Help spec me a 2D graphics "home-station"

[ilovecables]

Work with fast p4s and dual-xeons (crazy noise) and want to build my first quiet rig to bring work home to.

This machine is not for gaming but for Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere Pro and Flash MX so I have trouble working out the kit for me as most of the reviews are geared towards gamers (oh ok, i may play halflife!) and commited workstation stuff is usual premium price.

My thinking is to go for socket 939 AMD as I mostly single task and want those progress bars to go as fast as possible and can in the future drop in a dual-core processor.

So what can anyone advise me on the following?
case - SLK3000B
MOBO - MSI K8N NEo 4 - SLI or ULTRA
Processor - 3200+ or 3500+ winchester (will try my first overclock )
Cooler - Akasa Ak913
Memory - Corsair TwinX 2x512
Drives - 2 x Samsung SpinPoint P120S 200GB
Graphics - radeon X800XL or a Matrox card
Monitor - Dell 2001FP 20"
Power - not sure yet
DVD - AOpen DVD DUW1608 - burns 16x on slower media i believe
Microsoft Standard Wireless Optical Desktop - am a lefty and find the logitech mouse a hand-sore.

questions:

1. the MOBO looks like a feature packed overclocker, but is it for gamers more than my needs?

2. these aps are RAM hungry - are you better off with a pair of cheeper 1GB modules or the faster 512s and an overclock?

3. going for a dual monitor set-up with an old CRT and the DELL for the moment and would like the option to upgrade to a second TFT (not available with the X800XL). Does 256 DDR3 make a diffirence to graphics apps?

 

[imported_Kensai]

The ultra should be enough, Id suggest two sticks of 1GB in dual-channel.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Welcome to AT.

SLI is if you want to run dual videocards. Unless you're doing intense gaming, there's no reason for it. Get an Ultra board.

If you're not doing any gaming, you could even get away with something a lot less than the X800XL.

If you're not doing anything 3d (as in gaming or 3d rendering), a MSI board with integrated video would be fine for your purposes.

I haven't heard of that cooler, but have heard great things about Zalmans and Thermalright heatsinks. If you can get one with a big 120mm fan running at low RPM, you'll be able to get the noise down considerably.

For silence and power, you can't go wrong with Seasonic. A 430 watt should be more than enough power for your rig.

With ram as cheap as it is, I'd get a couple gig sticks. 2 gigs of ram is beneficial for they type of work you're doing.

If you want 2xDVI, the X800XL will support that just fine. There are plenty of dual DVI X800XLs. Cheap example card

I don't think getting a really fast videocard is going to help those applications at all. I think it's all CPU based, but I could be wrong. I don't use any of those programs.

 

[ilovecables]

Thanks for that, the ultra board and seasonic PSU look like the plan!

If graphics programs are CPU based - would i be best of going for the
3500+ or the 3200+ the overclock ceiling looks similar on both.

memory something like:
- 2Gb DDR PC3200 OCZ Performance Dual Channel kit - CL3-3-3-8
or is this overkill.

(fool and his money...)

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I've heard lots of good stuff about Patriot being good memory for overclocking. I think you should get some other opinions though, I'm no overclocking authority.

I'd say that if you've going to be overclocking, save the money and get the 3200+. Like you said, you're probably going to get similar results from either chip.

 

[biostud]

If you don't game and want the best 2D quality you should get a matrox parhelia video card.
link

 

[ilovecables]

have used both the matrox parhelia and a Nvidia quadro4 900 XGL in work PCs and they are excelent indeed but are pricey and take an age to order in. As i want to put this pc together in a week or two I didn't want to get stuck waiting for a specialised part that may in fact be overkill. Hoping some mainstream card would suit.

 

[biostud]

Originally posted by: ilovecables
have used both the matrox parhelia and a Nvidia quadro4 900 XGL in work PCs and they are excelent indeed but are pricey and take an age to order in. As i want to put this pc together in a week or two I didn't want to get stuck waiting for a specialised part that may in fact be overkill. Hoping some mainstream card would suit.

If only for 2D don't waste money on 3D gaming cards just get an ATI x300