Build Me An Adobe Rig

Just a very rough reference:

A quad CPU
8GB of RAM with a 64-bit OS
Two hard drives: one for the OS and programs, another one for a scratch drive
Don't need a high end GPU for Adobe. If you don't game, something like the HD4670 or the 9500GT would work.

You can build something like this for about $1,000. Again, a budget would be highly helpful.

Probably integrated will do...

Make sure you have a decent size hard drive to store all your creations. The Seagate 1.5TB, WD Greenpower 1TB and the WD 640GB are good buys...

As a photographer, if you sit back and reason how much time you'll be using filter effects, that take a while (for instance, surface-blur), it kind of discourages spending a ton of money on a high-end Nvidia GPU. 9 out of 10 times at least. Also, you'll need to spend the same amount of money as your computer just on the new software which really isn't going to pay for itself for months to come. It never has been. As it is a rule of thumb always invest much more money in GPU or CPU for gaming, you'll need to invest much more into RAM over a CPU, so a cheaper Quad would def. be the way to go. If you are getting CS4, by all means get the nicer GPU but from experience, instead of saving time on rarely-used processes invest in a second or third screen. The real-estate is always way worth it and will save you hours versus minutes in the long run. Also if you're using a second disk for scratch + data, put the scratch on the first partition.

What's your budget? If you got $4k take a look at this?

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guide [...] hp/3771096

Go with the Intel build, change the 4870X2 for a 4850 (I can't imagine CS4 taking advantage of anything faster than a 4850 for shadow effects and color corrections), upgrade to a faster Quad Core using the price difference in the video cards.

+1 for quad core, and 8gb of ram. Getting a decent gpu that is supported with CS4 would be a plus.

Isn't CS$ photoshop CUDA-only optimiztions?

The new line of NVidia graphics cards will greatly increase the speed at which you view and and render objects, it will also increase the quality of the objects you are viewing dramatically as well by using Anti-Aliasing and its ability to handle very high resolutions if your monitor is capable of handling the.
You will find the GPU input will get rid of a lot of lag from the program that you may experience with integrated graphics.

This is the website that mentioned the AMD GPU's will be able to enhance the programs ability to function also. I think there should be an increase of functionality using the AMD cards over the integrated. It would make sense as the AMD 48xx series is physics ready. But I however am not entirely sure on that.
http://www.electronista.com/articl [...] 4.gpu.use/