I'm building a custom computer for my music production.

[Flippity]

I needed some advice, I know the main things I know I need are a really good processor, like an i7, and I need a bundle of ram. Here's this list of what I'll be purchasing:
-ASUS P8P67 Intel P67 CrossFireX Socket 1155 mATX Motherboard
-ATI Radeon HD 4650 1GB DDR2 PCI Express (PCIe) DVI/VGA Video Card w/HDMI & HDCP Support
-Athena Power AP-MP4ATX55FEP8 550W Micro ATX SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
-G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) RAM
-Seagate SV35.5 500GB SATA/300 7200RPM 16MB Hard Drive
-Intel Core i7 3.4 GHz Processor

I was wondering if there's a cheaper processor that is just as good as an i7. Also, is there anything I should add to this list?

[daeMTHAFKNkim]

If you care about graphics...then don't get that Radeon HD 1GB DDR2 128-bit.. Spend $40 more and get a 1GB DDR5 256-bit Video Card. Mines a Zotac. Go to newegg.com

[fragments]

Also, I'd invest in multiple hard drives. ...And really no point in not buying terabyte sized drives at this point. You'll want one HD to install the OS and applications to. The other two will be for storing samples, project files etc. The third will be RAID backup to the storage drive. RAID is extremely simple to set up...plenty of tutorials all over the place.

I have what ever the AMD quasi equivalent of an i7 and I've only bogged down my DAW a few times to the point where I had to bounce things or my DAW froze.

Personally, I ditched the bad-ass graphics. But I'm not much of a gamer.

Only other thing I'll say, because I've seen well meaning people screw this up too many times, is that you need to check the compatibility of your components with your motherboard. You don't want to build the thing only to find out it won't read your RAM...have to eBay the RAM to be able to buy suitable RAM etc...If you've done this, bravo : )

+1 for ASUS MB...I wouldn't accept anything else.

[Flippity]

Well, I care very little for graphics, I'm not a gamer and I'm just building the computer for making music.

And fragments, that is an awesome idea having multiple hard drives. I've never heard of anyone doing that before. With the motherboard I chose, would I be able to hook up multiple hard drives?
And oh yeah, I made sure they would all work with each other.

[VirtualMark]

There is no cheaper processor than the i7 that is 'just as good', they're priced that way for a reason. However, if you go for an i5 they're still really fast and you probably wouldn't notice much difference, if any, when making music. The i5 doesn't have hyperthreading but still has turbo boost, they're a nice chip. Hyperthreading gives the cpu extra logical cores, so my quad core i7 shows up as an 8 core in windows. Gives it about an extra 30% over the i5 at best. If you go for the K series they are unlocked and you can overclock. My i7 runs at 5ghz with no problems, i've set it to 4.5 and the fan runs so slow its totally silent. Whatever you buy make sure it has 4 numbers after it, that's the most recent generation. i.e mine is i7 2600K, 2600 being the 4 numbers. If it only has 3 then its last gen.

You might want to go for a passive graphics card. I've got the amd hd 6670 passive, which does run games ok and is silent. You could get away with a cheaper one if you don't ever play games. Maybe even use the onboard graphics of the i7, only problem is that they share system ram with your cpu and might affect performance slightly. I personally prefer to have dedicated graphics.

Don't worry too much about superfast ram, you won't notice much difference with the really expensive low latency stuff. That's more geared for people who want to overclock their whole system. Also no need for a crossfire power supply, that's for dual graphics setups. Better off going for an efficient quiet supply for a music pc.

And yeah, dual hard drives are great. I have an ssd for windows and programs, and a 2tb hdd for storage. The ssd makes a big difference.

[fragments]

Well, I care very little for graphics, I'm not a gamer and I'm just building the computer for making music.

And fragments, that is an awesome idea having multiple hard drives. I've never heard of anyone doing that before. With the motherboard I chose, would I be able to hook up multiple hard drives?
And oh yeah, I made sure they would all work with each other.

I can't imagine a modern mother board that wouldn't handle 4 or more hard drives (depending).

And yea, Solid State drives are really fucking fast compared to traditional kind. I wasn't actually aware those existed when I built my music PC year ago. @OP: if you are wanting to setup a RAID backup system I don't think you can use solid state hard drives.

[RyLee]

Get a good power supply, dont use the crap they send with your case if it comes with one.
+1 on more HDD space.

[Electric_Head]

Multiple hard drives has been done for years, even ide boards had multiple ide slots which result in 4 possible drives minimum with a master and slave scenario.

Regarding the i7 vs i5 debate, if you get a fast i5 like the 3.3-3.5 ghz, you will really have to look hard to find a difference between the 2.

[render]

@OP: if you are wanting to setup a RAID backup system I don't think you can use solid state hard drives.

yes you can

[Flippity]

Get a good power supply, dont use the crap they send with your case if it comes with one.

Do you know any good brands?

[DrastikMeazures]

Defiantly think about the i5 or even i3, that's what I used in my build and it blows my old p4 (11 years old now) clear outta the water. Only thing I looked for in a graphics card was NO FAN and dual heads for 2 monitors.

[bassinine]

get a corsair or antec PSU (most come with Thermaltake, which suck ass) - make sure the 12v rail has enough amperage for your video card (AND make sure it has enough 6/8pin pcie connectors). and like stated - get a GDDR5 card. got my gtx460 for 110$ at best buy on sale, and it's WAYYY faster than the card you've picked.

also, 2500k sandy bridge - don't look back.