[Solved] Ultimate $4000 Workstation Build - No Games

Hi, I'm looking to upgrade my aging PC and the prime objective is to create the fastest workstation machine, within reason. By "within reason", I mean that a Core i7 950 processor will be good enough, and I don't need a processor like the $3000 Intel Xeon MP X7460 CPU.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Sometime in the next 6 months - I'm willing to wait if good new technology is on the horizon.

BUDGET RANGE: Up to $4000 (Including a 24" LCD)

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Photoshop, Illustrator, Office. No Games (seriously). The thing is that I want the machine to boot in 10 seconds, load Photoshop in a split second, and load Firefox with a lot of add-ons in less than 2 seconds. It seems to me that my key bottle neck on my current machine is hard drive access for application loading, even though I have 2 WD Raptors in Raid as the primary drive.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: http://www.ncix.ca

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada

PARTS PREFERENCES:
- Definitely planning to use two Intel X25-M 80GB 34NM Postville hard drives in Raid 0 for the boot and application hard drive
- Thinking of using the Core i7 line of CPUs

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe - I'm willing to overclock if it just means going into the bios and pushing up the FSB a little. I'm not willing to spend days learning how to overclock and tweaking settings to push it to the limit. I'm willing to invest in some quality air cooling, but don't need some kind of crazy water cooled system.

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No - Video card just needs to do basic Photoshop. No games and no video encoding.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Assume 1920x1200 (I'm looking for advice on a good 24" LCD)

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

I'm thinking about building a system with 16gb of ram (or more), but I have heard that a 32-bit OS will not let me use more that 3gb of that, so the rest would be a waste. Is that true? Can applications (like Photoshop CS4) use the extra ram on a 32-bit OS?

Should I get a 64-bit OS? If I do, will I have a hard time finding drivers for my components?

Should I wait for Windows 7 to come out before I build this new machine?

Should I wait for any new bleeding edge hardware that's supposed to be coming out soon?


Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Darren

First off, you'd be insane to build a system you are proposing and not putting a 64-bit OS on it. If you actually need 16GB I can't really say either, since anything I usually do when tinkering with photoshop doesn't bog down my system, and I just have 4GB. As for video cards, if you're really not that picky, just get one that is most friendly to your budget. You could possibly find a workstation class card that is great at GPU calculations, but really not suited to gaming. Problem is they cost way more than consumer cards.

For monitor, since you are looking for more professional grade stuff, I'd say look at the 2408 WFP from Dell. There are better monitors out there, but not many that are high quality AND at a good price.

I'm having a hard time understanding why you'd want to spend anywhere near 1000$ for the system you're proposing, let alone 4000$. You can easily build a computer that will do everything you want, extremely quickly for quite cheap.

i7 920 / asrock x58 /6x2gb 1333mhz+ /antec truepower 750watt/2 samsung f3 500gb-1tb/ 4770 or 5770 for lower power draw/ Any case/core contact freezer cpu cooler w/ 1366 bracket

That would be a sad waste of your money

IN REPLY TO VORLESS:

I like the look of that CPU. Seems like good advice on the ram.

I'm wondering if the graphics card and powersupply might be overkill?

the i7 975 aint really worth it,its pretty easy to overclock the i7 920 to i7 975 speeds thats why i included one of the best air coolers,

Yeah but he said he wanted top of the line, and you can OC the 975 wayyyyyyyyyy better.

You want the best?...
OK, This is about as good as you can get...

I agree with Vorless's choices for motherboard, CPU, but get 2 of the solid state drives he mentioned and run them in a RAID 0 configuration for the fastest speed. (This will allow your system to boot and programs to load instantly.) Solid state drives can be spendy but that is where you will get the biggest increase in speed so if you can manage to budget for 2 of them go for it.

CPU:
Core i7 975 Extreme Edition (fastest CPU available) (easily overclockable)

Memory:
16GB isn't really an optimum option. With the i7 motherboards they can run memory in triple channel mode. But you would need a set of 3 or 6. So for the best speed these are you best options.
2GB sticks X 3 = 6GB which is less than you wanted
2GB sticks X 6 = 12GB which is less than you wanted
4GB sticks X 3 = 12GB which is less than you wanted
4GB sticks X 6 = 24GB which is more than you wanted and would account for a little under 25% of you total budget
I suggest you choose one of the 12GB options!
(obsidian86 made a good choice for memory)

Video Card:
You don't nessarily need a super top end video card for 2D (photoshop etc).
If you want to save a few bucks get the video card obsidian86 mentioned. I promise you won't be dissapointed!

Case:
Antec 1200 (Up to you really not going to effect anything but cooling)

CPU Fan and Heatsink:
Obsidian86 has made the right choice.

Power Supply:
I would get a PC Power and Cooling about 750 watts or so...
The one obsidian chose might do the trick.. personally I would rather have a few extra watts than to have the system reboot cause it was drawing to much power from the power supply

+1 for obsidian86's build.

@OP: Depending on how complex your stuff are and given your budget, have you considered a 2P system? Also if this is some serious Photoshop work, I HIGHLY recommend you spend a good part of your budget on a good LCD (or 2). Also, are the Raptors you have the VelociRaptors or the older Raptors?

As for GPU, even a 4670/4850 will do fine. Unless doing real 3D renderings/CAD no need for a workstation card as you plan to run Photoshop.

Also, what Photoshop version? CS4? If you have anything older than CS3 you may want to upgrade to CS4 to get a better multi threaded advantage.

Wow. Thanks so much for all the advice guys. You seriously rock.

I definitely have what I need to put together an awesome build now. Thanks!