An illustrator's and gamer's computer...

Photoshop would benefit from a quad. Rendering programs usually do too, or they will in the future anyway. Get a quad.

Since you are using this for work, I suggest you do NOT overclock. OK, do overclock, if you're good at it and/or don't mind risking the occasional crash. I think Q6700 or Q9450 would be best. The Q6700 is cheaper, but the Q9450 has a new set of instructions called SSE4 which may be useful in your work once software starts supporting it.

Some ideas for MB/video/PSU:
- for that budget you can even consider a setup like XFX 780i + three 9800GTX + Toughpower 1000W. That makes sense if you have a huge monitor (30" ).
- for a 24" monitor (or 28", or LCD TV with 1080p): Asus P5N-D, two 8800GTS G92 512MB cards, Silencer 750W
- for a 22" monitor or less: GA-EP35-DS3R, one 8800GTS G92 512MB card, Corsair 650TX or 550VX

Other things to check out at www.newegg.com: WD6400AAKS, SH-S203B.

The RAM depends mostly on the motherboard you pick. For example for the DS3R I suggest the OCZ Reaper DDR2 800 2x2GB (it's $80 for 4 GB, get two of these). Of course, to use 8 GB of RAM you need a 64-bit OS. I'd prefer Vista 64 to XP 64 because XP 64 is less well supported by games and doesn't have DirectX 10.

No problem. Actually, let's try to narrow it down a little.

1. Will you ever need 3 or 4 monitors? I'm asking because 3 or 4 monitors require two video cards (a card has 2 outputs, usually), and that means the motherboard you get needs to have at least 2 PCI-E x16 slots.

2. Do you have or intend to get a monitor with 1920x1200 or more? Once you decide this part you'll know if it's worth getting two or even 3 video cards.

3. Once you know how many video cards you want you can pick a case. For example for a single video card I totally like the P182 - nice and quiet and doesn't fill up all the room under the desk. For 2 or 3 cards, on the other hand, you'd need something bigger and with lots of fans.

Good questions. Let's answer them then.

Will I ever need more than two monitors? No, I am aiming on two only. More than that becomes something of a hassle for me.

I am planning on getting a monitor with 1920x1200. It's good to be able to work with the highest resolution monitor you can.

Hadn't thought of the case. I do prefer quiet, but I wouldn't mind something with extra fans if the needed cooling power is required.

No preference on motherboard makers. As long as it's a respected brand I'm content.

Photoshop use will be extensive. Either for full blown digital or composite planning images. So the 8 GB of ram sounds like a good idea to me.

Quatro are expensive, but I have heard people say good things about them. Never heard of FireGL though.

Hope these answers help

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Agreed, but OP can make the trade off of playing games at a lower res. A single (G92)8800GTS will be/should be able to handle 2-D/low 3D (ie CAD) fine at that res.

@OP:
For rendering work a Quad core will help. Rendering is more CPU bound than GPU bound. Imo, there is no need for workstation GPUs unless you are doing some really kick @ss renderings. Also if going 8GB you will need a x64 OS.

I have no idea if nVidia's software is smart enough for that setup. It sounds interesting, yeah, it's worth investigating.

Of course, if this works, the 3rd card can be a $40 thing, it doesn't have to be a high-end gaming card.

True that.

Check out the 245T, for example. I'm waiting for a good sale at that one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824001246

NextWarehouse.com has it for $618 aevm. That really a great sale but never the less cheaper than Newegg. Free shipping too.
http://www.nextwarehouse.com/item/?568201