Music PC: Intel or AMD?

Greetings All: I've only had a little time to read some of the PC Build posts, due to an insane work schedule, so I'll apologize in advance if what I'm posting is a "been-there-done-that" event. I use VST instruments exclusively in my musical creations, including those from Sonar Producer X1c, as well as some from East West, and Vocaloid. I've discovered that I'm unable to utilize many of the effects features from X1c, and East West products as my current AMD PC is unable to process the samples and effects without "stuttering", so I'm upgrading. Here is the current consideration: Motherboard ASUS: Rampage 3 Extreme Memory (24GB) Kingston: KHX1600C9D3K3/12GX(XMP)x2 Processor Intel: Core i7 960 3.2GHz (quad) Power Supply Corsair TX850 V2 CPU Cooler Cooler Master V8 Hard Drive WD: 1T (black) WD1002FAEX Sound Card Creative: X-FI Titanium Video Card AMD/ATI: V4800 PC Case Corsair Carbide 500r White It appears from what I've read that Sonar X1 and East West products make use of the Intel Hyper-Threading, so I'm thinking that Sonar, and other products, will likely run more efficiently with the Intel processor. In addition, East West suggests getting as much memory as possible (particularly for the Symphonic Orchestra Platinum edition). This relegated me to the 1366 socket, with the least expensive Core i7 960 that I could find. For completeness, I'm also considering an AMD version: Motherboard ASUS: Crosshair V Formula Memory (16GB) Kingston: KHX1600C9D3K4/16GX(XMP) Processor AMD: FX8150 Power Supply Corsair TX850 V2 CPU Cooler Cooler Master V8 Hard Drive WD: 1T (black) WD1002FAEX Sound Card Creative: X-FI Titanium Video Card AMD/ATI: V4800 PC Case Corsair Carbide 500r White I have built many PCs over the years, but never for music, so I'm out of my comfort zone. Since I need this PC to last for awhile (at least 2 yrs), and I can't predict the trends for DAWs and VSTs, What would be the recommendation from those more experienced?

niether
Intel sandy Bridge 2600
and a real audio interface

Hi Scott and Jim,
    I've been out of town for work, so this is the first time that I've looked at this post.
 
    I was curious about Scott's comment, so I looked around the Internet and discovered that ASUS has caused him a lot of problems (30% failure rates are not trivial, so it appears that QC needs to be revamped)
    Jim's point is alos important, so I'll continue from there.
 
    I believe that I am certain of what I'm looking for a solid music computer; so this is my desire:
 
    1) To have a reliable PC that will last me for at least three years or more
    2) To have enough processing power and memory to be able to run all of the effects features of Sonar X1c, while at the same time having East Wests Symphonic Orchestra Platinum, Symphonic Orchestra, Ministry of Rock 1/2, as well as the usual Sonar VSTi (Dimension Pro, SD3, etc) loaded and running at the same time
    3) Scott appears to build high-end studio riggs where noise is always a potential problem. For my musical application, I don't intend to do any live recordings as I'll be using VSTis and Vocaloid for all my compositions. So I don't have the stringent noise requirements that his clients need for their studios.
 
    The equipment that I listed in my original two posts, are PC component manufactures that I have had good luck with in the past (I haven't built 800+ systems, so my experience is limited to the 10 systems I've built for myself and others.
 
    The question of whether to buy or build is a tough one. With the Buy option, the system comes pretested so there is much less worry going that direction. Building is a little less expensive, and with my limited knowledge of vendors, MWAVE is one of a few that offer some level of testing on the MOBO, memory, video card, audio card, and CPU components purchased (altjhough I have to say that when I opted for the testing, the components were shipped assembled. My fears were aleviated when the system worked, but...)
 
    Whether I buy or build, as far as I can tell, I'll be spending around $1,500 to $1,800 for a high end machine to run the music applications I want to use.
 
    I don't have a lot of money to spend, so my original intent for posting the two systems above was to solicit the experinece and hardware recommendations of Sonar X1c users that have built systems and are using the types of software that I would like to use in my compositions.
    I don't know if this helps quantify things at all.
 
Thanks,
 
Dave (CJM)

For many reasons, I chose not to do a DYI, and have been a customer of Scott's.  He knows what he is talking about.  He, along with Jim Roseberry (also on this forum) are two DAW builders that are worth exploring.

Scott did me up mighty fine with a laptop that is killer.