So after the entire day of looking around and forum reading, thanks to all who participated! I think I am ready to put this theoretical system to the Tom's Hardware Forums test. I want to get 3 hard drives and set them up into RAID 5. Here are the specs, what do you all think?

• CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor LGA775 Kentsfield 2.40GHZ 1066FSB 8MB Retail Box
• Mobo: Gigabyte EP35-DS3P ATX LGA775 P35 1600OC FSB DDR2 1200OC 2PCI-E16 SATA RAID Sound GLAN Motherboard
• RAM [4GB]: Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL4-4-4-12 240PIN Dual Channel Memory Kit
• HD [x3]: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD753LJ 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
• Video: Galaxy GeForce 8800GT 600MHZ 512MB 1.8GHZ DDR3 PCI-E DVI-I HDCP HDTV Out
• Audio: M-AUDIO Audiophile 2496 PCI Digital Audio Card 24BIT/96KHZ SPDIF Midi Retail BOX(US41500)
• Case: Antec P190 Advanced Super Mid Tower Black E-ATX 4X5.25 1X3.5 6X3.5INT 1200W Dual PSU

Updated HD, because of too many negatives on newegg:
From: Samsung Spinpoint F1 Series HD103UJ 1TB SATA2 7200RPM 8.9MS 32MB 3.5IN
To: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD753LJ 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Go for 4GB of ram.

Looks good.

Couple things:
1) Go for the new G92 GTS. For a little extra you get higher clocks and a dual slot cooler = cooler and quieter

2) Unless you are a complete audiophile, skip on the audio card. Onboard audio is pretty good and will be fine unless you are really picky.

3) Save some money on that case. 1200watts is a lot of unnecessary power. Get a case like the Antec 900 or P182 and a good power supply (Corsair or PC Power and Cooling (I believe OCZ took them over so just look for the 610 or 750 silencer))

evrything Silverion77 said

i like this psu its a good price after rebate and is rated well, also i used it and seems to work fine
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817341002

vagetaqtd: I was going to, forgot to mention that. I added that in just now.

Silverion77:
1) ok, will look for it

2) I am, i mentioned in another thread, that I do music production on the computer and web design.

3) the reason I'm getting this case, is because it's really quiet and it's 5 feet away from my bed and i never turn off the pc. also i am getting 3 HD in a raid, plus all this other video and such, I was thinking I need all that power, but even without having all the power, the quiteness of the case is what gets me.

The P182 is a super quiet case. (At least thats what i hear). I have the 900 which is loud but cool...but others swear by the P182.
There is no way you would need all that power unless you were running 2 graphics cards and a butt load of fans, drives, the works

The thing is P190 and P182+PSU is only $80 difference, so I might as well go for that option. p190 is the upgraded 182 basically.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814125079

Don't say what OS but if Vista would get 4 GB.

If noise if one of your primary concern in building a new PC, I highly recommend something other than 8800GT. Their fans are incredibly loud. Of course, if you can find one of those with non-reference cooler like these ones.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814121224
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814125089

If you do not run games (which you openly stated so), I really think 8800GT is an overkill.

Antec Sonata III 500 Black ATX Mid Tower Case w/500W Power Supply

Samsung SH-S203B SATA

(Get the "Retail" version of the optical drive in order to get software with it. This will include the decoder you'll need to watch movies on it.)

yomamafor1: what video do you suggest then? my primary goals are dual monitors and good quality graphics. Yeah, i don't play games at all, so 3d support and all that stuff is useless to me. But I do manipulate large image files and zoom-in/zoom-out a lot on graphics files. Also watch some DVDs here and there. Would like to be able to watch HD stuff as well. And quiteness is a concerns as well.

TBH, if you're not into gaming, purchasing a high performance video card is really overkill. In your case, you can try HD3450, which supports HDMI output (which is crucial for HDTV), as well as hardware decoder (for HD content). The best thing about it, is its fanless, which does not emit any noise.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814131083 <- something like this

Since most of the workload you detailed will be taxed heavily on CPU, you don't need to spend the big bucks on video cards.

Is 256MB enough for dual monitors (1680x1050)?

Plus the one you showed only has one DVI output. I need 2.

My bad. Somehow HD3450 does not support dual DVI, but HD3650 does.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814161221

Its slightly more expensive though

And it now comes with a fan too )) How would you rate the fan on that one though? Do you think it'd be quieter than the one I picked?