Well i finally got sick of buying pre-made crap from HP *shudder* and am beginning to put together a list of things i want/need to get to build a new computer for myself and was wondering if i could get everyone's opinions and experience since i know way too little to attempt this on my own. The comp will be mostly for playing Final Fantasy online, and using graphics programs such as Animation Master, Bryce, Poser, 3D Studio Max to name some. I also have a bad habbit of letting something render in one program while starting work in another, so speed and multi tasking is very important for me.

Personally i have always liked ATI over Geforce, but i know that sometimes ATI isn't the best pick i just happen to like Radeon cards better.

SO i am looking to spend hopefully not much more than 2-2.5k on this computer. I already have a 320 gig WD Sata external HDD so i wont be needing a huge internal drive or anything. What would you all suggest?