Recommend me a computer (or a custom built one) based on what I want please

Bang Bang Miss America

I thought I knew a lot about computers because I knew what RAM and ROM was etc. but WOW, there is a lot of technical jargon that goes around the forums. Please recommend me a PC (or parts for a custom built one) based on what I want to do:

I want a computer that is quiet, fast and not too flashy. I don't have stuff like movies or torrents so I don't need that big of a hard-drive, though I have LOADS of music which I would like to store on it. Not really needed, though a firewire port on it would be nice. I want a good amount of RAM and a nice screen. I don't need anything too big, so around 20 inch is nice. I would be listening to lots and lots of music, surfing the web, typing up documents and the odd image editing with Photoshop. My old computer is slow so, so I'd love one that is quick and nifty, though I don't need a powerhouse that could run Crysis.

Apps I'd be running:

Office
iTunes
Firefox
Steam
Photoshop

Games I'd be running: (I want a PC that would be able to play these games at highest settings or closest to)

Half life
Half life 2
All Half life 2 mods, expansion packs, episodic content etc.
Team Fortfress 2
Portal
Halo
Halo 2
C and C 3
Viva Pinata

--

Thank you.

vonPoonBurGer

What's your budget?

Malkor

Can you assemble the parts yourself?

noobert

I can't give exact information because i dont know whats going on in the american market, but a solid build would look something like this:

One of the new Intel chips, so
Cpu: e8400 or e8500
GFX: 8800GT
MoBo: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3
RAM: 2+ GB of whatever is a name brand and is going cheap
HDD: Whatever is the best $ per GB, as many as you feel you will need
Case: Whatever you think will look good on your desk
PSU: Corsair HX-520

Monitor: 22" wide is the price point at the moment, well at least it is in australia, so i suggest going for one of those.

Keyboard/mouse/speakers: Recycle.

Oh, and go with XP.

imperial6

That's a good build, though I'd go with an x38 chipset board. All together that's going to run close to $900 before the monitor, $1200 with monitor. If this is too much, you can go for an AMD system instead and knock a couple hundred off.

edit: this is if you are assembling it yourself...I have no idea how much a pre-built like this would cost, probably $500 or $600 more...and most of them give you a crappy psu.