Quote Originally Posted by jeffp
the graphics card doesnt need to be the best out there. photo editing is more RAM intensive. the reason to get a good graphics card would to be for 3d applications or if youre going to use multiple monitors are very high resolution. if the software you use is multithreaded and can take advantage of a quad core, then go for it. otherwise, it will make little difference. it would make a difference if you usually do 4 processes at once however.

what operating system will this be? 32 bits windows? 64bit?
if it is 32 bit windows, know that it will not be able to use your 4gb of ram. there is only 32 bits of address space for memory, giving only 4gb total memory including RAM, graphics card, and various other components. if you use windows, you need to get the 64bit version to get a larger address space. because of this, youre better off getting a lower model graphics card to give you more use of your ram.
I forgot about the graphics card stealing from the main memory - thanks

Still checking if all the apps run on 64bit Vista, and CS2/3 are only certified for 32bit so the system config is about to change again.

I may drop the spec on the graphics card but was considering using it for video capture so will consider this carefully

I was heading for Vista Ultimate which comes with a 64 bit version in the box but it looks like I will have to drop to 32 bit.

Roger