First New Build in a Long Time

[scottonian]

I need a new computer. I like my macbook and all, but for working from home it just doesn't cut the mustard. I've been looking around on the various computer company websites, but at this point I'm thinking I might build my own. I did it once before during the summer of 2002 after graduating HS. I used that computer for 6 years before I finally gave it to goodwill this year. That being said, even though I built one in the past, I feel like all of this technology has totally passed me by. I'm looking at power supplies, motherboards, and video cards like all of the it is written in Greek. I'm trying to re-educate myself, but have some questions for y'all. Bear in mind that I do not plan to play any games on here, but there is always the chance. I basically want this to be a really fast computer that I can use to surf the internet, download torrents, stream media to the rest of my house, work from home (excel and power point), and maybe do some occasional gaming. I'm not making this to be a power gaming rig where I can play Crysis at 50,000 X 50,000 resolution or anything. That being said, I want a computer that is going to last a long time (with reasonable memory / video card updates)....

Now on to the specs. I'll have some follow-up questions after I post the components

Case: Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail

CPU: Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Retail

MoBo: ASUS P6T Deluxe LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3750330AS 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Video Card: MSI R4670-2D512 Radeon HD 4670 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

Memory Kingston 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

Optical: LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM

Now to the questions:

• Obviously the first question is if everything is compatible. I'm sure I screwed that up somewhere along the line.
• Am I going way overboard by jumping in with a Core i7 CPU? On the one hand I want to try to future-proof myself as much as possible, but on the other, I don't want to buy something I'm never going to need.
• Would the RAID controller on the P6T Deluxe be sufficient for this computer to double as my home server? Maybe I'll downgrade the "primary" HDD to 320GB just to hold my OS and then use the other 5 SATA ports for RAID HDDs. Thoughts?
• Thoughts on the video card? This seems like a big "bang for your buck" card from what I've read online. Will this handle a two monitor setup pretty well?

Anyway, thanks for the help in advance. I look forward to y'all's answers.

[glc]

If you want a i7, I'd advise waiting a few months, let the dust clear and let the technology mature a bit. I also wouldn't trust a Seagate 7200.11 drive as far as I can throw it with all these firmware issues that are bricking people's drives. I just switched to WD Black, and am holding my breath hoping the five .11's in the family hold up till Seagate can figure out how to fix them right.