Hi everyone,

I would like to build a new computer in the next couple of weeks. The problem is that I have never build a computer before, and I don't really know much about putting one together or choosing the parts. I was hoping that some of you could provide help on the subject.

I am a software developer/electrical engineer (which makes this situation that much more embarrassing), so I need a computer that will suit all my programming needs. The purpose of the computer will be mostly development and personal use, which means that I will be using all kinds of microsoft products heavily (MS Visual Studio, VSS, ...), as well as graphics programs like photoshop, illustrator ...

The software that I develop varies a lot, so in some cases I will need to do a bit of number crunching.

While I do not game very much, I do love to listen to music and watch videos on my machine, so decent speakers and sound card would be nice.

At the moment, all I really know is that I would like to go with AMD for the processor (dual-core, but don't know which model). I do not need a monitor or keyboard/mouse since I have all that already.

Please keep in mind that since I do elec eng projects, so external connection (usb ports, card readers, ...) are important... but I guess those are there by default.

Finally, I would like to keep the cost under $1200 (lower is better), but I am willing to spend a little extra if the benefits are worth it. Oh, yeah... also scalability and modularity of the system is a high priority.

Any advice would be very much appreciated

- Picazo