Suggestions for Photoshop workhorse?!

[zimmzimm]

I'm looking into building my own system after years of replacing parts in my current "Dell." I was wondering if anyone could suggest an Intel Processor as well as motherboard and video card? I'm looking to do dual monitors, as well as a lot of photoshop touch up and work with vary large files.

thanks

 

[The_Prophecy]

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6300

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3

RAM: Corsair XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2-800

Video Card: eVGA Geforce 7600GT

Power Supply: Antec Truepower 480W

Monitors: 2 x LG L1752TX

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2

If you need anything else, let me know...

 

[zimmzimm]

That MB has some bad reviews, why did you suggest it? Also, the intel sounds like it runs hot and has a horrible stock heatsink, any other suggestions. Thanks for the quick reply.

 

[MagicPants]

That MB has some bad reviews, why did you suggest it? Also, the intel sounds like it runs hot and has a horrible stock heatsink, any other suggestions. Thanks for the quick reply.

Only thing to avoid is the DS3 and OCZ memory. I have one with mushkin memory and it works fine. As for E6300 running hot?? you have that wrong it runs cooler than anything but a Core 1 Duo or one of the special low power AM2s.

To really speed up photoshop go with an E6600 (bigger cache), 4 gigs of ram (try value ram from mushkin) and windows XP 64.

 

[zimmzimm]

are there any AMD chips out there that may do justice as well?

 

[CNeufeld]

Where did you get the info that those processors run hot, and the heat sinks suck? AFAIK, the Core 2 Duo run as cool as any out there; less power consumption, in any case. And sure, if you want to overclock it, you may run into issues, but even with that, the reading I've done suggests they work better than most.

Clint

 

[The_Prophecy]

CNeufeld and MagicPants are right. The Core 2's run cooler than any AMD chip (except the ultra Low power chips) and the original Core Duo chips (which were designed for the mobile platform). Whoever told you otherwise is full of sh*t. The stock heatsinks are also fine. They are even good for a 600-800Mhz overclock.

 

[ctrl_alt_del]

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6300

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3

RAM: Corsair XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2-800

Video Card: eVGA Geforce 7600GT

Power Supply: Antec Truepower 480W

Monitors: 2 x LG L1752TX

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2

If you need anything else, let me know...

Why would he need a 7600gt? Photoshop relies entireleyon the cpu.

 

[The_Prophecy]

Just in case he wanted to do some lite or moderate gaming on that system as well. If not, he can drop to a 7300GS

 

[amc482]

You could build the system above with a 6600 or 6700 and 4 gigs of ram. But if you didn't really care to DIY, I'd go for one of the new mac pros for graphic design. Those things are beasts at picture and movie editing.

plus with bootcamp you could always go back and run windows... should you have that desire. but its imho

 

[zimmzimm]

At the moment I want to stay with the platform I have. If I switch to Mac, I have to buy all new software ($$$$). And I really don't play video games at least not on my computer.

 

[zimmzimm]

what about using a ASRock ConRoeXFire-eSATA2? Would there be any draw backs?MOBO

 

[Comp98]

Like amc482 said, if you want to have a solid pre-built system (which by the sound of it looks like the direction your heading) I would consider the MacPro. Your post above makes no sense. If your really serious about not knowing about Boot Camp, take a look here:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

You'll be able to have a killer pre-built professional mac and still be able to use all your windows only software.

p.s. If your leaning towards a high end custom built workstation, go for the woodcrest Xeons on and Intel MB. It'll kill the C2D.

 

[Onthefarside]

Do you have a budget? I think it was Anandtech gave good reviews of that $55 ASrock board for C2D, it's the only one that supports AGP if you want to reuse an old graphics card. If you want to keep it cheap and still functional this mobo, e6300, 1-2 gigs of ram (i dont know how memory intesive photoshop is), and perhaps an old AGP vid card if you're really only interested in NOT gaming. If you have a little more to spend, there's a few mobos in the 100-150 range, like an intel,msi and the gigabyte DS3, a more powerfull processor, and memory with tighter timings. (like XMS)

 

[dmantech]

If you want a good AMD system try an X2 3800+ or X2 4400+ for a processor , now these days I would opt for the X2 4400+ with more cache and the price has droped quite a bit. At least get two Gigs of RAM and a X1800XT or an 7900GT the rest is up to your taste buds. Oh! and get Win XP Pro and not the Home edition.

 

[ThaCriminal]

Ive looked at a site where they did benchmark comparisons to that gigabyte mobo and the performance was pretty close between the two boards. The main drawback of this board is that if you want to run crossfire both cards will run at x4 instead of x8.

http://www.ocworkbench.com/2006/asrock/ConRoeXFire-eSATA2/g1.htm

 

[p05esto]

Only gaming really requires such powerful specs.

2GB of RAM and any regular ol P4 around 3Ghz ($100) will do you just fine. It's complete overkill to spend all that extra money. You will notice ZERO performance difference. Maybe buy a Raptor HD as Photoshop likes to swap and working with large files will depend on fast HD.

A $30 graphics card is all Photoshop needs. You will get no better performance or anything else from a better graphics card when using Photoshop.

p.s. I use photoshop daily for over 10 years.

 

[clue69less]

Only gaming really requires such powerful specs.

Depends on what you mean by "requires". The OP mentioned that he would be working with large files. I would go with an E6600 and OC moderately. That's not overkill with large files. Time is money and all that.

2GB of RAM and any regular ol P4 around 3Ghz ($100) will do you just fine. It's complete overkill to spend all that extra money. You will notice ZERO performance difference.

BS! There are plenty of benchmarks published that disprove this statement. A faster CPU performs Photoshop operations faster, period. On large image files, you can save mucho time with a faster CPU.

Maybe buy a Raptor HD as Photoshop likes to swap and working with large files will depend on fast HD.

This is true. My image editing box uses two Raptors in RAID0 for exactly this reason. I use a large RAID1 array as my final storage spot, but wait till I have a break in tha action to back up there.

A $30 graphics card is all Photoshop needs. You will get no better performance or anything else from a better graphics card when using Photoshop.

Oversimplification. Depends on monitor, image size, etc.

p.s. I use photoshop daily for over 10 years.

BFD. I taught Photoshop to global teams of imaging experts 10 years ago.

 

[clue69less]

Power Supply: Antec Truepower 480W

I don't see any reason to spend $80 on a 480 watt Antec when you can have greater design, quality and power in this mushkin for the same price.

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2

I'd be looking at more storage space than that for Photoshop box to work on large image files. Consider a couple of smaller drives set up in RAID0 as work space, then something like the Seagate above for backup.

I'd also pop the extra bucks for the E6600 CPU. Photoshop can get pretty CPU and HD intensive, so those are the areas of concern if you want to fly. A two-monitor setup as recommended by Prophecy is an excellent plan.