An evaluation please

[bob windom]

As a neophyte to this business of building a computer I would appreciate an evaluation of my components as listed below. It seems like I am asking for a lot but it would obviously help my state of mind for opinions and suggestions from those that know what they are doing for I certainly have no clear ideas, especially after looking for weeks at all of the available component items. I will be using the computer primarily for photo editing as I am a photographer so Photoshop and Lightroom are my primary software items. I will probably stick with XP as I have heard so many complaints about Vista. I do no gaming so that does not enter into the picture. My 4MB of RAM is probably not necessary but I am looking into the future. Many thanks in advance.

Processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775
Newegg Item #N82E16819115029

Motherboard:
Asus P5K-E LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
Newegg Item #N82E16813131225

Hard Drive:
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0 Gb/s Hard Drive
Newegg Item #N82E16822136074

Video Card:
PNY VCG7900SXPB GeForce 7900GS 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI EXPRESS x16 SLI Supported Video Card
Newegg Item #N82E168114133186

Power Supply:
CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 520W POWER SUPPLY 100-240 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC CLASS B, TUV, CCC, C-tick
Newegg Item #N82E16817139001

Memory:
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory (I will order two for I want 4GB RAM)
Newegg Item #N82E168220145590

DVD:
ASUS BLACK 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 14X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB CACHE SATA 20X DVD+-R DVD BURNER WITH LIGHTSCRIBE
Newegg Item #N82E16827135156

Case:
LIAN LI PC-61 USB BLACK ALUMINUM ATX MID TOWER COMPUTER CASE
Newegg Item # N82E16811112025

[dmethoxibit]

that motherboard might be a little too much if your not gonna do any gaming...

[The Wise Monkey]

Good for future proofing though. :)

You may want to invest in a quad core CPU if you are doing a lot of processor intensive work, such as video editing, image editing etc. The Q6600 is a very good CPU at a good price.

[Jamie Nixx]

Very good for future proofing but major overkill.

Go on, put an 8800GT in there and play some games, i know you want to :p ;)

[bob windom]

Jamie - I appreciate your quick response and comment but where exactly is my major overkill?

[Jamie Nixx]

Well for a start, the motherboard, the PSU, the memory, the processor.

All gaming components, especially the memory and PSU.

Photo editing doesn't require a beastly computer like you chose.

Personally i would drop the E6750 and go for a Q6600 which is a superb multi tasking CPU, something which would benefit you with photo editing.

Drop the PSU to a 500w Antec or similar, you don't need the Corsair.

The Corsair XMS is incredibly cheap with its $40 rebate so that can be excused but the motherboard? having the P35 chipset would not benefit you in any way, go for a cheaper board such as the Asus P5N-E.

[bob windom]

Thank you for your expertise and quick response and I will make some changes as you suggest. If you lived near Seattle, Washington I would buy your lunch for your trouble! Again many thanks--

[Jamie Nixx]

No problem.