maxtor used to make great drives, over the years thier quality has dropped along with their warrenty.

DDR vs. SDRAM -- can anyone explain the difference?

DRR = Dual Data Rate SDR = Single Data. DDR is all that is used in todays computers. SD Ram is a thing of the past.

For us, the worst drives have been WD raptors. We've rma'd 14 outta 25 we've purchased. No more believing the HYPE. Total Crap but at least they have a decent warranty :)

Maxtor we have returned a few.

Seagate has been a very solid drive for us actually (looking thru inventory).

Samsung? Never bought one except I believe my old laptop had one and we had to replace it - might have been hitachi though, dont recall.

I've had unusually high failures with Western Digital drives. I think heat is the major hard drive killer (cooked bearings??) so spend some bucks on cooling your case. Maybe get a temp sensor and display.

Thanks for all the advice.

Any ideas whether it is worthwhile to upgrade from Windows XP Home to Windows XP Professional?

Also any input on a video card would be good. I thought AGP video cards were the right thing but do I need AGP or is PCI OK?

Well, Windows XP Pro gives you ability to run IIS without hacking it. Windows XP Media Edition is the same as Pro but it gives you features for setting up a HTPC. I have found this to be very useful as an entertainment center especially for saving TV Shows. I never miss my favorite shows now since they are all saved to hard disk when I am not home. If you don't care for those features, XP Home version could be fine for you. OEM price difference between Home version and Pro/MC version is only about $40 anyways.