If you want HDD speed, setup a SATA RAID 1 array
It basically uses two harddrives as one, writing/reading half the data on one disk and the other half on the other which (theoretically) doubles performance. It's the only way to use the capacity Serial ATA provides!
For processors: I've heard Intels Core 2 Duo is a beast (and of course I bought an AMD Athlon64 a couple of months before I found that out).
More RAM might help you out if you're having trouble handling lots of data, it might also give your harddrive some peace. Remember: RAM is (relatively) cheap!
It basically uses two harddrives as one, writing/reading half the data on one disk and the other half on the other which (theoretically) doubles performance. It's the only way to use the capacity Serial ATA provides!
For processors: I've heard Intels Core 2 Duo is a beast (and of course I bought an AMD Athlon64 a couple of months before I found that out).
More RAM might help you out if you're having trouble handling lots of data, it might also give your harddrive some peace. Remember: RAM is (relatively) cheap!