Classic 2D Animation PC

Does your budget also include purchasing the software to run on the system? If so, you are going to have to factor that into you plans. Also, what you are describing is actually a fairly basic PC (modern 4-core should do the trick), with plenty of memory (8GB or more) and storage space, with a CUDA supported GPU (since Adobe can off-load rendering to the GPU). Is this in-line with what you are looking for?

Please clarify.

I already have the software, (CS5) but my pc from several years ago may have had a faulty motherboard that is only showing its colors now that it is running the programs and Windows 7 64. So I am faced upgrading...but I had not looked at specs for a good while since upto now it was more than good enough. There is a chance I will be stuck with soem 3D in the future, but right now I am looking at something that would be on equal footing with a Mac pro, because the people in the undustry run those with no issues...unlike me losiong 48 hours of work when flash decides to delete all back-ups and freeze. The problem with Macs are the price and I have all windows software. I know industry standard will cause issues working cross platform at times, but for now I am fine with just a PC. I was looking at the 4 cores, but it was hard to decide which ones, same with ram because I know how picky they can be with timing for certain motherboards and such to make a sturdy system. I did not want to go overkill, but when I asked some people in the feild none can help on the pc side as to what is good enough. I think I read the gig motherboards are good for this, and not sure if I want o go the raid route again (although now it is miles easier than the first two times I used raid), hit up SSD, adn such. DId that help describe what I was asking better?

You might want to look at this link:

http://www.mattbrandenburg.com/2010/08/12/build-your-ow...

Nice article, I will look into this too, the only thing that worried me was most way down through the replies there is one person asking about sleep mode issues, then he replies to someone about the update causing issues with certain things that had to be worked around, I want to make a Honda not a Porsche so to speek. Buit for that price I could slowly make a second system as an affordable Mac, or if I read it right I could go with his highend option for the Mac as a PC for now and that should be as good as a Mac Pro unless Windows 7 64 runs slower than the Mac OS X, and is more prone to crashing (like how neither Vista or Mindows 7 have allowed me to zip files).

for a solid computer that is good at rendering, with CUDA for Adobe use, I'd suggest something like this:

AMD Phenom II X6 1075t ($200) - 6 cores, 3.0 GHz

AS Rock 770 Extreme 3 ($75) - has USB 3 and SATA 3.

Zotac GTX 460 1 GB ($180) - solid performer with CUDA. SLI is not possible, but not necessary either

Mushkin Callisto 90 GB SSD ($180) -- less expensive Sandforce SSD. Use for applications and operating system.

Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB: ($70)
OR Samsung Spinpoint F4 2TB ($100): Main storage drives

G.Skill or Mushkin, 8 GB DDR3-1333 ($90) (either 2x4gb or 2 sets of 2x2 GB kits),

Rosewill Destroyer Case: ($40)

Seasonic 520W PSU ($70): 80+ Bronze for power efficiency. Solid performer. All you need.

Windows 7 Home: ($85) -- holiday special price.

Cheap DVD Burner: ($17)

total is about $1000 ($1007 for 1 TB, $1037 for 2 TB)

I like the list there, the only thing that worries me is the AS Rock, of course I have had issues with both MSI and ASUS boards (I have asus and the board had a massive audio issue). That is the reason I was thinking Gig, just because I have not been burned by them yet.   That is a good price for sure though, but do you think if I could go a bit higher I could hit up a mb that may be a bit more refined, oh I better go look at sound cards that have support with Windows 7 too, I think mine is on the edge of no more updates.

here's a Gigabyte version with USB 3.0 but still only SATA 2, probly the best use (as nothing here uses SATA 3 anyway) It's $79.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

as for sound cards, I'm not up on them as most non-professional use is more than satisfied with the built-in cards on most Motherboards. You're an exception as you're actually building audio, though.

I like that board too, is Sata 6 worth the time, I could always go with the GIGABYTE GA-890FXA-UD5 AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
which seems like a step up of that board, and have the option for Sata 6...just hate how flash projects hang every time I save them...and I just know every so often it may crash...which makes saving a double edged sword. I figure the more powerfful the less likely to hang, but then again sometimes they seem less reliable. Sorry if that is not making sense, thanks for all your guys help so far.  

SATA 6 is sorta pointless right now. No mechanical drive saturates even a SATA 2 connection, and neither do most solid state drives (the one I suggested certainly doesn't!). Only a couple VERY expensive SSDs need to be SATA 3 instead of SATA 2.

3rd Generation SSDs due out in mid 2011 will probly use and saturate SATA 3, but nothing much before then really needs it.

Lol, thank you just getting a bit paranoid on making a new PC after all the Flash issues I am having right now...I have a nice pc as it is, just seem to make projects that are waaaay to detailed in flash, and I have gotten the "run out of memory" error a few times on my last exports. Then as a last question would you stick with the Gig MB or the Rock? I have a few hundred more I can budge in the price since I already have the software. I do like that is is sli.

neither AMD motherboard is SLI.