i'm not an expert in this area but i do suggest that which CPU you choose should at least in part with what DAW and converters you are going to use.

Kurt Foster, post: 408406 wrote: i'm not an expert in this area but i do suggest that which CPU you choose should at least in part with what DAW and converters you are going to use.

I'm probably going to be doing more electronic music, with predominantly FL Studio and a little bit of Reason.

you can check the specs on your programs to see which CPU / VIDEO CARDS and peripherals are compatible. do the same for which converters you choose as well.

Any of those CPU's will be acceptable provided the motherboard and your AD converters play nice. While AMD has come a long way, the AMD processor you list is a gaming CPU and not necessarily comparable when it comes to music production (which is certainly not gpu intensive). Make your plan based upon compatibility between components and don't focus on the cost unless you absolutely have to.

TheJackAttack, post: 408409 wrote: Any of those CPU's will be acceptable provided the motherboard and your AD converters play nice. While AMD has come a long way, the AMD processor you list is a gaming CPU and not necessarily comparable when it comes to music production (which is certainly not gpu intensive). Make your plan based upon compatibility between components and don't focus on the cost unless you absolutely have to.

Actually, I am going to do some gaming on it.

The point still remains. Gaming machines and music/video production machines are not the same class of computer. Can one do both? Yes but it will not excel at both. The following link is concerned solely with gaming and has zero to do with music production.

[[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.tomshard…"]FX Vs. Core i7: Exploring CPU Bottlenecks And AMD CrossFire - Chasing Bottlenecks To Eyefinity (But Not Beyond)[/]="http://www.tomshard…"]FX Vs. Core i7: Exploring CPU Bottlenecks And AMD CrossFire - Chasing Bottlenecks To Eyefinity (But Not Beyond)[/]

Yeah, that's what I'm trying to achieve. Just an ultra-high performance machine. A jack of all trades, if you will. thumb

The answer to your 3 questions are yes, yes and yes :)
Compatibility should not be an issue with the CPU. These days, you have to do some really ugly programming to make your apps interact directly with your CPU.
But I think you should post a budget and some components so you can get help post a balanced build. Or check Anandtech's General Hardware forum. The sticky Midrange Builders thread is an excellent ressource:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2192841

I'd go with c.
Hyperthreading do make a difference but be aware that in xp and windows 7, a few DAW were not doing well with that feature. (including Sonar)
As Kurt said, it never hurt to check with the tools you want to use. Check with FL Studio and Reason sites and see what they got to say !