[sanddrag]

Thanks for the feedback. The more I read about it, I think I'm on the right path here. One of the reasons I chose the motherboard was for its Z68 chipset. The Intel Smart Response Technology looks pretty cool. I could stick in a caching drive in 6 months when prices come down a bit.

Backup storage is something I need to address. Currently, I have only a 500 gig external USB 2.0 drive, which is not large enough, and terribly slow. Originally, RAID had crossed my mind but there's too many horror stories. Perhaps I'll do a NAS for the house, or I'll grab another drive to stick in it to back things up onto.

Total cost is $735 including the video card, but without hard drive, case, or card reader. How does that seem? Now that I think about it, I'll probably get a case. Also, I'll probably cheap out and skip the video card initially, and see how it is without. That will let me get going on the other two systems I need. If I need it I can always get it later.