Need The Ultimate Photoshop Machine

[spid77]

hi everyone,

i'm building a machine for a friend who is a photoshop professional. could you guys help me out. ive been out of the "system buildg scene" for a year or so because of a new baby. I know he wants a pc and not a mac. I also know that he wants to keep the case compact/ modern. Uber fast cpu and ram are a priority...double processor ? As much quick ram as possible.

thanks
mike

motherboard? cpu/s ? ram ? video card ?

 

[spid77]

also, im pretty much just focused on the box here and not the monitor.

 

[rook]

Just a quick throw together

CPU: E6850 or a Q6600
MB: Intel BOXDG33TLM
Memory: G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB)
HD: 320GB
DVD: Lite On SATA DVD±R
Case: Cheap Micro case Cases are more of a personal preference.

You'd still need an OS, possibly a 64bit one to use all 4 gigs of memory, but I don't know how they "play" with photoshop.
According to Tom's CPU charts the 6850 is the fastest for Photoshop, but that is just one test so I would research a bit more to see if the rest of Photoshop will benifet from a quad core or not.
This should be a decent place to start.

 

[roadrunner197069]

Budget?

 

[spid77]

Budget?

Well, he was ready to but a G5, if thgat tells you anything. But I think hed like to keep it under 3000- 35000 and thats box only (not monitor). I dont want to say money is no object, but i could say money isnt an object within reason and common sense...i dont need a N.A.S.A. box.

 

[skittle]

Whatever you do, make sure you get a professional monitor.

 

[roadrunner197069]

Asus p35 chipset mobo.
Q6600 psu and overclock it. If you cant overclock it get the QX6850
2* 150g raptors "raid"
4 gigs cas4 ram
PSU good brand in the $70.00- $100.00 range. Your choice
cheap case
Vista 32
DVD burner
Hd DVD and Blueray combo drive
TV tuner card
8800 gt or ati 3870
multi card reader


Should be in the neighborhood of under $2000 a bit, unless you get the xtreme cpu then you will still be a tad under $3000, and your buddy will be able to have the ultimate photoshop media center.

 

[roadrunner197069]

If it were me I'd hook it up to a 1080p 42-47" LCD

 

[spid77]

Asus p35 chipset mobo.
Q6600 psu and overclock it. If you cant overclock it get the QX6850
2* 150g raptors "raid"
4 gigs cas4 ram
PSU good brand in the $70.00- $100.00 range. Your choice
cheap case
Vista 32
DVD burner
Hd DVD and Blueray combo drive
TV tuner card
8800 gt or ati 3870
multi card reader


Should be in the neighborhood of under $2000 a bit, unless you get the xtreme cpu then you will still be a tad under $3000, and your buddy will be able to have the ultimate photoshop media center.

Do all thats parts work together ? And I do think he would like a VERY fast processor and ram.

 

[StevieD]

64bit OS, 4GB RAM (minimum), quad processor, midrange graphics card and an 8bit monitor.

 

[jitpublisher]

My 2 cents, you would be happier with an ATI card for Photoshop.
Any mid-range card would do the trick, really. You don't need the lastest best DX10 gaming cards for this, they don't do a lot for Photoshop. If he wants to game with the system as well, and what the heck, it's gonna be a powerhouse, I guess you might as well be able to play a game now and then. If so, go for a an ATI 3870.
Concentrate on a fast multi-core CPU -the more cores the better.
Photoshop will make use of as many cores as you throw at it.
Lots of memory, minimum 4 gig, I would suggest 8.
I would go with Vista/XP 64 bit /Enterprise or Server editions to make use of all the memory...don't use standard XP/Vista 32 bit.
And, as you have picked out, a very fast drive or RAID setup.

 

[Joe_The_Dragon]

Asus p35 chipset mobo.
Q6600 psu and overclock it. If you cant overclock it get the QX6850
2* 150g raptors "raid"
4 gigs cas4 ram
PSU good brand in the $70.00- $100.00 range. Your choice
cheap case
Vista 32
DVD burner
Hd DVD and Blueray combo drive
TV tuner card
8800 gt or ati 3870
multi card reader

Should be in the neighborhood of under $2000 a bit, unless you get the xtreme cpu then you will still be a tad under $3000, and your buddy will be able to have the ultimate photoshop media center.

raid 0 is too much of a risk for real work and raid 1 with 2x150g may end being to small of a disk.

There are bigger sata / sas disk out there that are good for raid use.

get a real raid card and 3 or more disks for raid 5 / raid 6.

and you need vista 64 or xp 64 to make full use of the 4gb of ram.

Also a new mac pro is due soon and that may end up being a good system.

 

[roadrunner197069]

Do all thats parts work together ? And I do think he would like a VERY fast processor and ram.

Ya all the parts work together, Both processors are fast. The exreme is the 2nd best on the market. You can get the $1400 one if you want the best one on the market. The $270 one will over clock to about the same. If you dont oc you need the $$. If you do OC get the cheaper.

Vista 64 has alot of driver issues imo. Its kind of a head ache. But you will need 64 bit to use full 4g or more of ram.
But your customers components like printers and such might not work with it.

I'll build you one for $2500 and then you can resell it for $3000.00

 

[Shadow703793]

Get an at least a 500GB HDD for storage. And a WD Raptor for OS and to hold the editing files when using Photoshop. (You can move the files to another HDD after editing.)