I may be wrong, and goodness knows I'm no computer geek, but IMHO any decent system you put together will do the job. I see debates over this MB vs that, or whether you want this brand of hard drive or the other, but with the current state of hardware/software you're going to get pretty good results unless you intentionally choke the machine down (or, maybe, work to an unrealistically low budget). My opinion, after having put had 2 shops in different cities put together 2 custom recording computers, is that you need something that will upgrade. I've been into computer recording for 4 years, and having started with what I was told was a state-of-the-art machine, the one constant has been continual replacement of parts and components and software and interfaces. Maybe someday this will end and we'll have a situation like with car parts, where the designers basically select from these spark plugs and those brake pads and it becomes a seriously mature technology. But until then, I'm keeping my screwdrivers and my wrist strap where I can reach them easily.
