Hi folks,

I have been reading a lot about HTPC here and at avsforum. I am in need of a desktop PC mainly for HTPC, occasional Lightroom & CS3, odd gaming (not hardcore). I am a photography enthusiast, just bought me a Canon 7D, and my 2 yr old Macbook just don't cut it anymore due to the large 18MP! file size (my wife won't lend me her Vaio). Currently using PS3 as media player with USB external drives connected to Airport Extreme and my Macbook as the server (wired gigabit). Due to my photography requirement, I have selected the following build spec for the HTPC:
Intel i5 750 - RM655
Asus P7H55D-M PRO - RM385
Kingston DDR3-1333 3x2GB - RM504
Sapphire HD5770 1GB DDR5 - RM565
1TB Samsung HDD - RM250
CM 500W Silent Pro - RM329
Hyper 212 Plus - RM109
CM USP 100 Casing - RM179
Windows 7 Premium 64bit - RM325
Total: RM3301 (my budget excluding monitor is RM3000 but not a problem). I will buy a monitor separately.
I went over to DELL website and customise its Studio XPS 8100 to match the above spec (only difference is PSU and casing) it came out RM3200. Should I skip all the headache and just buy the XPS? I'm worried about noise from the xps. In the end the HTPC will be connected to my 40" LCD TV AND a LCD monitor. I will do photo editing using the LCD monitor instead of the TV. I'm not interested too much in audio as I don't have a home theater system. Thanks for your input.