[hitchface]

Wow, thanks for the list!

As far as the motherboard form factor is concerned, I haven't given it too much thought other than "Make sure it fits in the case". I think I'd prefer the additional expansion slots of a micro-ATX. I don't have immediate plans for those slots right now, but as my little home studio grows, I'd like to make sure the room is there if a new interface calls for it. That is great news about integrated video being that powerful. Gotta love the march of technology.

Concerning SSDs...when I was last really into this, there was some concern about the lifespan of them, in that they only had so many read/write cycles before they started to degrade. Is that/was that ever the case? I'd love to use an SSD/mechanical HDD combo. Seems like a match made in heaven.

Now, because I don't have the luxury of a separate control and tracking room, this machine does need to be SUPER quiet for the sake of microphones. What's the word on the street for quiet fans/passive cooling? Is it realistic with these kinds of components?

Thanks for the help so far...I'm less dizzy now than when I started!