[tweeksound]

Well, it's been almost 3 months since my original post so I thought I'd give an update.

I ended up going with pcaudiolabs.com for my new DAW.
It's a Q9300 quad core 2.5Ghz and has the RME Hammerfall HDSP 9652.
I had a couple freezes while starting windows that required a reboot.
PC audio labs were great with support.
They fixed the issue within 20 minutes of me calling, by remote access.

Right now I'm getting by on just one 8 channel Presonus Digimax FS and love it but I plan to get another soon.

I'm using Reaper and Sonar 5 producer. (Mostly Reaper though)

What a step up in just about every way!
Never let anyone scare you from using a PC based DAW.
Going to school, there was always >15 minutes before class spent fixing the Pro Tools set up to actually work and even the teachers had trouble.
I think it was because there were so many different people using it that there was always something being changed to fit someone else's work flow.

I've done a couple dozen sessions so far including 3 long live concerts and I have not had a single hiccup.

Very happy with every link in the chain.