Starting off

Hello all, firstly apologies for the total newbie style post this is about to turn into. I've been reading this forum for a little while now and it seems you people are fairly knowledgable so hopefully you won't mind my queries too much!

Basically I am after sorting myself out with a new PC, primarily for audio processing and Internet usage/dl'ing. However I've never actually bought a PC myself before, I've always had hand-me-down's and 2nd hand ones, so I was wondering what sort of spec's would be good for getting into making music a little more (my experience thus far is messing about on old versions of Fruity Loops, would like to get slightly more professional :)), in particular, which sound cards are good (would like to get a MIDI capable one ideally). Budget is looking at about £400-£500 ish.

Cheers guys :)

you want processing speed and memory.

the more the better... and a decent upgrade path...

the asus p4/p5 series of motherboards are prtetty good, and have loads of slots for bits.

soundcard.. i a lways swear by m-audio...i dunno what your needs are, but if it's just midi in/out, and audio in/out, you can't go far wrong with the m-audio- audiophile.. usb or firewire... i believe there's a comparable edirol card for around the same price.

(i think you can get it for under a hundred sterling nowadays)

hope that helps... i'll be happy to answer any specific questions if i'm around.