$1500 build for PS/Maya work

[ripken204]

I have a friend who is asking for a recommendation of what to get.
His work is primarily heavy Photoshop and Maya work.

He is telling me that he does not want to get a professional graphics card yet for it since he just really cannot afford it..

Anyways, for $1500, what would be best for him?
He needs everything case and hardware.

I am thinking at least an i5 with a lot of ram and a 5870.

I have been somewhat out of the hardware loop this year so if you guys could help me decided what would be best that would be great!

[CryptiK]

Photoshop can use a lot of ram when using large images, an X58 (perhaps a Gigabyte UD3R?) with 12GB + i7 920 should be fine. Not sure about vid card, if he doesnt game and just wants a desktop pc for work then anything should do until he wants to get something specific. For case, HDD etc just get whatevers suitable and at a good price, HDD needs to suit his storage needs, preferably 2 drives so the scratch disk can be on second drive. The monitor will probably be pricey, he'll want an IPS panel probably for best colour rendition (unless he already has one but you said 'everything').

[beaker7]

nVidia cards are a better bet for Maya. ATi is notorious for viewport problems with it. In the Maya community the 260 is generally considered best bang/buck. Also - SLI will add nothing with DCC apps so don't bother.

[Forin]

AMD CPU/AM3,4GB RAM, ATI HD48** @ Firepro mod, $$ saved for display.

If you need Intel - P55, ..