Hi Guys,

Every couple of years something comes up that gives me the incentive to
upgrade my PC.  This year it's GTR.  With today's alphabet soup of
processors, chipsets, etc I'd appreciate any recommendations as to what
to get and what you think of how I plan to go about it.

First off, this PC's most system-intensive uses will be racing sims and
DVD authoring.  I also play some sport sims and flight sims.  My present
system is an AMD XP2100 on an Epox 8Kha+ motherboard using 2 512 Megs
sticks of PC3200 RAM, and a Radeon 9700 Pro.  Items that I would like to
re-use in my new system would be the videocard and the RAM.

To make this as easy as possible, I'd probably buy a new full-size case,
motherboard, CPU and hard drive.  I would then transfer my data from my
existing 80 Gig hard drive to the new hard drive using Drive Image 2002
and slowly move things over to the new box.  The old PC (what remains of
it), will be given to a family member.

So, this is what I'm looking for recommendations on:

- Full-size case:  I'd prefer something quiet, but with good
ventilation, with lots of room in it.  Must house 2 hard drives, and my
existing DVD drive plus separate DVD burner.  Power Supply should be at
least 450W.

- Motherboard:  AGP is a must (to re-use the Radeon).  Onboard sound
might be preferable, if its better than my TB SantaCruz sound card which
I use now.  However, if I don't use the soundcard anymore, I will still
need the use of a gameport, since my TSW peds (and a MIDI keyboard which
I rarely use) both require it.  As stated previously, it should also
support my PC3200 RAM (which I might add another 512 or 1 Meg stick to).

- CPU:  I've been partial to AMD for my last 3 or 4 upgrades, but am
open to suggestions.  Speed-wise, I'm looking for something in excess of
3 Gigs.  Would prefer not to overclock but I don't rule that out completely.

Hard Drive:  Prefer a 160 Gig that would be used as master, to which I
would also add my existing 80 Gig slave drive.

- Overall Cost:  My target is to keep this under $500, if I can, but
that's not a firm limit.

Racing sims that I spend the most time on are GPL, NR2003, GTR, and RBR.
 (The only reason that I got a TB Santa Cruz soundcard in my existing
rig was to iron out WinXP sound issues in GPL.  If the new mobo's sound
works well with GPL, I won't need the sound card as long as I have
access to a gameport -- as mentioned previously.)  So, I'd appreciate
input on what to get and where to get it from (I usually use NewEgg, but
if there are better online reliable sources, I'm open to suggestions.)
Also, is there anything that I'm overlooking in terms of how I plan to
go about this?

Any thoughts?

Thanks!