I've been wanting to buy a new computer for a while now, but I put my dreams on hold due to financial constraints. Now that I hear that I'm getting some grants, bursaries, and royalties for various things, I can finally afford to think about it again!

The fellows over at the Computer Construction crew have helped me out in designing the perfect computer for my needs. I originally wanted to keep it below $1000 Canadian, but decided to double my budget when I saw the prices. This will be mainly used for music production and I put about a 60/40 synthesis/sample ratio when I compose, which puts a lot of pressure on my processor and RAM. My specifications are:

Fast CPU
Plenty of RAM
Moderate disk space

After spending a few days on the internet, I've come up with a build. This will probably change in the future as I add/remove various parts to fine-tune it. Here's my reasoning behind my choices:

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CPU - Got the E8500 dual core 3.16 GHz chip from Intel! I'm planning on overclocking it to 4 GHz or so, maybe more. I'm going dual core because most programs can't even handle two cores, never mind four of them. I'm getting the most efficiency per dollar with this chip. Of course, it would burn to a crisp without proper cooling, which is why I'm also getting...

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Heatsink - The Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer is the highest ranked heatsink in terms of cooling power on frostytech.com, beating out every other one they reviewed. It'll keep my CPU nice and cool under extreme stress, and it comes with a little fan controller too :3. It'll be attached to...

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Motherboard - The ASUS P5Q Deluxe looked like a cool board, so I searched for reviews and it turns out that it IS a cool board. It has lower heat, which is always a bonus, plus it has built-in Wireless N, a RAID controller, and something called Express Gate, which is a version of Linux that you can boot up quickly if you just need to use the internet or something. Plus it has a plethora of overclocking options.

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Power Supply - I chose the Antec Signature 650W PSU because Newegg had a deal where you get 50 bucks back if you buy it with the Antec 900 case, but a quick google showed that this PSU is the best one ever.

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Video Card - Radeon HD 4850. A guy in the Computer Construction crew recommended it to me, so I did some research and found that it's a pretty powerful board for the price. All that I really need are two DVI ports. :)

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OS - You may be wondering why there's no OS there. Well, I'm gonna buy it from eBay - there's all sorts of new XP Pro discs out there that sell for $200 less than what Newegg's offering, because they're meant for the large PC building companies themselves. I'll be missing out on the fancy packaging. Oh noes.

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RAM - I'm buying 8 gigs, but I'll only install 4 gigs. I could go up to 8 gigs (I want to), but only 64-bit OSs can utilize that much memory. I'm thinking of getting Vista Home Premium 64 as a dual-boot option. Why dual-boot and not just get Vista, you ask? Because I'm going to be using specialized sound cards and software that work a lot better on XP than Vista. I don't want to take any chances here.

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Hard Drives - Three WD 640 GB drives and an 80 GB drive. I was originally planning on four 640 GB hard drives in a RAID 1+0 array for speed and security, but apparently the real-world situations only give about 10%-15% faster rates. It's not worth the stability risk. I might put two of them in a RAID 0 array, though. Anyway, I'll use those big ones for my samples and raw renders. That lone 80 gig drive is gonna be my system drive.

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External Media drives - Two CD/DVD burners for multiple burnings and a universal card reader. Nothing to write home about.

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Case - Sigma Windstorm. I was suggested to use the Antec 500 for my case, and from what I've heard it's fantastic, but the Windstorm looks just as cooled (5 120mm fans: 1 in front, 1 on the back, 1 on the side, 2 on top, with a port for one on the bottom), it's less expensive, it has more expansion options, AND it has tool-less cages!
The model I chose doesn't come with a side window. Instead, it's plain ol' metal, but it has acoustic foam already installed on the inside. I'll still be buying fan filters separately. To reduce noise, I'm planning on buying soft fan mounts, rubber HD screws, and acoustic foam.

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Monitors - It's not listed there, but I'm gonna be getting two, yes two, 24" Samsung 2493HM monitors. 4,608,000 pixels at my command. I'm getting them for their size, contrast ratio, and because they can swivel 90 degrees vertically into portrait mode! Browsing the web and viewing other long things (lol) will be a LOT easier.

All in all, a very capable PC. She will be mine. Oh yes. She will be.

P.S - It'll be less expensive than a Mac. IN UR FAIC