Howdy all,

Time to replace the desktop computer I use at home (office).

My wife's son is building me a brand new machine from scratch. He has built quite a few over the years, and I have every confidence he knows what he is doing...hardware wise. What he has built is fast and so far 100% reliable machines. This is the BOM for new components (cables left out):

LG 20X DVD±R Super Multi DVD Burner Black ATAPI / E-IDE Model GSA-H55NK

SONY Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1615/B2s

Rosewill R6A34-BK 0.8mm SECC 120mm Fan ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400

ABIT IB9 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

GIGABYTE GV-NX76G256D-RH GeForce 7600GS 256MB GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Silent Pipe Lead Free Video Card

There are a few other goodies like a cheap 3.5 floppy drive (ya never know when you might need it), but overall I am building this to be a fast and effecient machine for my office/personal use.

I was thinking XP Professional...but reconsidering. I need an OS that I can understand and will work, every day, with the least troubles.

I am thinking maybe XP Home would be better? (I've always used Windows, and don't know Linux, etc. at all. I "can" change...but is it worth it?)

Whattayaallthink?

Mike