It has been suggested that I post my situation here. I was going to get a pre-built HP. I have never built a computer before and lack a lot of tech knowledge. As far as mechanically putting one together that is not a problem. My problem is I do not know what to get as far as components go. Seems the more I read the more confused I get.

This computer will be used for heavy multi-tasking. I do a lot of graphics (not professionally). This includes fractal renderings, 3-D modeling, and animations. Some video. Im not really into gaming but with a good computer I might try one or two.

This is what I know I want (I think)

OS - Vista ultimate 64 Bit (I believe OEM for system builders)
CPU- Intel Q6600 Quad Core 2.4G (or higher depending on quality vs price) This probably would get overclocked sometime later on using air so cooling would have to be considered.
Case - Big enough for 3- HDD's, 2- Optical drives and whatever else. (looks are not that important)
HDD's - 3 - 500GB Sata 7200 rpm (No raid setup)
Graphics card - A high quality card with enough memory. Nvidia 512 8800GT?
Optical drives - 1 DVD/R/RW with Light Scribe (No Blu-Ray) 1 - DVD/CD Rom player
Monitor - A good (above average) quality 22" LCD
Ram - At least 4GB 800MHz Probably will wind up with 8GB
Audio card - Something medium (music is not that critical) Paired with about 30watt 2-1 speakers / subwoofer.
Front panel, would like to have access to headphones, mike, and card readers.

I have a budget of about $2500 that I am willing to spend.

If the people here are willing to put up with me I would like to try building a system. What do Ya'll think?

Get:
Q6600
P35-DS3R, P5K-x, DQ6, or ASUS Striker
8800GT 512MB or 8800GTX
Any good DVD burner that is SATA
Seagate or WD 500GB or 1TB and a 150GB Raptor for OS, games, programs.
As for RAM get (if you plan 4GB):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227195
A Creative Sounblaster or onboard sound.
A good case like an Antec 900.
Vista x64 or XP x64.
A good CPU cooler like the Zerotherm Nirvana or ZALMAN CNPS9500, or some thing smiler if you plan to OC.

I disagree with Shadow, stick with 3x500gb drives for your purposes (much better reading/writing files to seperate drives. Place Vista on 1, game on the first partition of 2 / second partition for graphics work, 3 for writing finished graphics file to it and for storage).

Also, with a $2,500 budget you better be getting a 24"+ 1920x1200 monitor.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] rchInDesc=

Go with 2 x burners since the price difference is small.

Go with a board with plenty of SATA connections:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128050
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813127030

Everyone seems to love this case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129025
which is on for $70 after rebate at ZipZoomFly:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Prod [...] 325&ps=hw2

If slightly cheezy (but with great cooling) is more your style:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129021

Want high quality aluminum? :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811112025
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811112099
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811112022

Best PSU for the money $80 w/google checkout:
http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-52 [...] 70716.html

Everybody is listing you 8800 Gt, and gt is a gaming card not powerful enough for 3d rendering. You need a much powerful video card specialize for 3d rendering, and will get things done way much faster than a gaming card. CRT are best for this kind of task, better picture quality,is up to you.This is what I will get, from 3d animator perspective.

Corsair VX 550W Power Supply$89.84
eVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 Motherboard $254.95
Intel Q9450 Dual Core Processor $320
ATI FireGL V7350 Video Card $1,034.95
WD Caviar SE16 500GB Hard Drive$101.00
OCZ Vista Upgrade 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)$103.49 (newegg)
Pioneer DVR-112D Dual Layer DVD±RW Writer $35.00
Cooler Master CAC-T05UW Centurion 5 Black/Silver Midsize $49.99
Acer P243WAid Black-Silver 24" 2ms $439.22 (newegg)
Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Home Premium for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM $120

tax/shipping $2494.53

most come from www.pricegrabber.com

Took me a bit to sift through all the info. Heres what I will be going with so far. Still have to decide on a monitor.
And thanks for all the suggestions.

CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor - Retail

Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Memory - (2) OCZ Vista Upgrade 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2-800 CL 5-6-6-18 Dual Channel Kit Retail OCZ2VU8004GK

Case - LIAN LI PC-60USB B2 Silver Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

PSU - CORSAIR HX CMPSU-520HX 520W Active PFC NVIDIA SLI Certified Modular ATX Power Supply Retail

Video Card - EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI supported Video Card - Retail

Hdd's - (3) Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST3500320NS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

DVD Burners - (2) SAMSUNG Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - OEM