Ok, after listening intently to all your advice, and extremely helpful it was too, I have finally put a deposit on my new computer today. I am having it custom built by a small computer shop local to me who made my last PC (the one I am still using now) and always give excellent support.
As promised, here is the spec I went for. I'll be very glad to hear any thoughts that you more PC-savvy guysm gals have to say about it. I can't change it now so this is it but have I chosen well masters?
Processor: Intel Quadcore Q6600
RAM: 4 Gbs DDR2 667MHz
Hard drives:
1) 250GB Western Digital SATA ll HD - This will be the system drive with all programs
2) 750Gb Seagate SATA ll HD - This will be for all data storage
Graphics Card: MSI NX8800 Ultra - This is an extremely fast and powerful GPU, probably more than I really need but will be great for maxing out Flight Sim X
MoBo: Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus Skt775
All the usual other stuff like DVD Dual Layer rewritable (20x), card reader, etc.
And the OS I finally chose is..... <drum roll>....
Windows XP Pro
I decided against Vista for various reasons: lots of reports saying it is slower than XP, too young, awaiting service packs to deal with bugs, etc. I also want to have the same as I have on this PC as I will be running both side by side and portability from one to the other is very important to me.
This will be powered by a 730W Hiper PSU which I was recommended as being much better than a standard PSU as it supplies each component with continuous power at all times. Sorry, I don't know much more about it but they convinced me this was worth it for not much more money!
I know (thanks to you guys) that Windows XP will not make full use of the 4GBs RAM but it will utilise over 3GBs and I am keeping one eye on the future when I might move up to Vista once it is serviced.
I could see few reasons to go over to a Mac and plenty not too but the primary one was the portability issue as mentioned above.
I am not getting another monitor, I don't need one. Instead I am connecting both PCs to my Dell WFP2007 20.1" widescreen monitor (which i love) via a 2 port Auto KVM Switchbox.
Remember, my primary purpose for buying this new PC is to have the max power for video rendering as well as advanced photographic editing and graphics work (where I sometimes have 50-100 layers open!) as well as audio editing of interviews for my radio show and other graphics work. I will NOT be connecting it to the internet 99% of the time. I will set up a connection purely for updating Windows and drivers but will disconnect most of the time. This will keep the PC ring-fenced away from viruses etc. I am perfectly happy with this PC on the internet as well as my laptop so don't need yet another connection.
Ok, guys, how did I do?
Cheers,
Rob