Advice wanted on building my own graphic design pc.

I'm a photographer and painter who uses Photoshop and other image editing/web authoring software for my personal work. I will be scanning photo negatives and eventually outputting digital negatives and digital prints, etc...

I've decided I want to build a computer specifically for the work I am doing. I don't need a "gaming" machine with video graphics, but still something with powerful graphics, lots of memory, and set up for editing some large file size images. 2 CRT monitors.

The more powerful ready made machines I see are set up for gaming, video editing, consumer digital camera stuff, and internet browsing. I feel like I would rather spend my money on memory and the right graphics card and cpu for MY use, and leave out all the other bells and whistles.

I have experience upgrading my computers with new drives, memory, etc, so I'm not scared to open the case and poke around in there . I also have a brother who is an electronics geek and has built several gaming goliaths himself... so I always have "phone support" from him, which makes me braver than I'd be otherwise. And then I have MajorGeeks!!! :major

So... I'm thinking AMD Athlon, but I don't have a clue about graphics cards or anything else.... What kind of system would YOU suggest for my needs?

Thanks!!!
Susan