I'm sorry, I should have explained that I've been editing 20 years. I just don't want to go back to the same turnkey builder, as all the post-service he touted never materialized. Plus, in his case, I think he would charge 4X what this build would cost!
I still might be looking at hardware acceleration boards, which would add another $1k ~ $3K. My current editing systems each have Canopus Storm cards in them, and I think I'll miss real-time capabilities, which I wouldn't expect from the screamer outlined above!
