I am looking into (finally) getting a custom PC.
I am looking at, say $500-$1,000 area. (can be flexible)
I play games, not often, nothing intense, strategy/role-play stuff. (schizm, Sanitarium, Myst-type stuff..).
But I like to toy with my digi camera pics(will someday have Photoshop loaded). And would eventually like to look into digi vid-cam editing.

Can you recommend all /any the goodies that I should request for a custom build?

I have in mind things like:
multi card reader (we have several cams at work)
That chip that is current and 64 bit (work with me here, I might be ahead of myself)
HD size, maybe 120? (is that an official #??) (too much?)

I might ask:
what are good graphic cards? brand and bits.
Should I go MSXP Pro?

Any info you can offer will be greatly appreciated. Thanks. :nice:

I would look for a case with USB and Firewire and possible audio jacks on the front. Decent (like Antec) powersupply 350watts + or so.

Videocard, ATI or Nvidia, whatever is their most current, I never buy their bleeding egde one, usually a couple models back, after it has been proven and drivers updated.

Harddrive, 120-160, I would get 2 drives, 1 for back up and such. Esp if you want to get into video editing, 1 drive solely for media.
DVD rom and DVDRW/Combo drives, again 2 of them
Ram, about 1 gig
Windows XP Pro

As far as the multicard reader, I would get one that is external and plugs into the system.

AMD is the only one offering a 64 bit chip right now... however, there is no official operating system for it yet. Windows XP Service Pack 2 is still in beta, XP 64 is still projected later this year, and the next Windows (Longhorn) isn't due until late next year. So with that, you could save money by going with an AMD Barton chip. 3000+ on an Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe is a good choice here.

512 Meg of RAM is sufficient, while 1 gig is nice to have.

Definately go with a WD SATA hard drive... 160-200 GB offer the best value and plenty of room for growth, plus the SATA interface is FAST. 2 identical SATA drives setup on a RAID 0+1 will offer the best of both worlds, speed AND backup.

Since video editing is your goal, don't skimp on the video card. The ATI 9800 series is the best of the last generation, and the X800 is the best of the current generation of video cards. The 9800 Pro is about $200, the 9800 XT is about $350 - $420, and the X800 starts at $420.

thanks guys!

Turbostang is right on. However I would suggest going no lower then 1 gig of RAM if your going to be doing photo/video editing.