Just to recap ..... I am a 'Bedroom' musician that only uses a DAW to write and record my own songs. 
 
My input/output requirements are very modest as I'm only ever recording myself playing bass or acoustic guitar and the occasional vocal. My only other I/O requirement is midi In/Out ports although I could manage without as I've been loaned a midiman 4x4 which I probably wont need to give back
 
Up until now I've only ever used internal sound cards (Sound blaster & M-audio) but when it has come to specing a new machine I've noticed that companies like M-audio (now Avid) have moved away from internal cards to external USB audio/midi interfaces.
 
So the question is do I use an internal sound card or an external USB audio interface when I want to record? or is it horse for courses and doesnt really matter
 
Which piece of kit would you suggest

Generally speaking, keeping the converters out of the PC results in a lower noise-floor.
Most importantly, go with an audio interface that's a proven rock-solid unit.
RME and MOTU both make rock-solid units with low round-trip latency.
Have a look at the MOTU Ultralite AVB.  Extremely flexible... low round-trip latency... noise-floor ~-112dB

A USB audio/midi interface will suit your needs well with very low latency to boot. The main thing is that whichever box you choose, make sure the maker has excellent driver support (this will avoid many headaches down the line).
 
I too am a hobbyist and can highly recommend the Focusrite Scarlett 2i4. I've had this for about 2 years and it has worked flawlessly. I just upgraded to Win 10 and the drivers for this just seamlessly worked without any effort on my part.
There's a pretty good selection of audio interface's out there, but this one's a good one (in my book) which also satisfies all your needs. :))
 
http://us.focusrite.com/usb-audio-interfaces/scarlett-2i4 

Thanks again for you help guys
 

May seem like a newbie question I take it the interface is only used for recording and the playback is through the on soundcard to speakers or am I missing something here ??
 

IfItMovesFunkIt
May seem like a newbie question I take it the interface is only used for recording and the playback is through the on soundcard to speakers or am I missing something here ??
 

No, you connect your speakers to the interface. It will replace your soundcard.
 
Just upgraded myself from an 8 yr old M-Audio sound card to the Focusrite Scarlett 2i4  as Mesh above - excellent piece of kit, fully compatible with W10 and a breeze to set up. Will take guitar, mic (48v included), MIDI keyboard - everything I need at the moment.

Just like this!!



 

You can daisy chain MIDI. and use channel 1 tot 16 to set to different units. Be it a controller, keyboard or drumpads.
In a more busy setup you can connect three remote controllers, three keyboards and a drumkit using one midi 1/0 on your interface.

I'm New at recording software as in like 2 weeks total time haha But, I just use a USB input.  My gear is below. Currently all I record is my guitar.  Here is a Little sample using just a Shure sm57-X2U (X2U is a shure xlr to usb adaptor) works for me! A Very Simple set-up...
 
https://soundcloud.com/reno35/reno-xx
 
The sound starting at 1:12 is just my dumbass picing with my pic wrong, wrong angle as in kinda scrapped the string instead of a good beating of the string.  it's a .56 gauge string.

As it happens the vocalist in a band is using one of the interfaces (Focusrite 2i4) thats been mentioned but has said that he has had issues where his system loses the card and he has to reboot before he can proceed.... now hew may just have a messued up system but has anyone had similar issues ??