Help Me Design a Pro Graphics Work Station

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Linden

[H]ard|Gawd
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Sep 8, 2005
Messages
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I need your help in designing a *professional class graphics work station. My friend, who designs the graphics for State of Alaska interpretive signs, wishes to do the same type of work at home that she does at work. I've seen her work, and it is indeed professional.

Demands for the system:
1) Adobe Creative Suite, full edition (all the bells and whistles, which she uses)
2) ability to process huge tiff files with superbly accurate colors and geometry
3) and yes, typical PC type activities (easy stuff, no big deal)

Gaming/3D graphics is irrelevant. Mass storage, apart from her 1TB drive, for now, is not important. I can always upgrade that for her later, if she needs it.

*Budget. Alas, she's one of those users who is a wizard with software but doesn't know beans about hardware. She had thought her old home system, a Core 2 Q6600, GTX 8800 system would crunch through the same graphics processing challenges that her workplace computer does. The point is, she's spent most of her free cash on a car, and has little left for a new computer. Her budget is going to be about $2000. The only hardware I can re-use from her old computer is the hard drive, which is a fairly recent SATA 1TB drive. I don't believe anything else will be useful with the new build. She doesn't know Linux and I am not going to be a Linux instructor for her. I'm thinking Windows 8.1 with Classic Shell would serve her well.

So, what are we looking at - AMD Firepro graphics, I7 3770, 16GB DRAM? I'm open to all ideas. The key performance criteria revolves around 2-D graphics, professional quality. I don't know much about professional graphics processing - how much is CPU dependent, how much GPU/GPU accelerated, how much RAM, and so forth.

I'm looking to give her a shopping list and let her buy new components from Amazon or Newegg, that way, I'm not on the hook if her new system has a premature hardware component failure. (RMA hassle would be on her.) Help me spec out a system! I am not against a preconfigured system from HP or Dell, if the quality is there and the price is right. I am not partial to any brand name of computer or computer components.

$2000 for professional class. Yeah, go ahead and roll your eyes, but I promised I would assist her. She's the girlfriend of one of the best friends I've ever had.
 
I can't really help you with the workstation graphics card myself, but I'll start with a base you can work from:

$310 - Intel Core i7-4790 Socket 1150 quad-core processor
$100 - MSI H97 GUARD-PRO Intel H97 Socket 1150 ATX motherboard
$300 - Crucial Ballistix 4x8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$135 - Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD (primary/OS drive)
$79 - Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD (swap disk)
$18 - LG GH24NSB0B SATA DVD burner
$90 - Seasonic G Series SSR-550RM 550 watt modular power supply
$70 - Corsair 230T ATX mid-tower case
$95 - Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit OEM DVD
=====
$1197 - Total before taxes

Based on my recollection of previous Adobe-centric build requests, I went with a "greatest hits" assortment of parts:

- Intel's "mainstream" Socket 1150 lineup for cost savings
- Intel Core i7-4790 for a quad-core with Hyper Threading
- 32GB of RAM for Photoshop, Premiere, and other resource-intensive tasks
- Two SSDs since many programs prefer a swap disk that's at least as fast as the primary disk
 
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Since Adobe Creative Suite is OpenCL accelerated, I would just grab the fastest and quietest AMD gaming card you can afford..While the FirePro cards are nice, they aren't need in this case. The consumer AMD cards are OpenCL BEASTS, especially the 280X or faster..If you don't mind going used, there are Awesome deals to be had on used reference 290s (think under $300!!) that you could couple with an NZXT G10 bracket and any of the various AIO CLC WC'ing units out there..Basically have a very powerful setup that is cool and quiet for ~$400..Added to the build above, that should round things out quite nicely..
 
Thanks, guys, this is useful guidance.
1. Concerning having a second drive for swap, does the swap function happen automatically with the second drive, or is that a setting I must enable?
2. If the computer were for me, I would happily look for second hand parts. But for my friend, I want her to order all the parts new, as I do not want to be responsible for any RMA or warranty matters.
3. I understand that the biggest difference between gaming cards and 'pro' cards is the drivers, and not necessarily the hardware. What is enabled in a Firepro that would not be needed for 2-D precision graphics? I'm not challenging you, I just want to make sure my friend gets exactly what she needs.
 
You also have to realize that "workstation" graphics cards like the FirePro tend to cost two to even four times more money than gaming cards with otherwise similar specs (and in the case of Nvidia Quadro cards, they are underclocked versions of the GeForce cards that they're based on, yet cost several times more money).
 
Yes, I understand about the cost of pro graphics cards. I just have no experience configuring a 2D graphics workstation and did not know what system demands were - GPU/CPU/RAM/HD (swap). As it appears we will not need a professional card, it gives me much more flexibility in configuring a system at her budget.
 
Linden said:
Thanks, guys, this is useful guidance.
1. Concerning having a second drive for swap, does the swap function happen automatically with the second drive, or is that a setting I must enable?
2. If the computer were for me, I would happily look for second hand parts. But for my friend, I want her to order all the parts new, as I do not want to be responsible for any RMA or warranty matters.
3. I understand that the biggest difference between gaming cards and 'pro' cards is the drivers, and not necessarily the hardware. What is enabled in a Firepro that would not be needed for 2-D precision graphics? I'm not challenging you, I just want to make sure my friend gets exactly what she needs.
Click to expand...

1. You will need to set up the swap disk in PhotoShop/Lightroom etc..Its pretty easy there are a million "How To's" on Google.

2. I can certainly understand that. With the price of new quality aftermarket 290s like the Sapphire VaporX etc under the launch MSRP of $400 I would grab one of them. They are the same card as the newest FirePro models, just with less ram.

3. For 2D, nothing. For scientific programs that take advantage of "Dual Precision" Calculations, the FirePro cards are much quicker. The regular cards can still do DP work, and AMD does not handicap their cards as much as Nvidia does. Everything she will be doing will be SP, so the 290 will be just as fast as the FirePro..4GB of Vram should be plenty as well since she is staying in the 2D relm. Even with 3D modeling, it's nothing to sneeze at. AutoCAD loves my 290.
 
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