Need input on building a desktop for graphic design.

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peter27

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Jun 27, 2011
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One of my friends asked me to build him a work computer. He does graphic design and mostly uses Photoshop, Illustrator and Dreamweaver.

The only problem is, i don't know what kind of specs I should make it. He'd like it to be around the ~$500 range, not including monitor and HDD (he already has those)

So I'm asking for your help! Please give me suggestions as what to put in the build.

Bases for what he wants:
Intel CPU
16GB ram
Doesn't care how the case looks

Also, he won't be playing any games on it, so I'm not sure what to go with for the GPU. Would integrated be sufficient for his needs?

Thanks!
 
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inzone

inzone

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Mar 12, 2011
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I think with Graphic Design you do want a good video card.

COOLER MASTER Elite 430 RC-430-KWN1 Black Steel / Plastic Computer Case
$49.99 and a $10 rebate makes it $39.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119227

AMD A6-3670K Unlocked Llano 2.7GHz Socket FM1 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU with DirectX 11 Graphic AMD Radeon HD 6530D AD3670WNGXBOX
$104.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819106002

CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9B
$89.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145347

ASRock A75 PRO4 FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
$89.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1681315725839

CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 V2 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
$59.99 and a $20 rebate makes it $39.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027

XFX Double D HD-687A-ZDFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
$169.99 and a $20 rebate makes it $149.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150521

The total rof this work computer is $514.94 and a lot of components that I thought should have been included were left out because of price and the need to try and be within the budget. If the oerson who wants this computer would increase the budget some more you could get a really good work computer.
What I am refering to is the fact that with graphic design I'm thinking it's something like gaming with the fact that you are rendering objects and the Sandy Bridge cpu's are good at gaming so I figured it would be good at graphic design , but because of price I had to go with AMD. The decision is not mine to make so you can look at this build and decide with your friend as to what you want.
 
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inzone

inzone

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That's not the issue, the budget is and trying to be close to the budget amount and the 960t is $20 more. I don't even like AMD and I would prefer to build an Intel based Pc. You can post your build with the 960t if you want and I'll stick with the Liano and the OP can decide what he wants to do.
 
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peter27

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What did you leave out besides a DVD drive? Thanks for your help! But you don't think a 6870 is overkill? That's what I have in my gaming rig.
 
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g-unit1111

g-unit1111

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Jul 27, 2011
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What did you leave out besides a DVD drive? Thanks for your help! But you don't think a 6870 is overkill? That's what I have in my gaming rig.
Click to expand...

The 6870 is one of the best price/performance GPUs on the market right now, it's certainly not overkill, and on a design system you'll want flexibility for a multiple monitor setup, and that's where Radeon excels with Eyefinity.

That's not the issue, the budget is and trying to be close to the budget amount and the 960t is $20 more. I don't even like AMD and I would prefer to build an Intel based Pc. You can post your build with the 960t if you want and I'll stick with the Liano and the OP can decide what he wants to do.
Click to expand...

Only $20 difference? To me that would seriously be worth it. Here's what I would suggest then.

Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 - $59.99
PSU: Corsair Builder Series CX500 V2 - $59.99 ($20.00 rebate)
Motherboard: Asrock 970 Extreme 3 - $89.99
CPU: 3.0GHz AMD Phenom II X4 960T - $124.99
RAM: PNY Optima 8GB 1333MHz - $39.99
HD: Seagate Barracuda XT 500GB - $84.99
Optical: Lite On 24X DVD Burner - $17.99
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 - $149.99 ($15.00 rebate)

Total is $626.93. Without the hard drive the total is $541.94 and comes out to $506.94 with rebates.
 
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peter27

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Okay, that makes sense. What about this cpu?
 
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peter27

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Thanks for your help, I think I'll go with that board and the i3 and then the rest of the items you outlined. I'll run this by my friend and see what he thinks.
 
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g-unit1111

g-unit1111

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No problem - that should turn out to be a good system - I've been really impressed with the way my i3-2120 system turned out - it's blazing fast.
 
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