Tips for building my own PC?

Question

I'm a first time builder  saving up money for a new computer and would like some tips and hardware suggestions for a budget  <600$, but be upgradable when necessary. 

I mainly use my computer for Video/photo/sound editing, watching videos, listening to music, Internet of course and some gaming.
I do allot of file converting, compression and rendering so a 6 or 8 core processor would probably be the best option but I'm not willing to pay over 250$ for just a processor.
What type of ram should I get? Is there a huge difference between 1333mhz 1600 and 1866 and is triple or quad channel memory worth the extra cost over dual channel?

And for a motherboard I would like something somewhat future proof that has decent intergrated graphics/sound (I will get dedicated later) and is completely upgradable with dual GPU support and plenty of PCI slots for sound cards and the like, but also be from a company that makes high quality parts and has a good warranty.

For storage, would the best option to get a small ssd like a 64GB as a primary for just windows and a few essential programs with a Standard 7200 rpm for most other programs and files?
Would a raid setup with 10k or 15k rpm drives be better or is it not worth it?

What kind of case should I get since I'm on a budget? I plan on using just air cooling and I want a case that has good fans in it. Also can you trust the power supply that comes with the case or is it best to just buy one.

Just a few more simple questions

Is a PCI NIC worth the price over the onboard LAN, does it have better latency when playing online games?

Are Intel processors worth getting over AMD for people who are on a budget?

AMD Radeon vs Nvidia Geforce which is better overall and why?

And for windows, what version would be the best for me? Is the home edition good enough? I've been using windows 7 home for a while now and haven't found anything I could not do. What would I be missing out on over pro or ultimate?

Also I am not going to do this right away I'm thinking maybe early next year (whenever hard drive prices go down) so if there are some good processors coming out in early 2012, besides 2nd generation amd bulldozer I would like to now about them.

All help will be appreciated. You don't have to answer all of the questions, just the ones you can.

Avinash · Accepted Answer

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115078- processor.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028 -psu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128478- mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948 -gpu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145345- ram
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073- hdd
get a good cabinet with more than 2 fans. if you can increase your budget go for sapphire 6950.

Anonymous · Answer

I've always had good luck with "white box" pcs. They're upgradeable. I've been shocked at some of the factory boxes. I can NOT imagine a modern pc without an AGP port and only 2 pci slots -- you get what you pay for. Don't buy a pre-assembled HP or Dell at Costco off the shelf. They're way out of date. A gaming pc takes more wats. You have to get a bigger power supply to drive all that RAM and high-end graphic card. Search on the web for build your own. Problem is: Dell computer has a production line called "white box" and you'll have to search around them. The factory boxes have such crap as pci cards that have custom software drivers. When you try to swap or upgrade you end up you find the mfg web site doesn't support. Once you say "dell" they tell you to go to dell support. Besides OEM XP sucks and it sucks big time. I've been very happy with the following recipe. I had a spare tower cabinet laying around but that would be $60. AMD athlon 32bit 1300+ on ASUS motherboard. $21 (ebay) Samsung 200gig HD. $80 RAM was $140 for 2 meg Nextzeile 650 wat power supply $35 I had the video card, the keyboard, the floppy and the mouse laying around. I had the ethernet card given to me. I have a closet full of CD-R and CD-dvd-r. I used a free OS called ubuntu which is a linux distro (runs right out of the box) I keep 10 meg formatted with Win98SE to run a couple of software packages. The main thing is the ASUS motherboard. It links all the bus with everything left on auto. Total assembly time was 45 minutes. Total OS install was another hour. Took WIN a little over another hour (installed it first). If you buy a used motherboard without the processor, make sure the manual is available online or a home brew recipe will never work.

Tips for building my own PC?

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