What you need depends on the software. If you're doing 2D work, in Photoshop for example, you don't need a fast 3D graphics card, but you'll want a graphics card that handles high resolutions and textures really well. If you're doing 3D work, a professional 3D graphics card is worth shelling out for.

My setup, which works very well for my 3D work:

• Athlon64x2 4400 CPU
• MSI mainboard, nForce4 chipset
• 4x1 GB Kingston HyperX RAM DDR400
• 2x73 GB WD Raptor 10,000 RPM SATA
• 1x300 GB Maxtor 7200 RPM SATA
• nVidia 7800 GTX graphics card (a mistake, I think. I'll trade it for a 3DLabs Wildcat Realizm one of these days)
• 2x Samsung 913v 19" flatscreens (and I want to switch them for a 30" Dell Ultrasharp, when I have the money....)

This is a nice 3D box, some 6 months old. Not cheap, € 2000,- , but very fast and reliable.

One last thing - don't go cheap on the case and the PSU. A good solid case and a good PSU will make your system more reliable and will increase its lifespan.

Since DDR2 is getting cheaper these days, and DDR2 also comes in 2 GB modules, you might want to go for a DDR2 based mainboard. Make sure it has 4 memory slots, you'll want to be able to expand your memory to 8 GB when Vista finally comes out...

If you travel a lot, you also might want to buy a good laptop. Make sure you get one with a good graphics card, like an ATI FireGL or an nVidia Geforce GO. The harddisk should be at least 5400 RPM, 7200 is better, but also more expensive. Pentum M/Centrino would be a good choice - silent, not too much power consumption, and pretty fast.

Oh, and buy a switch plus some UTP cables. They're almost free (just bought an 8 port switch for € 15,-) and you can hook up your machines in a network. Great for applications that can do network rendering, also great for backing up your work.

The pen is mightier than the sword. But if you literally want to have some impact, use a typewriter

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