DougSr,
The process of researching, ordering, assembling, configuring, and testing a system does seem intimidating as a list of tasks, but taken one step at a time, it is not difficult. The main advantage is being able to tailor a system to your use. Uses drive the choice of programs, the programs drive the choice of components, the choice of components drive integration as a system. The compatibility of components is high, there are thousands of YouTube videos- the problem is sorting out good ones- and building your system is a help in understanding the relationship of software to hardware as well as being able to do maintenance and repair.
Here is an idea for a system having some attributes useful to Photoshop, including a high clock speed, multiple cores, 16GB RAM, and a healthy HD. There is an option for graphics card as a workstation card like a Quadro or Firepro use drivers that are more image quality oriented than gaming / consumer cards that focus on frame rates in 3D. For example in certain programs / drivers, a Quadro can run 128x anti-aliasing. Much of the graphics card choice depends on other programs used and Adobe uses CUDA accleleration, so a GTX or Quadro will have some benefit. For example, if you are also using 3D and/o animation, After Effects, etc then the GTX 750, if there is video editing / Premiere, then I'd suggest GTX 580 3GB. If you are doing heavy effects processing but in 2D only, I'd suggest the Quadro K600. The more specific the definition of use, the better the system will be suited to it.
The prices are all from Newegg.com >
BambiBoom PixelPusher GrapharificadorendaBlaze PixWerkz 9000 £®©™?^(SM)©__REV 3.17.14
1. AMD FX-8350 Vishera 4.0GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-Core Desktop Processor > $200
2. Cooler Master Hyper 101i - CPU Cooler with Dual Direct Contact Heatpipes - AMD Version > $15
3. GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3P AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard > $85
3A. OPT'L> ASRock 990FX Extreme3 AM3+ AMD 990FX + SB950 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS > $110 (If the budget is flexible, a motherboard with the higher performing 990 chipset would be preferable)
4. Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model BLS2KIT8G3D1609DS1S00 > $135 (Latency=9. The 2 X 8GB allows 16GB to be added later fro 32GB)
5. GIGABYTE GV-N75TOC-2GI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB 128-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 Video Card > $170
5A. OPT'L> NVIDIA Quadro K600 VCQK600-PB 1GB GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Low Profile Workstation Video Card > $160
6. Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 ST3000DM001 3TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive > $110
7. CORSAIR CXM series CX500M 500W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply> $60
8. SAMSUNG DVD Burner 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA Model SH-224DB/BEBE - OEM > $20
9. Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case > $55
9A.OPT'L> Corsair Carbide Series 300R Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case > $70
9B.OPT'L> LIAN LI PC-7B plus II Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case > $80
10. Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit or Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit > $140
_____________________________________________________________________
TOTAL = $990
Cheers,
BambiBoom
HP z420 (2014) > Xeon E5-1620 quad core @ 3.6 / 3.8GHz > 24GB ECC 1600 RAM > Quadro 4000 (2GB)> Samsung 840 SSD 250GB /Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > AE3000 USB WiFi > HP 2711X, 27" 1920 X 1080 > Windows 7 Ultimate 64 >[Passmark system rating = 3815, 2D= 767 / 3D=2044]
Dell Precision T5400 (2008) > 2X Xeon X5460 quad core @3.16GHz > 16GB ECC 667> Quadro FX 4800 (1.5GB) > WD RE4 500GB / Seagate Barracuda 500GB > M-Audio 2496 Sound Card / Linksys 600N WiFi > Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit >[Passmark system rating = 1859, 2D= 512 / 3D=1097]
2D, 3D CAD, Image Processing, Rendering, Text > Architecture, industrial design, graphic design, written projects [AutoCad, 3ds Max, Vray, Solidworks, Sketchup, Adobe CS, WordPerfect, MS Office]