I was thinking about building a new HD capable system for audio and video editing. My current one does SD just fine, but I don't think it will handle HD much at all.

So I was doing the usual research preceding a new home built system and was going in the right direction by considering boards with the Intel 5000x series chipset similar to what the Mac Pro systems have. Has anyone here already looked into that? Are there better performing chipset/motherboards out there? Price is not necesarily an option however the goal is to build one cheaper than an eqivalent Mac Pro.

Also, I was tryin to decide what is the best method for audio input. Should I go for an external firewire box, or some kind of PCI card with a breakout box. And/or is it better to have the 5/7.1 monitors on a separate card from the mic/line in/outs or have them all in a single unit. Does anyone make such a single unit?

And if anyone knows of a specific online review covering and comparing this kind of stuff I'd love to read it also.