Full system overhall around $600

First off, trash the Ultra, sorry. If possible I'd try to hold off for those uses. If not, I hate to say it since you seem set on it, but I would drop the SSD. IMO, you would be better off dedicating that $125 towards a better CPU. Then again, if the photoshop and gaming is very light, then that may change.

agreed with jbaker, the cost of the ssd is crippling an otherwise ample budget. it is certainly regrettable that your psu is an ultra.

ignoring the psu for a moment, $600 should buy you something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

personally i would plan to replace the psu soon, and get a cpu cooler and ssd later down the road.

I guess I should have clarified my use more. I don't do much heavy gaming. The only game I regularly play is Urban Terror which is a very undemanding FPS. http://www.urbanterror.info/docs/texts/105/#1.6 I also play other games from time to time, but nothing terribly demanding, so I don't see anything more then a 6850 as necessary.

As far as the SSD goes, the main reason I wanted one is because it seems to me that load times are what slow down systems the most. At the moment my core programs and Windows only take about 25 GB. (This is with CS5 production premium installed.) That should leave enough room for whatever project I'm currently working on.

On the PSU, I know why you guys suggest getting a high quality power supply and that Ultra has a bad name. I only have the ultra because I got it for free a while back. Now then, from what I've seen of it, it appears to be good quality. Also, the price bears that out, the cheapest I've seen it is $170 and it appears to usually cost around $200. Granted it's from 2007, but I don't see any reason not to trust it.

I do appreciate the advice. You guys already made me do a bunch more thinking about what I will actually be needing. I'll also go and read up on processors. I was just sort of assuming I wouldn't need anything much more then a quad @ 3.0 GHz.

Edit: I've been doing some more reading and I'm considering upgrading to a Phenom x6. That should give me large gains in CS5 and I don't do enough gaming for it to be worth going a different route. However the next question becomes, what is the best value in the X6 family? Any suggestions.

Another thought I had, I might be able to get a second hand 8800GT for relatively cheap. Would it be worth using that short term and holding off buying a new graphics card? I realize it's pretty old, but there had to be a good reason why Nvidia stuck with the G92 architecture for 3 years. (I know, Fermi took a while, but the 8800GT was a pretty nice card.)

I thought I would post what I ended up getting.

Bought from Fry's

i5 2500k $180

MSI P67a-G43 $98 AR

Antec 300 $35 AR


From Newegg

8GB GSkill DDR1333 $60

64GB Kingston SSD $60 AR

1.5TB WD HD $55 AR

Xigmatec 1283 Balder $23 AR

ASUS SATA DVD drive $20


Already owned / traded for
9800GTX
Ultra 800w Modular power supply

So I spent $531 total after rebates. Not bad at all in my opinion.