Hello everyone,

I was looking for some advice and opinions on a pc that I was about to build.
I've done some research, but not sure if i'm travelling the right path or just barking up the wrong tree.

Here is what i've come up with so far:

CPU

Intel® Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe Processor 2.4GHz, 1066FSB, LGA775, 4MB Cache Retail

Motherboard

Asus P5B Deluxe

Video Card

DIAMOND X1650AGP256SB Viper Radeon X1650 PRO AGP 256MB DDR2 Video Card w/Dual DVI, TV-Out

Power Supply

Enermax ELT620AWT-NON ROHS Liberty 620W Power Supply

RAM

Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4D 2GB DDR2-800 XMS2-6400 Dominator Series Memory

Hard Drive(s)

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000KS 500GB Serial ATA 7200RPM Hard Drive w/16MB Buffer

I already have 3 IDE drives (250, 160 and 100) and a 250gb external drive in my current system, as well as a DVD-Writer.

My primary use for this new system will be graphic design. Extensive use of Photoshop, Painter and Illustrator.

The total ended up being just over $1000. I'm not sure if that's good, bad, or decent. Any opinions, advice, criticisms are greatly appreciated. I'm definitely not an expert on this, and could really use the help.

Thanks in advance. I'll be sure to follow up with the final choices once i'm done purchasing.

The motherboard you picked only has 1 IDE port (supports 2 devices). This one is similiar and has 2 ports.
ASUS P5W DH DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775
Rest of the system looks well balanced and well thought out.

Thank you very much my friend, I appreciate it. I'm glad you pointed that out because it was something that I overlooked. I'm definitely going to need the extra IDE port. $40 price difference, but definitely worth it so I can put all 3 HD's to use.

You listed an AGP video card, but your mobo only has a pcie slot.

Go with this instead:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130062

I just looked for an Asus board with the extra ports, you might do better if you cut down the extras like wi-fi

You listed an AGP video card, but your mobo only has a pcie slot.

Go with this instead:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130062

Do you think a board with AGP would be worth it as far as graphics are concerned?

I just looked for an Asus board with the extra ports, you might do better if you cut down the extras like wi-fi

Thanks. I see a good amount of people here like the Gigabyte DS3 board. Any opinions on that one?

Agp is not worth buying, if you have one, it will work, if you match the motherboard.
DS3 is an excellent MB, I have one ready for my next build.

What about getting an ATA adapter card for a PCI slot? I used 2 of them way back, when I had to find room for more hard drives(pre-sata).

Yes, the DS3 only has one port, you could add the PCI card for more IDE ports. Make sure to buy the MB for $124, that is how they are selling the newer ones now, the 1.3 version is older.

I'm on the Gigabyte website now. That would be the 965G-DS3 instead of the 965P-DS3, correct?

no, you want the P965P as that one does NOT have onboard graphics.

Just wanted to follow up with the build. I got everything today!...except for the memory.

I stuck with the Asus board, and got the GeForce 7600 video card, and 4GB of RAM instead of 2GB. Since they were discounted, hell, I figured I may as well get them now. I'll pick up a new case later on down the line.

Soon as my memory gets here, it's on to Vista, The CS3 Suite, and Painter X!!!

Thanks for all of your help, it was definitely needed and greatly appreciated.

Beers on me!