If you're still looking for help with this there are some sources that you can look at that may help you a little:
(Hope I'm allowed to post these links)
CPU Speeds:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php
Video Card Speeds:
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_list.php
HDD Speeds:
http://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/hdd_list.php
Now, with all those, take some with a pinch of salt. Some of the results won't be 100% accurate, but that being said, its better than taking someone's word on the subject. How this site gathers the stats is they have benchmark software. People run it on their systems. Those benchmarks are submitted back to the site which they store and allow people to search to see how real world computers are faring.
Now with all that. In a system for editing/color correcting and especially sfx software, the largest benefit you're going to get for your system is a SSD hard drive. There is very little point in going for the best in everything else and sticking with a SATA3 IDE drive. The other components are important, but you're going to get more bang for your buck there than anywhere else.
You'll want a lot of RAM too if you're going to deal with large video files. No need to go all stupid 16gig is usually enough. I'll take time to note here, it's nice to be able to upgrade to get more ram in the future if you need so its important to pick a motherboard that can handle the ram you get and more if you want to consider upgrading in the future.
Talking about ram. The speed of ram can slightly help. The lower the number here, the better. Ensure the Motherboard can handle the speed of the ram you choose. Its often better to pick the motherboard and get RAM to match.
Not all SSD hard drives are created equally. As someone already said, ensure you get a Sata3 SSD drive (and a motherboard that has at least 2 sata3 ports, I always prefer more - Yes this will drive the price of your motherboard up, sometimes even double or triple the price but a good motherboard can be worth it). Also pick up a IDE Sata3 drive. Something like a 2 or 3tb drive. That way you can store the video files on the IDE and work on them on the SSD, reducing the need for the space.
Video cards: This is where it can get a little tricky and depends on your budget. You have an option to go for a great video card that costs a bunch and gets a lot of performance on it.... or.... you could go another route. Get a video card that's got slightly less performance (usually a 66-75% cheaper) and SLI them. I don't remember what SLI stands for, but it means run 2 of them in your computer at once to almost double your video card power. Its something that is worth thinking about. Also, make sure your motherboard can handle this before you go and purchase a second video card.
Why is video card important? My understanding of it (and I could be a little off here) is the Video card is kind of a specialized CPU that handles video functions. When the CPU receives an instruction that the video card is better off handling, it'll pass that to the video card and concentrate on other things. This is at least a simplified explanation of how it works in gaming. I only assume it works similarly with video software... Anyone care to confirm?
Other important parts: The case and power supply. The case is whatever, get one that is large enough to hold what you want and what you might need in the near future. The power supply. You can go cheap or expensive. I personally prefer the cheap ones, though I do understand their limitations. You need a power supply that can supply your computer with enough power that is stable enough. The downside to cheap ones is they may be able to supply the computer with their advertised amount of power, but its often only the burstable number. When you're doing rendering, you're going to need a lot of power for continuous amounts of time, and cheap power supplies sometimes just don't cut it. The more expensive ones tend to advertise their sustained rates. I'm happy enough to be able to change out a power supply unit when I see the issue. It depends on what you're comfortable with.
Oh CPU.... When you're doing video stuff, if the software can handle multiple cores, just look for the CPU that gives you the biggest bang for your buck. The difference between the I7 (1 year old) and the I7 brand spanking new will probably be about 10% difference in CPU speed, but 3 times the price. No need to go stupid and spend more than you have to. I'd personally rather keep an extra $1k in the bank for the next upgrade than spend every dollar in small unnecessary incremental upgrades.
Building it yourself or putting it together? Putting a computer together is rather simple these days. If you do build it yourself, make sure you use (don't remember what its called, but heat sink paste - white paste that goes between your cpu and your heatsink. It helps your CPU not overheat - and it will if you don't do it right). Other than that, most of it is just like a slightly more complicated lego. It's not as hard as it used to be. Alternatively, take the parts to a computer shop and they'll usually put it together for you for between $50 and $100.
Then its down to software. That's where things get tough
Feel free to ask if anything wasn't clear enough for you and good luck in your decisions.
