Originally Posted by BitAudioVideo

no reason to wait for the quad core, applications wont support it for some time.

dual core and core duo chips are nice and fast. i do all my editing on dual core 3.2's and 3.4's and i happen to think 2gb of ram is more than enough tho ive seen people suggest as much as 4gb - ive tried it and cant see any gain.. and i do a shitload of editing.

2x1gb dual channel ddr2 - corsair xms or kingston hyperx

i like the 10k rpm raptor hdd's

Average Latency: 2.99ms
Average Seek Time: 4.6ms
Average Write Time: 5.2ms

cheap motherboard can tank the entire thing.. i really like asus boards but its a matter of opinion.. get an intel chipset for sure. i have my 3.4's clocked to 3.8 and they run stable so a motherboard that overclocks easily might be a consideration.

aluminum case with a lot of fans, lian li is nice, superflower makes a nice one, i have 8 of theirs but having a hard time locating more atm.

500+w power suppy if your gonna have a bunch of drives - get a modular one so you dont have to keep cables in there if you dont need them