- graphic card: do not waste money on "extra super great cards that will
increase your gaming experience" or whathever is written on the colorfull box. All you need is a robust, well known chipset (I personally use an NVIDIA Geforce 6200 with 512Mb of video memory). 256 or 512 Mb of video memory is generally more than enough. (If you plan to work under linux, look after a chipset that has robust linux drivers).
I only have to add that this election depends if you are going to work for 3D or 2D works. For 2D works whatever normal card with 256 mb is enough, for 3D you need a better card.
You certainly don't need the top of the line 3D rendering system for 2D work, but better cards do give better 2D performance - I've seen both faster screen updates in some applications, and better display quality - on the same (CRT) monitor a better card can make the difference between nice and sharp and unacceptably fuzzy.
Cheers -Terry