[Lowfreq]

Sounds like you already made up your mind to not go with a DAW. PT (or any other Win based PC DAW) will never support specific like actual p/n, brand name motherboards. Too resource intensive and the price would much higher than $1100 then. They DO tell which chip sets are qualified though. The beauty of Digig's support is the fact that they DO offer the DUC. This takes the hassle out of gueesing at solutions yourself. If you not a 'computer guy', you could always buy a Mac if your worried about such issues. But the bottom line is that PC computers are very powerful, expandible, but hardly perfect. Harware solutions are great (I own 2 Yamaha AW4416's and enjoy them fully) but editing capabilties don't approach a PC DAW. $1100, in the grand scheme of 32 track/24 bit/48KHz/+F/X et. al. audio is not a lot of money, it's a bargain. Not to say ADAT's and a Mackie are dead but they will cost you more than $1100 and editing will not be nearly as powerful. Good luck with what ever system you choose.