Thinking of Building a new pc.

[Aatical]

good day/night. I have just recently enrolled in a GIS masters program and i am thinking of bulding a new pc for my own use. could some one help me on the specific components to buy for a really good build. The computer will mainly be used by myself to run arcgis, autocad, corel draw and adobephotshop. I love my music so i would also love a good sound card, i already have a creative inspire 5.1 speaker system that i will be taking from my older computer. I also have a lcd monitor, mouse, keyboard and a computer case waiting which i have already purchased. My operating system will have to be xp because some of my softwares are not vista compatible. the purchase of softaware is also not needed as i have all of my needed softwares at my finger tips. could anyone point me in the right direction as to what i should buy. thanks in advance - Aatical

[Katreat]

Case: Personal choice
MB: Asus P5K
Processor: E8400
Ram: Corsair 2x1gb DDR2-800
HD: Seagate 7200.11 500gb Sata
DVD: Lite-On DVD Burner Sata Retail
Video: EVGA 8800gt 512
PSU: Corsair 550
OS: Vista 32 Home Premium or XP

This is a good starting place. Now I am more in tune with gaming so for what you want a Q6600 might be a better CPU. I am not sure if those programs you list would benefit from the extra cores you will have to do a bit of reserch yourself for that.

You might also be able to get by with a 8600 Gt for the video card. The 8800 GT is a very good gamer but might be more than you need. An 8600 GT is a very good all around card but a little light for a true gamer. Wait for a few more comments on this from people who know more about the software you will be using.

I personally use on-board sound, which is very good with this board, so you will have to wait for others for specific sound card recommendations. The on-board is very decent even with 5.1 speakers but I know it lacks some features that a sound card can give you.

Kat