.
I would pick up either a AMD Phenom formally know as a AMD Spider - there red back would do the job nicely which is the 9600 however the widdow spider the 9500 has a few tricks up its sleave to with SSE4a instructions 3DNow ATI integration. very very very fast system bus, but low cache. but it will eat the Intel Quad Core any day. the quad core intel is really 2x core 2 duos in one where as the phenon aka spider has 4 single cores which makes it the first true quad core.
so i would say CPU = Phenom 9500 or 9600
i would say the 3.0GHZ quad core but that aint released yet
ok Hard Disk Drives
i would say western digital over seagate anyday because they have never died on me before. maxtor being the worse and seagate ok but Western Digital all the way when it comes to hard disk drives. now i would hit up a 500gb hdd being 3.0Gb/s on sata 2 with 7200RPM and 16MB cache however if you want faster there is always the raptor which is 10000rpm but max hdd size is 150gb but then you can use it for a master with the os and a storage 500gb on raid array 01 which will be quite nice
now we up to RAM
kingston or corsair all the way in brands
probably 2gb will do but i would hit up 4gb on 1066/1333fsb which ECC and High latency.
now your motherboard has to be SLI and has to be PCI Express or it aint ****, it will have sata and stuff too make sure it supports 1333fsb + and x16speed pcie
etc...
graphics to be honust i love nvidia ok. but it really comes down to what OS - operating system you got now.
yeah nvidia has drivers for vista but i would install vista to be honust its like the second version of Windows Millenium microsoft made the mistake of building the operating system on BETA software to start with and its just not compatible with this and that and hardware manufactures are screaming writing drivers to suite it and its just one big headache and full of bugs if you ask me
XP all the way with SP3 integrated for the latest updates and vista themes etc... however make sure it pro with direct x 9.0L which is basically direct x 10 in vista windows xp calls it Direct x 9.0L which is the same as 10 in vista.
now if your xp go NVIDIA Geforce 8800GTS Ultra
if your VISTA go for ATIs latest and greatest because ATI is right up with VISTA and NVIDIA had a fall out with them
but still has the drivers
thats gonna really show up nice go either 1GB video card or 768 even x2 512 on SLI its up to you you can bridge 4 if you want together and get up to 8GB processing out of a good mainboard with Quad Core And Quad SLI CPU AND GPU
now sound is usually good enough on board unless you want serious sound then ya hit up a Creative sound blaster X-FI platnium champ serious 24bit they are top top atm
mainboard usually got all the rest of the goodies like
10/100/1000 ethernet lan which is the fastest atm
and
8-10usbs at 480mb/s which is good until usb 3 comes out.
and sound usually 5.1 or 7.1 these days standard.
ummmmmmmmmmm what else
go all out with cooling . Aftermarket **** cause AMD spider fan is **** all to be honust but does the job if you aint overclocking it like me.
thermaltake and stuff like that make good fans. gigabyte and asus too. dont touch deep cool. hahah
now roms - LITEON all the way only ones that actually do **** right + CD+Gs too go sata all the way
BIOS i would recommend one with a Phoneix or AWARD bios nun that AMI ****
chipset if AMD i would hit up NVIDIA if im going for a nvidia card or SIS or VIA. i like VIA the best if i dont put a NVIDIA graphics card. if your going ATI either SIS or VIA will do for the spider i mean either will work but you will see what i mean if you get a Nvidia and put a ATI. they will cross hair each other without you knowing it.
remember cooling is very important
if your hot you wont run or perform your best either.
try taking the cpu off a computer and see the performance
if it cant breathe or cool its gonna sleep or die in the bum
anything else you wanna know add me to messenger
skylines_australia@hotmail.com
or i check up on this post.
good luck
if you need anything i can sell it to you cheap cause im a qualified computer engineer/tech and do programming, software and networking on the side too.