Need help on a gaming/photoshop build

I am located in Canada, so parts cost a bit more here:

Currently what I have:

20" Monitor
DVD-RW Rom
640 GB WD Black 32mb
XFX 4890 Video card
750W Cosair PSU
Coolermaster Case (from old cpu)

What I need:

CPU: Deciding between:

AMD II X4 940
Intel Q9550
Intel I7

Motherboard:

For the AMD: GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P
For Intel: Please recommend.

RAMS:

No idea. Please recommend. I don't like to upgrade the cpu that often, so I am willing to spend extra in here.

Cooling:

Thermal compound or stock?

Heatsink:
Sunbeam CR-CCTF 120 mm Core-Contact Freezer CPU Cooler W/TX-2 - Retail
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produ [...] 6835207004
40$

My knowledge is restricted mainly to Intel, but I agree with Ahslan, the i7 is great with photoshop, and it'll run games beautifully too. You'll pay a little more for it, but if you're smart about your purchases, you won't be in the market to upgrade for a while.

You didn't mention whether or not you wanted Crossfire or SLI support, or if you have plans to overclock. Stock CPU coolers are sufficient in most situations when not overclocking, so I wouldn't worry about an aftermarket cooler if you don't want to overclock right off the bat. (i7's overclock very well though, so I'd recommend it a year or two down the line when it starts to show it's age; it'll come right back to life again)

Based on what I assume you're looking for I recommend the following:

i7 920
ASUS P6T SE
Corsair XMS3 3x2GB DDR3 1333 RAM (This is the stuff I put in my PC, by no means is it necessary to get this particular RAM, but most brands of RAM are priced very similar, so you could probably save $10 or so by getting something cheaper. I just trust Corsair and these are nice sticks.)

Everything else you already have looks solid, and you'll have yourself a great machine.

955 is around 280$.. and motherboard is in the mid 100s.

should i just get the 940 instead?

really?
from reading other threads.. im saving about 200$ for going with the AMD instead of the i7.

u think it's worth the extra $$?

yea..that's what i was thinking..for 7%, i would rather save the 200$.

im casual on gaming and photoshop, but i do use it.
so to save 200$, I can spend it on other stuff.

Thanks Ahslan again buddy.

Now I'm gonna see what deal i can get for the ram. if it's like 20-40$ more, i'll get the DDR3 ram, if not, ill just get a good Gskill DDR2..

o ya.. 6 gb, 4 gb for me?

how about this one?

Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066MHZ (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory (KHX8500D2K2/4G)

it's 59.99$

i gotta read up on RAID..so basically it's good to have 2 hd now?

I would go with 4gigs rather than 6gigs...im a big fan of Gskill ram...
As for raid, Ive never set up my personal rig to use it, but we do use raid 1 at work so that files are backed up on the identical drive, just in case something happens to one of the drives...

or get the 550
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103680
and unlock the other two cores.

bump for heatsink suggestion
thanks guys!