A) I suggested the Intel dual core because of it's low cost (it's going to give him a little more "future proofing" over a single core Athlon64, and X2 costs a fortune (i've been aware of it for weeks, but X2 is very expensive, that's a fact)
B) SATA RAID is something i'd advise against, as it's going to put all sorts of potential for destroying all your data, a drive fails, and, unless your using RAID 5, 6, a nested RAID format, or RAID 1 (which doesn't benefit speed at all) it's going to make your hard drives worthless, and anything on them, is essentially GONE
C) as for sound quality, on board Intel audio is of good quality, so is nVidia's onboard audio
VIA has half-way decent onboard audio chips as well, for 99% of use onboard sound is fine, and after paying out the money for a sound card, I can really say it's not worth it (it does give you a performance benefit in gaming, but it's not more than maybe .5FPS)
D) i am normally an AMD person, but again suggested the Intel to keep up with newer technology
also
DO NOT BUY AN LCD if your gaming, LCD's are terrible for gaming, have the potential for dead pixels, most LCD makers are stingy on their replacement policy, most LCD's will ghost in games
now whichever one of you monkeys feels like throwing the following things at me:
CRT's have UV
CRT's are heavy
CRT's don't look cool
CRT's are old school
LCD's are more power efficient
CRT's are junky
CRT's have lower image quality
I Can tell you that while some of those points may be true
CRT's are superior for any form of graphics work, unless you have thousands to tens of thousands of dollars to spend on top of the line professional grade LCD's
the best CRT is only around $2000-$3000
the best LCD's cost upwards of $9000, just to compare
now they do utterly anhilate those CRT's in terms of power use, size, and so on (it's a 22" CRT vs a 22" LCD, Sony's Artisean vs IBM's T221, which requires a special video card)
the LCD is more expensive
in a college scinario i'm guessing a desktop system will also have to endure possibly being semi-abused (it's not in a perfectly calm home enviroment)
an LCD can't take abuse like a CRT (like suction cup dart guns, those can hurt an LCD, but a CRT, you can shoot em at a CRT all day long with no issues)
i'd like to also point out that the "best" computer speakers are generally junk in comparison to the most average of home theater equipment
same goes for headphones
do not try to fight this down, you will lose
the best computer speakers are often considered the $400-ish Creative Labs S750's
which are a 7.1 700W RMS system
the best home theater speakers cost between $14,999.95 to $19,999.99+ PER SPEAKER, and deal out a few thousand W each
they are driven by multi-thousand watt amplifiers which weigh more than some TV's, and retail at nearly $10,000
this entire system is then controlled by a reciever unit costing as much as a used car
in addition to a projection TV costing as much as a house
in addition i'd like to say yet again, the sound card isn't required in this modern day and age, it's a luxury item not worth the money it costs unless you have need of a seperate audio processor for video or audio work, in which case you shouldn't even look at consumer grade stuff
you should consider professional grade cards, costing a few thousand each or more
audio equipment is no where near cheap, the audio equipment found on a computer is mediocre at best compared to an average home theater costing maybe $1500
(yes, sadly Bose does out-do a computer audio system)
in the end i'd like to write that since your buying this computer for work first, please re-evaluate the whole gaming push
secondly, a laptop does make college more convienent
i'd suggest a basic notebook with a Pentium M, while that will lack 64-bit and dual core, it will get the job done
it will run counter strike, but one thing I'd like to say to you, if your going to college and the majority of your time is expected to be spent playing counter-strike, unless your a gaming designer/other gaming related field, you should really be using the computer for study and work, as your paying to goto school, so I really don't think your going there just to game
but i'm just seeing the entire purpose of this computer as gaming, which is fine, but please consider that your going to college, not high school, your paying (someone is) to goto school, and it's going to be a factor in determining your future...I personally couldn't throw it away for a game as pathetic as Counter Strike