Upgrade advice (core 2 or i7)

[mamw93]

Wait a while to get the i7 cause there is already a new line of them coming out and the new ones that are out now will no longer be the greatest thing ever. Get a Core 2 Quad and overclock the hell out of it, (liquid is necessary.)

 

[jamoramaJAM]

Ok, you guys have been great so far. Free advice at its finest. I'm very grateful - believe me.

My shopping cart is getting more and more full (newegg) and I'm nearing the checkout aisle. I have decided on i7 because I'd like have this system last a long while. I seem to upgrade in great strides, so I might as well make the next leap a good one! And I plan on upgrading fully 64-bit because by the sound of some of your experience things are much more fluid and responsive at this state.

Intel Core i7 920 $406.79
ASUS P6T Deluxe $387.01
OCZ Platinum Edition 8GB (4 x 2GB) $125.42
EVGA 512-P3-N954-TR GeForce 9500 GT $101.00
CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 power supply $128.24
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB x2 (RAID 0) $151.40
Pioneer 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model DVR-116DBK - OEM $28.24
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit $169.49

TOTAL SO FAR *** $1,497.59 *** (CA$ and taxed without shipping costs)

Notes:
(1) I've always relied on raid 0 for performance and it's yet to let me down. I generally save (or backup) documents on other drives so I'm prepared to lose my system files and re-install in the event of a failure.

(2) Not sure about 8GB DDR3 vs. 6GB DDR3 configuration. With 8 I'm losing the "triple channel" feature. I'm on the fence because I read (and trust) above that photoshop benefits from an 8GB setup.

(3) Also not sure about cooling. I'll probably attempt to overclock the processor after I read on the subject some more. Not sure if I should stick with the included heatsink given my computing needs (photoshop)

Thanks again guys! This has been a great discussion thus far!

Since you have made your decision on the core i7, I thought I would show you some of jsv35's "budget builds" http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/172986.aspx
(These are US prices)

If you're getting a new i7 system, I would not skimp out on the graphics card, since cs4 takes advantage of it (not sure how much, but it does), and I would get a ATI 4870 or GTX260 or better. Also, get either 6gb or 12 gb of ram, since it prefers [strike]dual[/strike]triple channel.

[strike]Really, though... unless I am not understanding your situation or something, those prices are wayyyy tooo high. i7 should cost ~270, mobo should be 200-300, ram is a little high as well, burner should be ~22 for a sata connection, and vista should be hovering around 100.[/strike] I think I mistook CA for california =D (if you meant canada)

 

[Pearlallica]

Final update to conclude the original post:

hey guys, gotta give ya'll some sincere credit. My computer knowledge has come a long way from all those years and I've finally decided on a rig that satisfies my photographic needs.

I put in an order this morning with newegg.ca (finally!) after much deliberation (and saving up). I'm feeling really strong about my choices, and I don't have a single computer literate person in my life I can share these specs with that might have an ounce of appreciation for what they are... so here I go:

Thermaltake Spedo VI90001N2Z Black 0.8 mm SECC Steel ATX Full Tower
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB (x2) Raid 0 - SYSTEM DRIVE (and photo storage)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB - PROGRAM DRIVE
WD Raptor 360 74GB (x2) - Raid 0 - PHOTOSHOP CACHE DISK (already own these)
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
ZALMAN CNPS9900LED 120mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler
EVGA E758-A1 3-Way SLI (x16/x16/x8) LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor
SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5

total was 1,977.67 Canadian

Our US/Canadian dollar is really close today... more than it has since the start of the recession. I WISH I could have used the US newegg store but it's simply un-allowed.

I was scoping out the new ASUS p6t7 supercomputer mobo.. got some impressive reviews. What threw me off is that one of the reviewers said he payed 1 or 2 thousand bucks for it (forget which)... it was listed at $500... that's a big margin of... error? Plus, I can't imagine I'd benefit from it's features such as high video bandwidth.