£800 Build for Graphic Design and Digital Art

abyzs

Distinguished
Apr 11, 2011
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18,510
Hey guys,

I am planning to upgrade my current PC by the end of this month. But because I don't know much about the technical details I thought there must be experienced users in this forum to help me out with it.

I will start to do commissions (digital art) in May/June and therefore need a fast and efficient PC to use with Photoshop CS5. Additionally, I need to create a website for myself before I can even start to take commissions.

The build:
Considering my budget of £800, I will need a new mainboard, a processor, a graphic card & RAM (two of the most important elements because I will be working with large Photoshop files (3000x3000px)), a hard drive (a minimum of 1TB would be great) and a power supply. I am also planning to get a new monitor (24"), so if you have any suggestions for monitors, please let me know (the monitor is excluded from my budget, I will be paying for it separately.. It would obviously be great if you could include the monitor in my budget :na:).

I have joined this forum just now and I'm not sure if Macs are a subject here, but I still want to mention that I have used Macs so many times and I'm just not a fan of them. I personally believe that I can build a much better PC for less money and upgrade it whenever I want to.

Thanks in advance!
Lulu
 
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/MIDI+Tower/Antec+300+Three+Hundred+Gaming+Midi+Tower+Case+-+Black?productId=31087 £46.99 inc. VAT
Antec 300 Three Hundred Gaming Midi Tower Case - Black

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies/650W+or+less/400W+Antec+High+Current+Gamer+HCG-400+ATX2.3+Power+Supply+?productId=42907 £44.99 inc. VAT
400W Antec High Current Gamer HCG-400 ATX2.3 Power Supply

http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/Intel+Core+i5-2300+2.80GHz+%28Sandybridge%29+Socket+LGA1155+Processor+-+Retail+?productId=43219 £135.59 inc. VAT
Intel Core i5-2300 2.80GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Intel+1155+H67+%28B3%29/ASUS+P8H67-M+Pro+Intel+H67+%28REV+B3%29+Socket+1155+DDR3+PCI-Express+Motherboard+?productId=43858 £89.99 inc. VAT
ASUS P8H67-M Pro Intel H67 (REV B3) Socket 1155 DDR3 PCI-Express Motherboard

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR3/Dual+Channel+1333MHz/8GB+Mushkin+Silverline+%23996770+%282x4GB%29+DDR3+1333MHz+9-9-9-24+?productId=41882 £69.95 inc. VAT
8GB Mushkin Silverline #996770 (2x4GB) DDR3 1333MHz 9-9-9-24

http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/1TB+Samsung+HD103SJ+SpinPoint+F3+SATA-II+3.5%22+Hard+Drive+?productId=37726 £37.19 inc. VAT
1TB Samsung HD103SJ SpinPoint F3 SATA-II 3.5" Hard Drive

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/NVIDIA/NVIDIA+GT+430+Series/EVGA+GeForce+GT+430+512MB+GDDR3+PCI-Express+Graphics+Card+?productId=44168 £44.99 inc. VAT
EVGA GeForce GT 430 512MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Blu-Ray+%2F+DVD+Drives/DVD%C2%B1RW+Dual+Layer+Writers/Sony+Optical+DVD+Writer%2C+AD-5260S-0B%2C+SATA%2C+Black%2C+OEM+?productId=40716 £14.99 inc. VAT
Sony Optical DVD Writer, AD-5260S-0B, SATA, Black, OEM

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Software/Operating+Systems/Microsoft+Windows+7+Home+Premium+64+Bit+-+OEM+?productId=38272 £75.59 inc. VAT
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - OEM
 

abyzs

Distinguished
Apr 11, 2011
2
0
18,510
Thanks for your detailed answer!



Can you recommend any tower case that comes with a power supply?




This motherboard looks very decent, thank you very much for that




I don't consider getting any of these because I already have a DVD Writer and Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit. This will save me around £90, should I invest that money in something else for this build?
 
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/226654 £69.99 inc. vat Free Delivery
Antec VSK 2450P Mid Tower Case with 450W PSU 120mm Rear TwoCool Fan

I buggered up with that vid card up above. You want something with more memory and better shader clock like this one down below.

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/NVIDIA/NVIDIA+GT+440+Series/EVGA+GeForce+GT+440+1024MB+GDDR3+PCI-Express+Graphics+Card+?productId=44171 £66.53 inc. VAT
EVGA GeForce GT 440 1024MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card

You have three options that I see with the money left over.

1) Another set of that RAM would be the first choice imo

2) anything left over with that put towards the monitor

3) last choice would be to put it towards an SSD