Help building $2000 no monitor Adobe CS6 rig

jdb264c

October 16, 2012 4:19:55 PM

Hi, I would love the communities thoughts about this build:
I'm in the process of building a new computer for my girlfriends job, with the following principles:

1. She will use it for Adobe Photoshop CS6, InDesign CS6 and Illustrator CS6.
2. She will NOT use it for video rendering.
3. She will NOT use for gaming.
4. Her only knowledge about hardware is that "Macbooks look good" so I'm thinking that it has to be really silent and look rather distinguished (i.e. no flashing lights etc).
5. The budget is rather flexible would the absolute maximum would be $20000.

She's already got an Samsung 27" SyncMaster SB970D as a monitor so there's no need for a new one.

I find the absolute hardest part being deciding between AMD/Intel on the CPU part, and AMD/nVidia on the graphics part. It seems, correct me if I'm wrong, that AMD uses OpenGL/CL in a way that for the moment would be an advantage over nVidia but I'm even less certain when it comes to the CPU. Advice appreciated!

So here's my thought and suggestions:

Case:
Fractal Design Define R4 :: $135

PSU:
Seasonic x850 850W :: $290

Fans:
Something from Fractal Design or Scythe. As a CPU fan maybe the Noctua NH-U9DX for $96

System HD:
Samsung 830 Series MZ-7PC128 128GB :: $128

Scratchdisk for Adobe programs:
Samsung 830 Series MZ-7PC064 64GB :: $92 (Or maybe switch the system and the scratch disk)

General HD:
Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 64MB 2TB :: $223

CPU:
AMD FX-Series FX-8150 3,6GHz Socket AM3+ :: $230

Motherboard:
Asus Crosshair V Formula-Z :: $323

Graphics card:
Some Radeon 7970, not quite sure yet, possibly ASUS. :: Approx $540

RAM:
G.Skill TridentX DDR3 PC19200/2400MHz CL10 2x8GB

So, what should I change? Gladly anticipating the verdict from the forum!

Regards
Johan

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g-unit1111

October 16, 2012 5:34:06 PM

Do not purchase an FX-8150 for Photoshop / CS5. It will be very frustrating to work with. Go with Intel X79 on a $2K build or the 3770K instead. You will greatly benefit from hyper threading on this kind of a rig. 850W will be way overkill for this kind of system. You don't need a 7970 either for Photoshop, and that RAM will not be fully utilized. I think I would ditch that whole build.

Try something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($569.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock X79 Extreme6 ATX LGA2011 Motherboard ($238.49 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($154.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung Spinpoint F4 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Plextor M5S Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti 3GB Video Card ($327.55 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Phantom (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($22.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 Professional (OEM) (64-bit) ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $2073.94
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

The extra cores and more RAM will help with big Photoshop and CS5 files.

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malbluff

October 16, 2012 6:03:07 PM

A lot depends, of course, on quantity of work, and budget. If your friend is totally not requiring any gaming capabilty, it could be worth getting a workstation graphics card. A quadro 4000 would give exceptional performance, although probably much too expensive. A 2000 is, however, more affordable, and will still give a lot better performance than a consumer graphics card.

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g-unit1111

October 16, 2012 6:09:45 PM

malbluff said:

A lot depends, of course, on quantity of work, and budget. If your friend is totally not requiring any gaming capabilty, it could be worth getting a workstation graphics card. A quadro 4000 would give exceptional performance, although probably much too expensive. A 2000 is, however, more affordable, and will still give a lot better performance than a consumer graphics card.

Yeah but a single Quaddro 4000 will cost you nearly $800. The new Keppler based K5000 runs nearly $1800. :ouch:

Better would be to go with a Fire Pro V5800 - that will set you back $650 and will be better for Photoshop than a 7970 will.

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