1. Get an AMD Phenom.
2. Kidding, that's good enough. More cores will really help in a DAW so please don't worry about frequency. If there's room, get the lowest-clocked Q with an original Intel or Gigabyte budget mobo, don't bother with overclocking any part of your DAW hardware.
3. 4 is good even if you're not going 64-bit. Corsair/Patriot/Kingston are all good too, pick the lowest priced one at the time of purchase. Don't worry about Vista, check your budget at the end and then you can decide. Don't put the OS as a top priority and/or before the hardware. I'm not quite sure about the stability or availability of 64-bit audio software, so maybe someone can clarify. I would encourage the shift, because 64-bit is beneficial if 100% of your software is also 64-bit and there is no hybrid mode.
4. 3 x 320 GB Seagate. If you really want 500GB, nothing beats WD Cavier so skip the Samsung and Seagate.
5. Absolutely. You can afford to be stingy here. Even a lowly 6600GT/X800GT can help you in times of stress to play Battlefield 2142 or something like that.
6. You need real good real estate. So that's fair. I would recommend the BenQ FP222W, it's a 22. 24 would be ideal too, but that would stretch your budget quite a bit.
7. Centurion. Centurion. Centurion. You'll never go wrong. CoolerMaster btw.
8. 430W for this setup is like a ricer's bid for value. So, get atleast 450. You'll thank me for it. Oh yes, and stick to either CoolerMaster RealPower/Extreme, SliverStone or Antec. The Extreme 460W is a good one, SilverStone Element 500W better.
9. Ahh yes. The trusted UPS. Data retrieval is almost perfect these days but for a workstation a UPS is a good idea, although in Singapore I have yet to see even servers using them.
10. Have a good browsing session at Synamex. I don't know if they have any bundle offers but I recall M-Audio sometimes has their semi-pro cards and monitors on offer. Also, Cheez knows his stuff so you'd want to go with Echo.
Remember, you're getting a DAW. What matters is the audio hardware and software. If you didn't have that in your equation, I suggest you ammend your budget and specs to accomodate. I also want to highlight again, don't think about overclocking. Yes, there's a conspiracy. The chip manufacturers purposely clock lower so we blind consumers will feel we have the best deal, but even then don't think about it. With the ease of overclocking these days you can do it no matter what combo of proc and mobo you select.
Finally, don't place your hopes on modern computers. They don't last as long as old ones used to. My overclocked P3 800@910 machine lasted 8 years. That's way too long a life for a multi-core machine now due to manufacturing conspiracies :lol:
edit: this was in reference to an earlier post