So yeah, I want to get a desktop.
But the thing is: i have like no idea what to look for. What I want to do with it is here:

• Linux
• at least two monitors
• programming
• finally be able to watch full hd videos without the acting up like i have atm on my lappy
• I guess USB 3.0 would be cool
• Run emulations without a problem or much lag (like virtualbox or a virtual androis device or something from that area (I hope it'll be able to run Wabbitemu ))
• A second monitor (already have one)
• Keyboard
• I guess a blu-ray drive would be cool but dvd is just fine (as long as i can burn dvds)
• SSD to boot quicker + start applications quicker
• At least 1TB hdd (or are SSDs so big and long-living by now that i could go full on ssd?)

Yep, no windows needed

So, I wouldn't get anything before christmas now as i'm putting some money for this on my wishlist.

Any ideas/what I whould look for/should i buil on my own?

Thanks for any help

AMD processors these days are cheap because they're not very good. They might be good in terms of perf/cost, but that only matters if you're going to buy a whole server farm full of them. You're only going to have 1 CPU, so you can't compensate for it being shit by just adding more CPUs.
If you buy a top of the line AMD CPU, it'll be about as good as an i5. Meanwhile, it will use about twice as much power (so your cooling system had better be prepared for that). You can OC it easily to match an i7, and then it will of course use even more power.
Get an i5, or if you need more speed, an i7.

Ok, on to other stuff.
USB 3: just about every mobo supports it now.
More monitors: get a good enough GPU, and look at the specs specific to that exact supplier(!!) and model. That is, a model from Sapphire doesn't necessarily have the same number of connectors as one from Club3D, ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, you name it. That's one of the things they differentiate their prices on (other things being RAM and cooling and free games, etc)
Storage: 1TB worth of SSDs (or a single one that big) is possible, but expensive. I'd get a nice but not very big one and put the OS and programs on it, dump big data on a slow hdd. Personally I only have a 256GB SSD and no conventional HDD, I don't store that much crap anyway.
Other: don't forget to get a powerful enough PSU (modular, to avoid a mess of wires), look at cooling a bit (stock coolers are kind of meh, fans that come with cases are usually meh), when selecting a case, make sure it's deep enough for your GPU (high end GPUs are bloody long).

Soru's an Arch user, already, iirc.

I think you should build your own. That said, get Window$ 7 and dual boot in addition to running Arch (not 8, b/c dual booting's a pain with Window$ . I say this because you will need some non-wineable programs for school, most likely. Also: if you take a CS class, and it's not Java or Python, you probably don't want to have to build a cross compiler just for a class. It's still your decision, but I personally wouldn't go full-linux until you're at least out of HS.
As for hardware:

Linux: Use Mint, Arch, Debian, or Ubuntu. I like mint best, personally.

Two monitors: I dunno. Make sure they work, and take the input type you want. Also make sure that you can daisy-chain the monitors (that is, plug one monitor into the other's output (output on one monitor is necessary for two monitors on one graphics card)).

Video: Depends on what you plan on doing.
If your heaviest usage will be video games @ medium graphics: Integrated graphics is fine.
If you plan on gaming constantly with high graphics settings (or do other GPU-intensive stuff): get a card for a gaming rig.

CPU: Depends on what you plan on doing. Just make sure it's 64 bit.
If your heaviest usage will be video games @ medium graphics: i5, Pentium Dual (which I have, and it's actually a really good deal), or AMD equivalents.
If you plan on gaming constantly with high graphics settings (or do other CPU-intensive stuff): i7 or AMD equivalent

DVD/CD Drive - any, so long as it reads and writes CDs and DVDs. leafy's right about the blu-ray drives.

USB 3: see leafy's post

SSD: no, No, and NO. Here's why: SSDs are flash memory, which has a limited number of Read/Writes. After a few years (depends on usage), the drive will either a: slow down immensely or b: stop working. This can happen to anything with flash memory eventually, such as flash drives and calculators.

Instead of SSD:
If you are willing to spend the money on multiple drives, all the same model: Get a bunch of drives and RAID them (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID). This makes Read/Writes super fast, depending on which level of RAID you do and how many drives you have (each level has different speeds and different levels of stability).

If you don't want to do that: Just get a typical Hard drive

How good "good enough" is depends on what you're doing with it, of course.
To play Skyrim dual-monitor, you're going to need a pretty nice GPU (or enjoy looking at pixels).
To browse the internet, watch movies, and get rick rolled .. well that crap GPU in an i5 is plenty for that. Just make sure you can actually connect two monitors to the mobo then.
How much RAM: well at least 4GB, but again it depends on what you're doing with it. VMs take a lot of RAM, and RAM doesn't cost anything really, so you might as well go for 8 to 16GB (more would be slightly silly, but most mobo's can take up to 32GB, if you're feeling silly)
Good cooling system.. well for an i5 that you don't OC, you don't need much. Stock cooler will work of course, but you can go for something quieter if you want.

what is a stock cooler?

The cooler that comes with the CPU if you buy the boxed version (which you would buy).

Nice to see so many gracious contributions. Omnimaga is definitely a nice place.
Shall i add something too? Here it goes. Before making any more suggestions, it would be nice if you could tell us:
1. How much cash (€€) are you willing to pay for it?
2. What's exactly the main purpose of the desktop? Gaming, programming(?), server, internet browsing, etc ?
I guess (yeah, i like guessing ) you should bet on a gaming engine. Sooner rather than later you'll regret it having decided otherwise, imho. I'd say that around 800€ you already can find a top notch gaming machine (no monitors included), if you are able to assemble the various parts (not a big deal for a smart guy like you). Then, do not be lazy and do surf a bit, eg: http://bucsaemanuel.hubpages.com/hub/Best-Gaming-PC-Computers
Happy Christmas,

SSD: no, No, and NO. Here's why: SSDs are flash memory, which has a limited number of Read/Writes. After a few years (depends on usage), the drive will either a: slow down immensely or b: stop working. This can happen to anything with flash memory eventually, such as flash drives and calculators.

Just a quick note, this is not actually true any more. Early SSDs were prone to failure, but the tech has improved vastly since then. The average hard drive has a life of around 10-15 years; SSDs can now survive over 100 yrs. In addition, hard drives are prone to mechanical failure if you bump your case around a lot; my SSD's been dangling in my case (haha cable management) and has absolutely no problems. Since most OSes have support for TRIM nowadays, there's really no reason for write/read speeds to deteriorate over time as well.

Another note about RAID: I'd highly suggest not doing it, especially if it's your first time; for RAID0 (which pimathbraniac talks about), if any of the drives fail all your data is lost. Other RAID arrays provide redundancy, but decrease performance.

Quote from: harold on November 19, 2013, 12:18:37 pm

How good "good enough" is depends on what you're doing with it, of course.
To play Skyrim dual-monitor, you're going to need a pretty nice GPU (or enjoy looking at pixels)

Skyrim also was not written to support multi-monitor and I've found multi-monitor hacks very unstable(especially when using mods)

How the heck can a game (other than online multiplayer games where more monitors gives an unfair advantage to the player, such as in Starcraft II) lack multiple screen support in 2013? Did the programmers take an arrow in the knee while implementing it?

Quote from: pimathbrainiac on November 19, 2013, 12:08:52 pm

SSD: no, No, and NO. Here's why: SSDs are flash memory, which has a limited number of Read/Writes. After a few years (depends on usage), the drive will either a: slow down immensely or b: stop working. This can happen to anything with flash memory eventually, such as flash drives and calculators.

Just a quick note, this is not actually true any more. Early SSDs were prone to failure, but the tech has improved vastly since then. The average hard drive has a life of around 10-15 years; SSDs can now survive over 100 yrs. In addition, hard drives are prone to mechanical failure if you bump your case around a lot; my SSD's been dangling in my case (haha cable management) and has absolutely no problems. Since most OSes have support for TRIM nowadays, there's really no reason for write/read speeds to deteriorate over time as well.

Another note about RAID: I'd highly suggest not doing it, especially if it's your first time; for RAID0 (which pimathbraniac talks about), if any of the drives fail all your data is lost. Other RAID arrays provide redundancy, but decrease performance.

Isn't SSD lifetime reduced only during defragmenting anyway? For TI calculators, the Flash chip was apparently weared out only by garbage collecting and defragmenting, not by archiving/unarchiving/flash unlock, from what I remember.