hey all,

Well, I've come to a wall. I haven't been into PC-tech since 4 years ago when I bought my MBP, and its been able to handle some occasional Imacon 200mb-300mb files when I have them. Now that I have a drum scanner, this thing spits out 500mb files(and much larger) like nobody's business! Soooooo.... I'm looking to build a new machine.

Starting files will range from 500mb-2.5GB 16bit file size(starting, no layers). So I need a beefy machine with a good amount of "oomph" to move these files with speed and ease. Opening files, rendering/rotating, etc.. I need some speed. Budget is $1500 MAX. These are drum scans, so not your average Epson scan, big files. I'm thinking a nice fast 64gb SSD as a scratch disk, 24-32gb of ram, a 4-8core processor(Intel preferred), and lastly, my CRT diamondtron will be doing the display work.

FYI, I don't know sh!+ about PC components these days, so I'm looking for some recommendations. My buddy just put 32gb of RAM into his PC, and that thing FLYS with big files(he uses a P65+ digital back, he's a tech, but shoots his own stuff too).

Thanks

Dan