Mac Pro buying advice for Graphic Design

I am going to be purchasing a Mac Pro and was hoping I could get some advice on the right set-up for what I do. I use CS4 heavily on the Mac for graphic design spending a good amount of time in Photoshop working with files that can easily go over a few gigs (when working on convention booth displays, etc.). I also use my Mac for casual video editing in iMovie, and use Apple's other great offerings like iWeb, iPhoto, etc.
My main questions are:
- I'm leaning towards the Quad. I keep my Macs for at least 5 years. Is that a good decision?
- If I do go with the Quad should I opt for the 2.66 or 2.93?
- At the moment I am running 8 Gig on my current Mac, should I configure this new one with 8 Gig?
- Is the Radeon the correct card choice for a heavy Photoshop user?
I hope these questions aren't ones that have been asked a thousand times. It's a lot of money to spend (especially right now) and I want to make sure I configure it correctly for what I do.
Thank you in advance for your input.

Hi hatter,
Thank you again for your responses. That really helps clear up the RAM situation. I think that is part of what swayed me towards the 8-Core as opposed to the Quad. Please correct me if I am wrong, but looking at prices of RAM on Crucial I see that if I wanted today to put 16 Gigs of RAM in a Quad-Core it would cost me $1200 (for 4 4-Gig chips using all slots). However if I was going to put 16 in the 8-Core I could do it for $400 (8 2-Gig chips using all slots. Actually it would only be $200 more since I configured my Mac with 4 2-Gig chips from Apple for an extra $100). Seems like having more slots open will save me money when I want to upgrade ram since I don't have to go for the 4-Gig chips. That coupled with the theory that Snow Leopard is around the corner and will take advantage of the 8-Core it seems like opting for a low end 8-Core vs a high end Quad is worth the $300 difference.
Side note: Are there any reports that say running more 2GB chips is worse than running fewer 4GB chips? Just curious.
Even though I understand that the processor speed makes a difference I am hoping that the advantages of more RAM slots and future benefits of Snow Leopard, CS5 and other apps that will take advantage of the 8-Core in the near future will make it the right decision. If I could afford a faster 8-Core obviously I would opt for that but with a jump of $1,400 to the next processor speed I am afraid it is out of my reach.
Regardless I'm sure I will feel very spoiled as soon as I unwrap this beast and get it up and running. Then in a year I'll give into the temptation of slipping a SSD in for the boot drive and I'll have to find a way to contain my excitement. I have a SSD on my laptop and WOW what an amazing difference it really is.
Wow, these forums are great. I can't believe how helpful all of your responses have been. I feel much more informed and was able to order my Mac today not feeling like I was shopping in the dark.
Thank you all again!

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I came from a MacBook, the very first MacBook ever, also maxed out at 2 GB (shared RAM), so I can completely relate to your frustration.
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At the Apple store, I played with the single quad-core version and was blown away by it's performance as well. Honestly, I didn't perceive any difference between the dual and the single quad versions as far as performance in Aperture and Photoshop. Of course, with half the RAM, you won't be able to have as many layers. When I used the one at the store, I was so blown away, I was afraid the dual quad version was a waste of money.
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Someday - and no one knows when that day will come - maybe all applications will be able to take advantage of the Retina display. But for the present, not many do: including all Adobe applications. There was a demo of Photoshop at the Apple World Wide Developers Conference of Photoshop running at native Retina resolutions but no one at Adobe in marketing is saying when, if or how the upgrade may be coming. It could be a week, it could be a year, it could be 2-3 years. No one knows. And only Apple app's (for the main part) are really utilizing the native Retina display.
I've seen some demos of some applications (Apple's) that take advantage of the Retina display and they're awesome. But in actually working in the here-and-now I've heard quite a few gripes, particularly on the Photoshop forum, of menus looking pixelated and/or 'blurry' so I'm not quite ready to jump into the Retina display boat just now. Don't get me wrong - others have ad are very, very pleased with their selection. But until Retina displays are available on larger monitors, the maximum work area that you're going to be able to use is 15" - and that's simply not enough room for full-blown graphic design. Then there's the cost factor - for the $4,000+ you spend for a completely full-blown Retina kit, you can get a standard MacBook Pro, 16 GB of RAM, a fast SSD and even the Apple Thunderbolt Display for the same amount.
The standard MacBook Pro isn't better than the Retina display: it's just different. And I think (and this is only my opinion - other graphic designers should feel free to jump in here) that it's the best computer that you can get for your specific purposes. And, towards that goal, I have to recommend a very good external monitor (there's nothing more annoying than having to use InDesign in a single-page mode rather than side-by-side because your monitor isn't big enough).
Remember that this is only my opinion and that others might jump in with their own. But I was in the electronic pre-press business for more years than I care to admit and we always - always - worked with at least 19" monitors (and that's back when dinosaurs actually ruled the world).
I hope that others will jump in with their comments. I'm going to follow this thread and see!
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Thanks for answer!
That means I should take the Dual Core (i5),because I don't play games very often.
But Portal 2 should work?!
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Please explain with more information

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