I am building a new system. I already have a monitor (Samsung SyncMaster 204B, 1600x1200), and a sound card (Audigy 2 Platinum Ex). I'm using this new system for Adobe CS2 apps (photoshop, illustrator, etc), as well as audio production. I don't play games, and I'd like this system to last for a few years hopefully (my current one is a Dell that I've had for 5 years, Pentium 4, 512mb rdram, not cutting it anymore). I am fairly set on getting Patriot DDR-800 2x1GB memory at 4-4-4-12 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220144), the Raidmax Smilodon case with 500 watt power supply (since I"m not going SLI, I think I should be ok with the stock, even though I know it's kind of a sin ), a Seagate 320gb hard drive with 16mb cache and SATA 3.0, and Vista 64-bit OS. With that, it leaves me with around $600 for a processor, motherboard, video card, and optical drive(s), and maybe whatever else I am missing. I'm not planning on overclocking anything. Any help is GREATLY appreciated. Thank you!

really not as much as you need to build the system you need. Might look at cheaper RAM to save some coin, but for $600

e6420 = $180
Gigabyte DS-3 -125
7600GT = $150
2 DVD-burner = $70

Leaves $50 for extra or a bump in the video card, but not sure you need it.

So this is your bread & butter? I'd suggest against overclocking as stability would be your #1 concern.

Al's suggestion is pretty decent. For dvd, get Samsung. I'd suggest IDE cause SATA seems to be unable to install Vista. That or incompatible with Vista for now. XP doesn't have SATA drivers on the CD. Only slipstreamed SP2 or a driver floppy.

Depends on how much you use the pc for work. If it's 9-5, then you might want to consider 4 gigs of ram as DDR2 prices have dropped a lot lately & print production can be taxing on the computer, particularly the amount of memory.

For that you need the best processor you can buy within your budget.

Here's my suggestions:

CPU: E6600 - $226

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 V1.3 - $99

Video Card: The 7600GT is really all that you need. You can get one for $95 after MIR here.

I would go this route and then in a year or so get a mainstream DX10 card to take advantage of VISTA.

Optical Drive: $70-$80

Total: $500

Take the other hundred and upgrade to 4GB since you want Vista 64 bit OS.

It may seem like a pain in the butt, but even for a budget system you could save yourself a headache by making sure that's a good PSU in that case.
I don't know much about Raidmax but the last thing you want to do is ever go cheaply on a power supply.
Your power estimate is sufficient but build quality of the components is still important.

Just food for thought.

For what you've described even the 7600gt should be needless.
I usually don't recommend integrated graphics (being a gamer) but since it's not your concern, why not the ATI 690G series w/ integrated x1250?
At the worst, if it doesn't suffice you can upgrade later.

No games at all? Then even the 7600 GT is overkill.

Look for a $50 card like an X1300 or 6200... if you'll never play a game, the extra money for the 7600 GT is a waste.

Yeah, or just use onboard video. The Gigabyte G965 mobos are OK, but they don't OC all that well. If you're not that fussed about OCing (which is kinda suggested by using stock cooler), it should be fine.

Go with cheapo memory. It's not that vital even in Photoshop. So long as you can match CPU freq, that should be fine. Any decent value DDR2-6400 will suffice. Geil, Corsair value etc.

Get a better HD, also. The RE2 Caviar 500 from Western Digital is nice (it's featured in Tom's system marathon). I've got one, and it's not too far off my raptor RAID array.

EDIT: whoops, should read better. As no OCing, then definitely the G965-DS3. You might also consider going quad if you can afford it. CS3 utilises all 4 cores, and is one of the few cases where it would make a difference.

I agree with purdueguy's selection. Gives you the Higher core clock which will give you faster rendering, and the graphics card will keep your system from slowing down by anything that might require graphics.

I know I'm gonna get some heat for this one, but... if you're not gonna game, and you plan to run Vista, you might as well get a DX10 card to future proof yourself... you can get a 8500 for $100... and that should set you for a while..., I know it's not great for the money, but, you won't have to upgrade and spend more money... just a thought...

8O

this combo works great. I've built 3 so far.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813135010
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231098

That's $140 for the mobo with onboard video, and 2 gigs of ram. This is a great place to start if you care about getting value for your money....

It's true that I don't game, and I'm not sure if I will later down the road. But I do want a decent graphics card, only because I'll be running Vista Home Premium 64-bit and heard that for a resolution of 1600x1200, I'll want a card with a memory interface of 256 bits. That might not be true, I don't know. I am looking toward the Core 2 Duos, and I want to get a good motherboard in case I want to upgrade in the future. If memory isn't so important in that cheaper stuff is fine at the same timings and such, maybe I should go for something else instead of being set on the Patriot?

In that case, go for onboard video. Onboard VGA graphics will be able to handle 1600x1200. If you're buying any kind of modern motherboard, it'll have a PCIe x16 slot to drop in a real graphics card if you decide you want to game. Otherwise, buying a separate card now is a waste of money if you're not going to start gaming right away; computers are always getting faster, and when you buy something and don't use it immediately, it's a waste of money because of the depreciation.

That ram is a killer buy. And for anyone who decidedly has no need for gaming, put your cash into a board with onboard video. $60 will get you a working platform.

See, I'm against the whole onboard VGA deal for one reason: loss of RAM. Personally, I've been running Photoshop CS2 with an X300 with no problems. I agree with Cleeve. Get a $50 GPU and you'll be fine.

You lose a tiny bit of ram, adding another 2 gigs of ram for $80 is far worth more than $50 for a GPU.