i usually see raids on avid setups. You could just get a good quality hard drive ( the hard drive is the oldest technology in a computer, and the average life is only 5 years ) and all it would do is load/save your files a little faster. Save your $$$ for a kick ass Video card like carrot juice said, ( just the wildcat would be more than enough-), a dvd burner and as much of the fastest ram you can stuff in there. avoid amd chips ( unless the mb you got is for them -if so sorry) get the fastest processer(s) you can. when you render a 1000 fram raytraced animation you'll thank me. I've rendered some high res stuff for print that takes all night for one frame. and if you have any $$ left over, send it to me. I need a car. just kidding Joe