I need to build a desktop system. Main applications:Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Flash, Director. Are AMD processors suitable for this kind of work? Or is it safer to stick to Intel? Please suggest a mid-range & high end system configuration for both processor companies. Please consider few facts before your recommendation. My area is hot. (Peak summer room temperature can be 38 C+ No AC. ) Thanks

I recommend staying with Intel for those programs, amd is gaming based unless you want to use dual core opterons which are really expensive..

as for a intel setup.. i can recommend..

P4 Dual Core Processor
7 Series 7800GT or 7800GTX nvidia graphics card
2-4GB's of DDR2 ram (as much as you can buy)
955X Express Chipset Intel Motherboard...
Good Fast 16mb Cache Sata Drives with NCQ

sorry i cant give more details, but im a AMD person and are somewhat Intel Illiterate...

or you can go the Xeon approach for quite a bit of money.

Fortunately, I'm an Intel fan so you can have an opinion from both sides of the fence!!

Intel's original 32-bit Pentium 4 processors are currently being phased out almost across the board and being replaced with their new 64-bit models. The same goes for Windows - the 64-bit version of Windows XP is now as cheap as the 32-bit version was. This could have a dramatic effect on image rendering performance when Adobe and Macromedia release the 64-bit versions of their software (assuming that they haven't already done so).

The latest range of Pentium processors now all come with a 2Mb on-board level 2 cache so the benefit of going up to Xeon processors is now negligable in a desktop computing environment.

In the UK at least, 3.4GHz and faster Pentium 4s are quite a bit more expensive than the slower models. Therefore, I would recommend a 3.0GHz Pentium 630 or 3.2GHz Pentium 640 for a mid-ranged system backed up with at least 1Gb (preferably 2Gb) of RAM. DDR2 RAM is quite affordable now and will give you a performance benefit.

As SpikedRedBull said, definitely invest a little more money in getting hard drives with a big 16Mb cache. This will give you a big boost when working with large files.

As for the temperature issue, definitely allocate some of your budget to a number of internal case fans to stop everything getting too hot and also make sure that it is all backed up by a big power supply unit (PSU) in the case. You should be looking at at least 500 watts.

For a high-end system, simply add more RAM and a faster processor

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