4gigs of ram is a waste without a 64 bit o/s. I agree that you can run into problems using a certain part with another part, but thats where a little up front research will save hours of time and headache. Exactly what model are you looking at from hp? Keep in mind most Mobo's today have onboard sound, and a lot of them do a damn good job of it. (especially the hd audio ones) I actually went back to my onboard HD audio from and X-Fi fatality edition sound card. There wasn't enough difference on my rig to justfy the price on it. To me spending that kinda cash on something prebuilt, knowing I could save nearly half the money doing it myself, is unthinkable. Now something like the blackbird, yes sir, that thing is badass and I would buy it in a heart beat, but the regular run of the mill computers they put out don't do do it for me. I'd rather have the extra 1100 bucks to blow on other things. Most often (after the build is complete and works) the things that go wrong with a comp are usually software related, but if a part fails major items like cpu's/mobo's/ram have warranty's so to get em fixed it's just an investment in time. Most households have more then one computer (mine does for sure) so the down time without a comp is minimal. Sorry for the long post, but 2200 is alot to pay for something that can be had for cheaper that is better...

My wife's laptop took 6 weeks for them to fix when the power connecter solder point broke on the mobo....I could've fixed it in 25min, and I would've had I known how long it would've taken, but warrantys are not always a great thing.