so, what am i looking for in this thing?

i need:
- some firewire of some sort. that's obscure, today. especially in a non-mac. i happen to have a pci card. i could buy a pcie card. but, i'd rather it be native.
- i don't care about the video out. i don't game. it's a recording pc. i'd like a cheap monitor, too. so, i'd like an integrated vga out, please. otherwise, i'm either looking for a dvi monitor or a dvi-->vga, or sadly an hdmi---> vga, out. i'm not paying for an hdmi monitor to mix on.
- ps/2 mouse & keyboard would, in fact, be preferable, but this is minor. well, maybe one of those fail safe combos would be acceptable.
- i want four ram slots, because i'm only going to start with two. 16, 32, 64, whatever. i'll get there eventually. or, i may split my oczs in half to get desktop 3 up to 6/8.
- i'm actually not at all concerned about the processor. they're all really fast, nowadays.
- no wireless.
- 6+ sata connections.

also, these idea about swapping cases won't actually work. the new board won't have a floppy connector, or example, and the new case won't have space for a floppy drive. hey, i've been in scenarios where i've actually had to use it. if i'm buying a board with 6 sata connectors, it should ship in a large enough space to plug them in, right?

the only things i can't get around are the number of sata connectors and the number of dimms; and, i don't want a wireless card. i'll have to check each model for the ideal, then circle back. right now, i'm nodding off....