First DAW Build: Please Advise

[cporro]

after a long deliberation of my options, i am building my first DAW
(and first pc). The following list is a slight modification from a
list off my DAW forum (thx diminished!). I have also looked at some
DAW building sites and a general surfing of the interwebs.

what i run:
daw: samplitude 11 pro
dsp card: uad-1 (pci)
audio interface: rme fireface 800 (firewire)
vsti: kontakt 4, bfd 2

Current plan is to run 4 drives: OS, DAW, samples, backup, also have a mirror of OS/apps to swap in.

here is my list with brief explanation. Please feel free to comment,
offer options, raise red flags, etc. much thx.

*****************************************
CPU:
i7 950 ($295)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115211
a cheap intel processor that i could overclock for higher performance.

Mother Board:
GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R ($210)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128423
has what i need (pci, firewire), not what i don't. cheap.

Case:
COOLER MASTER Centurion 590 ($60)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119152
space for many accessible drives, cheap, vents near cpu, top vents. concerns: PSU mounts on bottom.

RAM:
CORSAIR XMS3 6GB ($150)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145286
high speed, low latencies, seems a good buy.

Hard drives:
either velociraptors or barracudas.
not sure if a SSD makes sense for my samples or OS. I have 2 caviar blacks that will probably get reused on this build.

Video Card:
SAPPHIRE 100292DDR3L Radeon HD 5450 1GB ($60)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102882
just trying to find a reliable card. i have 2 screens for total 2560x1024 resolution. want both signals digital. heat-sink for less noise.

Optical drive:
ASUS Black SATA 24X Burner ()
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135221
supposed to be quiet and efficient. has lightscribe, could be cool.

 

[batuchka]

DAWs are strictly CPU bound and have u considered Linux?
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-ripping-and-encoding-audio-files/

 

[cporro]

DAWs are strictly CPU bound and have u considered Linux?

from what i understand very few pro audio apps run on linux. probably my hardware does not have linux drivers...i've never seen them. so chaning to linux would most likely mean giving up my current software and hardware...and using less evolved stuff.

even if i could get linus to work i think i would miss out on support for my hardware and software.

i'm no fan of windows. i even tried an nlite version of xp to cut down on bloat. but when i looked into linux, maybe 2 years ago, it was very clear it has a long long way to go for pro audio.

thx