A new work build

[johns996]

This has probably been asked a million times but I'm going to ask it again.

I'm building a new computer to use at work and I have a pretty decent budget to use. Having only built machines for gaming before I'm kind of at a loss. Without going into the details of my questions, I'll tell you what I know.

This computer will be used for photoshop (large scale 300 dpi images) flash, dreamweaver, office apps, and other Web content tools. I'll be running a testing install of Apache/PHP/MySQL with a limited number of users hitting it (no more than 5) and I'll probably be playing with FreeBSD, linux distros and as much of the other open source stuff that I can cram into a work week.

With this in mind, here are the components I've already decided on:

• Wacom Intuos3 Graphics Tablet
• Apple 24" Studio Display
• IBM 17" LCD (I already have this in my office, it will just serve as a secondary display).

After removing the cost of these things from the budget, I have $1,368 left. If you were in my place, what would you build?

At this point I'll list what I'm considering for those who don't want to create an entire build just for this post. I'm not sold on any of these choices so feel free to tear the whole thing down.

• AMD Opteron 170 1GHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor
• OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Dual Channel Platinum
• ABIT KN8 Ultra ATX AMD
• XFX Geforce 6800 XTreme PVT42EUDE3
• FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX500-A, 2.0 version, 2 SATA, PCI Express, 500W
• Western Digital Raptor 74GB 3.5" Serial ATA150
• Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 SATA NCQ 3Gb/s 250GB 3.5" Hard Drive
• PLEXTOR Black IDE DVD Burner Model PX-740A/SW-BL
• SAMSUNG Black Internal Floppy Drive Model SFD321B/LBL1
• Lian Li PC-61 Black Computer Case

Some of the questions I have regarding this build: Athlon or Opteron; AMD or Intel; OCZ or Corsair memory; X800/6800 or FireGL/Quadro; and about a million more.

 

[Slartibartfast]

You can save yourself $20 by only getting one burner and putting in a regular cd/dvd-rom

 

[johns996]

You can save yourself $20 by only getting one burner and putting in a regular cd/dvd-rom

Save money? This is a work budget and it does not know the meaning of save. If i could think of something different to get for $20, I would.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Save money? This is a work budget and it does not know the meaning of save. If i could think of something different to get for $20, I would.

You could get one of those 7-1 floppy/media readers Also are you factoring in shipping since you're on a budget?

You could also get some sort of rheobus fan speed adjuster for cheap, just to be cool

 

[dirtydr]

I would loose the 36GB raptor. That drive is now 2 generations old and is outperformed by a number of 300GB drives for the same $. In its place I would go with more RAM. Pshop is a RAM hawg as you probably already know.

 

[TheDoucheMan]

I would loose the 36GB raptor. That drive is now 2 generations old and is outperformed by a number of 300GB drives for the same $. In its place I would go with more RAM. Pshop is a RAM hawg as you probably already know.

Yeah, a 74 gig raptor is much better, and I would get a bit bigger storage drive. The best price point is around 250-300 gb. Your projects can get pretty big, and i'm sure that you will want to back them all up from the raptor somewhere else.

The cd and dvd burners are redundant. The difference in burn speed between a dvd burner and a dedicated cd burner is really negligable. The money can be spent elsewhere, or just not at all, and it will reduce clutter. If you really want two drives, you might as well get two dvd burners, your processor will easily be able to burn two discs at once.

 

[johns996]

raptor updated. cd writer is gone. i'll replace the segate with a 250 gig one.

i still am having a lot of problems deciding on a video card. it seems stupid to buy a gaming card for what i'm doing. should i get a fireGL card instead?

and yes, shipping exists in a different part of the budget.

 

[TheDoucheMan]

i really don't think that you need a firegl card. They usually use the same cores as the gaming cards but you pay an arm and a leg for them.

For photoshop, as you might know, any extra money you have should go into more ram. haha

 

[johns996]

Just switched out the Athlon with an Opteron. supposedly the increased cache will make my apps a little snappier, right? To be able to afford this switch, I changed the X800 with a 6800 and the OCZ psu to a FSP one. This is starting to shape up nicely.

Someone else also suggested finding a small (couple of gig) hard drive to use as photoshop's scratch drive. Anyone else heard of this? It won't take much to find another drive around my office, just wondering if I should start looking.

 

[PWMK2]

You won't need a 6800 for what you're doing with that machine. I'd change it out for an X1300PRO, personally. ATI is usually better for image quality as well. Save the money by getting an X1300PRO and spend it on more ram! Actually, a really high-end Photoshop computer would have 4GB of RAM.

i really don't think that you need a firegl card. They usually use the same cores as the gaming cards but you pay an arm and a leg for them.

For photoshop, as you might know, any extra money you have should go into more ram. haha

No, the FireGLs don't have the same cores, but they're for CAD workstations and 3D modeling computers and the like, so yeah, not really for photoshop.