haha, you sound like me from about 10 years ago. I was all about PC's since I was and still am a gamer. Then I went to audio school, learned pro tools on a mac, then got one myself and realized what a fool i had been for most of my life saying macs suck just because they're more expensive. when in reality i was hating on them because they are "trendy". the fact of the matter is they will last you much longer than any other store-bought computer and will retain their value for wayyyyy longer than ANY pc, and are well worth the extra money when you factor that in. not to mention that it is a much more stable platform based on unix, you'll find that having a reliable computer is far more important when doing live recording than a cost-effective computer. with that said, if you know how to build a PC from the ground up, then why even post this thread? that is the obvious way to go. put in as much power as you can afford...bada bing bada boom, end of thread, lol.