Hello! I'm planning on building a new system for my brother and am having some doubts about whether or not my choices are appropriate. Any help or comments about the choices I'm listing would be great. Thanks!

I will probably overclock the system slightly for my brother but nothing to intense (>0.2ghz increase)

A lot of the work he will be doing will be related to onboard MIDI recording, Mastering, format conversions, ect...

My list at the moment:
Optical drive

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250 HDD 16mb x2 Storage isn't really a concern because he already owns a 500gb external

AMD 5400+
or
AMD 6400+

Also, I'm not locked into AMD. It just seemed like the cheaper combination when including a MOBO

MSI K9N Nvidia MOBO
Cooler Master Case
GEforce 8400 Light gaming on the side
Corsair XMS2 4gb
And a generic monitor that is around $150

Thanks again for any input

Hi...get the Intel E2160 instead of the AMDs....it overclocks really well too. $68

Do get a good P35 mobo instead of an Nvidia...Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L is the very best out there. $85

Also, you'd rather get the Seagate 500GB 7200.11 for $85 instead of two 250GB for $65 each

If you don't overclock, the AMD Phenom x3 is to be considered. Just throw in an ASUS M3A.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/14606/9
http://techreport.com/articles.x/14606/6

If you overclock, Intel all the way. Either Allendale or low-end Wolfdale E7x00 for about $150ish. The Wolfdale is a solid overclocker.