[Apple Corps]

I am awaiting a new QUAD and want to pre-purchase some of the needed hardware at this time. My three heaviest computing scenarios are:

1) Folding @ Home

2) Photoshop cs2 with 150MB files

3) A number of applications open and in use at one time such as Powerpoint, Safari, Mail, iTunes playing, Pages and printing.

Given the above, how much and WHAT memory (latency more than brand) should I order? What UPS (can't find the wattage for the QUAD) is appropriate - I run two Apple 20" displays and one 22" ACD? Do you really need a dedicated 20A feed? I will probably add a new Seagate 7200.9 500GB SATA II drive to compliment my 72 GB Raptor.

Your thoughts and guidance will be most appreciated - thanks

[Coheebuzz]

The real bottleneck with PS these days is not the processor speed but the disk read/write speed. 150MB files are not that large - i've worked on 2GB+ files hundreds of layers and you really feel the disk limitations there. (20 min to save) Get a second (fastest you can get) internal HDD to use as a scratch disk, it really speeds things as long as the drive is empty. And finally get as much ram as you can afford, Photoshop loves ram and this is what you need if you want to have many apps open.

[Apple Corps]

Coheebuzz - thanks for the input. It sounds as if 4 gigs of memory is shaping up as my target. Powering the QUAD is looking EXPENSIVE - 1500 watt UPS do not come cheap, and I may have to run a dedicated 20 amp circuit to the computer room - OUCH!