Choosing components advice needed

[bodOrange]

I'm looking for some help on component selection for a new PC.
The last time I built one myself was back in 2000 when I used an Abit kt7. All the parts for which I bought from Aria ;-)
Since then I have had a Shuttle SN41G but I am fed up with the noise and the price premium for an SFF PC.

I need serial, firewire, SPDIF out and I prefer existance of PS2 ports not just USB. My first choice is the Asus P5B. I think the P5B-E-Plus is the cheapest of the numerous PB5's to fulfill the criteria for ports. I plan to pair this up with a Core Duo E4300. This seems to offer best value considering it's overclocking potential. Apparently to realise the higher rates with this CPU, DDR 800 ram is needed. Any recommendations for memory?

I am completely undecided on graphics card. I don't play games but am undecided on whether I want a top card to experience full eye candy in windows vista should I eventually upgrade. More important is good quality 2D for photoshop and CAD and a little video editing. In fact I would like a fanless card - any recommendations?

Case - I am stuck choosing between Antec's Solo, Sonatta II or Sonatta III (if it's available). AIUI the Sonattas come with their own PSU where as the Solo case does not. Is there anything to choose between these in terms of noise? Any other cases I might consider? As well as good acoustics I like simple design and would like usb and firewire ports on the front.
If I needed to buy a PSU, I am considering the Enermax Liberty 400W Modular PSU. The modular design seems a good idea. Anyone experience of this PSU?

I don't need large disk capacity as I have network storage so I was thinking instead of investing in speed rather than capacity and getting say a 74GB WD raptor. Would I see any real noticable benefit?

I'd be really grateful if anyone can take the time to answer my questions or comment on my choices.

Cheers

[mac124]

Asus p5b-e+ and 4300 would be a great choice i have that combo in my media pc and have it overclocked to 3ghz 24/7 with only 1.35v on the core.

Memory well i have 2gb of DDR800 CellShock and its reasonably happy upto around 900mhz but if i did it again i would get some DDR2 1000 anything by OCZ, CellShock, Corsair, Patriot would do just fine.

On to graphics, well you don't need a DX10 card for the eye candy in Vista \"only\" a shader modle 2 capable card. A 7300gt DDR3 would suffice or if you did want a Dx10 card get a bottom of the range 8600?? Either would give a bit of gaming capability should you feel the urge ;)

Cases are very much a personal choice and usually i would say DO NOT use a bundled psu BUT if the Sonattas come with a decent Antec psu then why not use it, otherwise go for something by Tagan, Silverstone, Akasa around the 400watt size, i have used all 3 and find them perfect. Never used Enermax but they are supposed to be a reasonable make.

Hmm raptors, unless you are hard of hearing i wouldn't bother they are noisy, get hot and unless raiding several of them the speed increase is minimal and they are over priced too. Iknow several people who have downgraded to \"normal\" drives for these very reasons. Your better off getting a couple of Samsung spinpoints for the same price as 1 raptor and raiding them they will be faster and quieter.

[bodOrange]

Thanks very much for the help. BTW I had problems posting to this forum earlier.

Probably go for the OCZ 2GB DDR2 6400 platinum kit. Are you aware of any issues using with the P5B.

Any recommendations for a passively cooled video card? AIUI the 8000 series nvidia cards draw less current and run cooler than than the previous generation but I don't seem to see more passively cooled models. The MSI 8600GT has a very ungainly cooler that apparently can physically interfere with RAM on some mobos (P5B??). The other passively cooled card I have seen was a Gainward 8600GT with a less cumbersome heatsink. I'm not averse to ATI though. What would be the preferred chipset with the P5B? ATI or Nvidia? I am looking for passively cooled card with exellent 2D/dual screen performance. Good 3D performance too but not at the expense of the other. And the card should be under £100 ;-) Any ideas?