[Unsullied_Spy]

Intel vs. AMD I'm not sure anymore, Intel was on top when I was researching my latest build but I think AMD's latest processor has pulled ahead. I got out of computers when I went RC though.

I've always favored nVidia video cards over ATI for several reasons. NV drivers are much better and less of a hassle, they run on less power, run cooler, and have been more reliable for me.

RAID is nice, but I would rather run a WD Raptor or a SSD to get the speed you need on your boot drive. I run normal SATA drives for storage and a Raptor for Windows. If you run Vista it really only needs the hard drive for boot up and loading big stuff as long as you have enough RAM. I can't stand going back to XP computers now, contrary to internet drivel Vista runs considerably faster (you might lose a couple FPS in games because some drivers may not be totally refined for Vista use). Make sure you pack it full of RAM if you're running Vista, it'll make a huge difference in how well it runs.

I've been using integrated audio for a long time now, I've had some issues with affordable sound cards and the ones that have worked right didn't sound any better than the integrated. Sound cards are dead technology IMO, the integrated audio on my ABIT IP35 Pro beats any card you're going to find for a decent price.

For motherboards I went to Newegg.com, selected an Intel-compatible board (for my quad core build), then refined the search by quad-core capable boards, then ABIT as a manufacturer (buying an ABIT board instead of most other boards is like getting a Neu rather than a HobbyCity motor), and it only came up with a few options so I picked the best one they had and it's been an amazing board so far (been running it right about a year). One thing you don't want to skimp on is the motherboard, like putting a cheap motor in an RC car you'll restrict performance and cause more problems down the road than if you had gotten the better board to begin with. If you can't afford a good board then cheapen up somewhere else (CPU and RAM are good places to cheapen up, you can always swap them out in a few minutes for better units).

If you're building your own and are looking for power supplies there are a lot of good ones out there but I've been running ThermalTake power supplies in my own computers and the ones I build for others since ~2000 and haven't had a single one fail. PC Power and Cooling are awesome PSUs from what I've heard, but I've never run one. Antecs are good, but their fans SUCK. I recently had one burn up because the fan failed and the owner didn't notice, it didn't catch fire or anything but it cooked the internals. My brother always likes to buy the ones with the flashy lights and cool-sounding features but he's had 3 failures in the last 2 years, so I got him a ThermalTake and he hasn't had a problem since.