Photoshop computer build $2000 w/monitor

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harryzedhughes

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hello, Im harry.
I am a digital painter who is in need of a new computer. (living in australia if thats relevant)and was thinking of building one myself for the first time.

to give you an idea of the kind of file sizes i would like to work on. currently i am working on a photoshop file that is 950mb it is 16000x1200pixels or 135x100cm at 300dpi so i can print it.

this is why i am trying to build a fast compute with maybe 8gb of ram. i would also like to leave room to upgrade the ram. and from this i guess i was thinking i7 870 (apparently very good for photoshop http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i5,2410-12.html ) i think because it has hyperthreading it can handle lots of ram? and will be able to handle more ram in the future.

i found this site: http://www.hardware-revolution.com/build-a-1500-computer-for-webphotoaudiovideo3d-workloads-that-you-can-be-proud-of/ for a comp i was thinking i would try and build myself. i wouldn't get as much ram or such a large ssd (to try and same some money for the monitor).

would RAID 0 be good for me?

for a video card i was thinking a Radeon HD 5770 1GB

big monitor with correct colors (close as possible to what i will be printing, )
 
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Griffolion

Griffolion

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I would suggest:

Intel I7 930
Asus P6X58D-E
12GB (6x2GB) Corsair XMS3 1333Mhz
1GB GTX 460
40GB Corsair Force Series SSD
2 x 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 in RAID 1 (mirror config for backup security)
Corsair TX 650
Any case you want.

Not sure about the monitor, maybe one of the new LED LCD monitors with the 800,000:1 contrast ratio's.
 
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Mr Pizza

Mr Pizza

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^ he lives in Australia.. not the UK.... uhh..

change the ssd from above ^
to an OCZ 40GB Vertex 2

and get 6gb of ram and see how it is and if you really need more after that, get more.

and get some g.skill ram ;)
 
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Griffolion

Griffolion

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I merely used Scan because i have that site to hand. The OP can try and look for that same monitor in Australian based retailers.

Both the Vertex 2 and Corsair Force series have Sandforce controllers (therefore very fast) and support TRIM, the Corsair one appeared to be cheaper from what i saw so thats what i recommend.

6GB will suffice but i put 12 to account for any increase in activity he may see in the future.
 
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harryzedhughes

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ok so this is the build so far,
compbuilde.jpg

mostly what you mentioned Griffolion (thanks for the advice), and then with some changes thanks to Mr. Pizza.

the one thing i have changed is the Intel I7 930 to the 870 because i thought this would be better for photoshop. am i wrong?

anything else i need? photoshop scratch disk?
sp12 do you think it would be better to leave my disks out of raid and use one as back up. or get an external disk instead?

ps. prices are in australian. +11$ postage. and i wouldnt want to spend too much more money.
 
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sp12

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RAID is good for availibility (I'd take a daily backup over it), but you should really look into an offsite backup location.

In the event of a fire, virus, accidental deletion, power issue, windows crash, or what have you, raid offers no protection, but does have physical protection. An unraided drive covers deletion, virus, and physical crash on a per day basis.

An offsite backup covers everything but physical crash since the last backup.
 
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Shadow703793

Shadow703793

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Intel I7 930
Asus P6X58D-E
12GB (6x2GB) Corsair XMS3 1333Mhz
1GB GTX 460
40GB Corsair Force Series SSD
2 x 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 in RAID 1 (mirror config for backup security)
Corsair TX 650
Any case you want.
Click to expand...
+1. Only thing I would change is the 40GB SSD to at least a 80GB. Having a lot of RAW images stored while editing (temporarily) along with the OS + programs leave little extra space on a 40GB. Drop down to 6GB if needed. For RAM, either GSkill or Corsair. Stay away from OCZ and PNY imo.


DO realize RAID 1/5 offers NO protection in case of a virus,etc. I recommend a good back up plan consisting of backing up online (ie SkyDrive,Dropbox,etc; obviously, encrypt before storing online) along with backing up to a external USB/eSATA drive. Also realize RAID 0 only increase throughput and not access times,etc
 
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cp9831

cp9831

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If you are wanting the i7 870 you'll need a 1156 socket motherboard instead of a 1366 board, something like the ASUS P7P55D-E. Also you only need one power supply. :)
 
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4745454b

4745454b

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I would keep the earthwatts as its cheaper. Will this computer be doing any gaming? If no, does the version of PS you use support CUDA? If not, then you have way overkill on the GPU. Even if it does you still might have to much GPU. Spending $275 on something that is just going to put the pixels on the screen is way overkill if you can get a $60 card to do the same thing.

I know they are working on (have?) plug ins for PS that will apply filters using the GPU instead of the CPU. If you don't have this, and aren't playing games then the GTX460 is way overkill.
 
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harryzedhughes

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thanks again everyone! i

firstly, 4745454b, i would like to be using PS cs5 which i think supports CUDA, i know cs4 does. i do know that it needs to support OpenGL.
i would also like to do more 3d modeling, and video editing.
i would like to try some of the newer games but this is a low priority.

SHadoW703793 and Griffolion you have both suggested the i7 930 instead of the 870 i have researched this more myself now. it seems that the 1156 socket motherboards only have 4 dimm sockets ( i was wanting to be able to add more ram in the future). this is the store im looking in: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=138_711_897

so yeah im leaning towards the i7 930

i think ill get 3 x 2gb of g. skill ram. would PC3 16000 Ram be much better than PC3 12800?
 
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harryzedhughes

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thanks everyone its really great to get an opinion when spending a lot of money!
ok i have updated the build thanks to your suggestions, here it is:
17043847.jpg


and im thinking of this monitor: http://www1.ap.dell.com/au/en/home/...spx?refid=monitor-dell-u2311h&s=dhs&cs=audhs1


i have downgraded the graphics card as it was possibly overkill

and left allot of room for installing more ram, ill try 6gb first.

i am hoping a 60gb SSD will be enough, as i couldn't find an 80gb one and the 120gb ones are pricey.

guess i still need a disk drive... anything else Ive forgotten?

comments?
 
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H

harryzedhughes

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built it now. it is awsome!
however for anyone else setting out to use this motherboard and cpu in combination i will warn you that it does take quiet a bit of force, firstly to clip the cpu down and secondly to lock in the cpu fan. (i didnt push hard enough when i first installed it, and was getting scary warnings about the cpu temperature) . so dont hold back! i hope i havent damaged the cpu by running it hot as i did.

everything else took a while to figure out (raid 1, etc) but i got there in the end.
thanks for the help all!
harry
 
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