PC for Art Production/Home Theater

[AMB3RTHC]

Hey all,

Need a computer for music, imaging, and video. I plan on upgrading every 6 mo-year (i7, 8-12gb ram, 2 tb sata hdds (have a TB external already), second video card), so take into consideration parts that will provide the opportunity to do so. Also all suggestions for better bang-for-buck combination are welcomed. I'd like to limit myself at $700 before monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

I plan to use it for the following:
- net
- playing lots of mp3/flac/ogg
- id tagging
- guitar recording through a PODX3 live via USB 2
- fruity loops xxl
- protools through a m-audio interface
- minimal photoshop cs4
- minimal hd videos like planet earth, the matrix, etc

I have the following parts picked out.:
-Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5- $47.99
-G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory- $114.99
-Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I5750- $199.99
- Subtotal: $362.97

I need suggestions for:
-motherboard (FireWire would be a plus)
-video card
-power supply

I wanna try and place my order on NewEgg next Tuesday, so I thank you all in advance for your input.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

Here's a nice CPU + motherboard + RAM combo deal you might want to check out:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.280597 (i5 750 + Gigabyte GA-P55-UD4P + OCZ Obsidian 4GB DDR3 1600 combo) $411.97 - $20 MIR

You do not want to get that old WD3200AAJS drive. Pick up a much faster drive that uses a single 500GB platter for just a couple bucks more.

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $54.99

If you won't be doing any gaming at all with the system then you don't need much graphics muscle. What OS will you be using? If you are considering any gaming, here's a nice combo for a GPU + OS.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.282024 (Sapphire 5770 + 64-bit Windows 7 combo) $251.98

Here's a nice PSU for a low price:

OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail $64.99 - $25 MIR

If you aren't going to be doing any gaming with the system, this GPU would be plenty.

SAPPHIRE 100296HDMI Radeon HD 4670 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail $69.99

 

[gkay09]

^+1 Very good suggestions...