When to buy a new PC - any advantage to waiting?

Gratz on your new build.

I think some people in this thread are confused and misrepresenting Adobe GPU acceleration. CS4 and CS5 both are GPU accelerated, and many AMD and Nvidia cards are supported. Saying that Nvidia is the only real option for accelerated Abobe editing is ignorant, to be blunt.

The confusion might be occurring in that CS5 is now CUDA accelerated. CUDA is parallel computing technology (GPU and CPU co-processing) that Nvidia has branded. ATI (now AMD)'s version of this is ATI Stream. ATI Stream actually was first supported in CS4 (whereas CUDA is CS5 only).

So either manufacturer will give you plenty of OpenGL acceleration in Adobe products.

Sigh.

Here's my final list
- Antec High Current Gamer HCG-520, 520W ATX PSU, Active PFC, Black (works fine, would buy modular in future)
- LG Electronics GH22NS70 DVD Writer, DVD 16R/22W/8RW, CD 48R/48W/32RW, Internal, SATA, Black, OEM (works well)
- Corsair Vengeance CML16GX3M4A1600C9, 4x4GB, DDR3-1600, PC3-12800, CL9, DIMM, Low profile (works well)
- Cooler Master RR-B10-212P-G1, CPU Cooler, 120mm, Black (good cooler but too big for my case, I got a Notcuna NH-C14 instead)
- Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3R-B3 Motherboard, Socket 1155, Intel P67, 4xDDR3, 2xPCIe-16, 3xPCIe-1, RAID, ATX (works fine, not enough SATA ports, probably should've gone with the newer type of motherboard that has more, and the newer chipset)
- Gigabyte GV-N520OC-1GI, GeForce GT 520 Video Card, 1024MB, DDR3, PCIe-16 (works fine, i'm not a gamer)
- Intel Core i7-2600K 3.4 GHz, Socket 1155, Retail pack with fan, Sandy Bridge (works well, I don't need the K variant though, and the i5 may have been enough. The i7 with hyperthreading turned off is marginally faster than with it on for most photoshop related tasks)
- Cooler Master Silencio 550 Mid Tower Case, Black (works fine, slightly smaller than most cases so doesn't fit standard heatsinks. It's not particularly quiet either, but maybe I just need to upgrade from the stock fans).

Stuff I already had:
- OWC 60GB SSD (OS)
- OWC 120GB SSD (cache and misc)
- 3x1 and 2TB hard drives (images and data)
- Dell Monitor (widescreen - I don't like the widescreen part but otherwise it's good)

If I were buying now i'd probably get a different case, as the one I got isn't quite big enough for the original good value heatsink, and it's not crazy quiet. I'd get Noctuna fans, which are crazy quiet. I'd get the non-K version of the processor as i'm unlikely to overclock, and I haven't max'd out the CPU yet, it's I/O and software limited. I'd get a motherboard with more SATA ports too. But overall i'm happy with it.

I just got a Dell 21.5" widescreen monitor. It looks good, nice image and colors, but it doesn't have enough vertical height for me. I may keep it for a while then upgrade to one of their larger, non-widescreen monitors, or I may return it right away. I got it for a crazy price and my old monitor was on the way out.

IVY bridge is coming soon and the SB-E series is out now but very pricey. I have the i72600k and it is enough for most anything. The only thing I would get is a better PSU like a corsiar HX650. They are more stable than the Antec one you picked. Do not under estimate the importance of a solid PSU. It can cause all sorts of issues. Also grab an Antec 620 H20 cooler or a corsair H60 for space and noise. Air cooling can work but it does take up a ton of space and can be very loud. I have the Antec 620 and run eyefinity and 2 6970 ATI cards with a bucnh of extra fans and in demanding programs like Prime 95 my CPU barely gets to 58 degrees with my radiator fan cranked up to 2200rpm. Also the case you pick is going tohave a big impact on cooling. My Silverstone Raven 02E is a great air cooling case and mounts the mobo so the GPu is vertical and allows for better cooling of the entire board by the 3 bottom fans. I know you are not a gamer but the cooler you board and CPU run the better. Also make sure you plug those SSD's into the Intel 6gb SATA ports for best performance and the HDD's it doesnt really matter which 3gb ports you run. MArvell controllers do suck though.

tim wrote in post #13408828
Here's my final list
- Antec High Current Gamer HCG-520, 520W ATX PSU, Active PFC, Black (works fine, would buy modular in future)
- LG Electronics GH22NS70 DVD Writer, DVD 16R/22W/8RW, CD 48R/48W/32RW, Internal, SATA, Black, OEM (works well)
- Corsair Vengeance CML16GX3M4A1600C9, 4x4GB, DDR3-1600, PC3-12800, CL9, DIMM, Low profile (works well)
- Cooler Master RR-B10-212P-G1, CPU Cooler, 120mm, Black (good cooler but too big for my case, I got a Notcuna NH-C14 instead)
- Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3R-B3 Motherboard, Socket 1155, Intel P67, 4xDDR3, 2xPCIe-16, 3xPCIe-1, RAID, ATX (works fine, not enough SATA ports, probably should've gone with the newer type of motherboard that has more, and the newer chipset)
- Gigabyte GV-N520OC-1GI, GeForce GT 520 Video Card, 1024MB, DDR3, PCIe-16 (works fine, i'm not a gamer)
- Intel Core i7-2600K 3.4 GHz, Socket 1155, Retail pack with fan, Sandy Bridge (works well, I don't need the K variant though, and the i5 may have been enough. The i7 with hyperthreading turned off is marginally faster than with it on for most photoshop related tasks)
- Cooler Master Silencio 550 Mid Tower Case, Black (works fine, slightly smaller than most cases so doesn't fit standard heatsinks. It's not particularly quiet either, but maybe I just need to upgrade from the stock fans).

Stuff I already had:
- OWC 60GB SSD (OS)
- OWC 120GB SSD (cache and misc)
- 3x1 and 2TB hard drives (images and data)
- Dell Monitor (widescreen - I don't like the widescreen part but otherwise it's good)

If I were buying now i'd probably get a different case, as the one I got isn't quite big enough for the original good value heatsink, and it's not crazy quiet. I'd get Noctuna fans, which are crazy quiet. I'd get the non-K version of the processor as i'm unlikely to overclock, and I haven't max'd out the CPU yet, it's I/O and software limited. I'd get a motherboard with more SATA ports too. But overall i'm happy with it.

I just got a Dell 21.5" widescreen monitor. It looks good, nice image and colors, but it doesn't have enough vertical height for me. I may keep it for a while then upgrade to one of their larger, non-widescreen monitors, or I may return it right away. I got it for a crazy price and my old monitor was on the way out.

Thanks for your thoughts HDR fan It's all build, working, and stable, so I won't be changing anything any time soon.

I looked at water cooling, but the noise from the condenser unit put me off. My CPU heatsink works well and is virtually silent. It's the case fans that are a bit loud, but Noctuna case fans are too expensive in NZ to bother with.

My SSDs are 3G only so it doesn't matter which ports I use. I think I put them on the 6G ports anyway.

I read reviews and lab tests for my PSU, it tests very well. I'd rather have a modular PS, but not for triple the price, which is what they are here.

My case is designed for silence, not cooling, but it does pretty well anyway. From memory I get about 52 degrees with prime95. I deleted it so I can't double check.

You don't ever need to do water cooling unless you're going to overclock...and there's no need to do that unless you're going to use it for serious gaming; and maybe not even then, depends upon the game.