New PC build request

[girl]

Hiya

I am in need of another computer. Any help you can offer on the build would be greatly appreciated!

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
- I am a graphic designer & also work on photos and videos for commercials (just local stuff).. Basically Adobe CS5, mainly Photoshop. In regards to gaming, I like to play WoW off & on.... Mostly off, if you need to know that. lol In regards to the photo editing, I help a professional photographer edit pictures from weddings & concerts & stuff like that.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
- $1000-$1500, including shipping, if possible.. Don't really care about taxes. lol (I know, shame on me)

3) Where do you live?
- N.E. Oklahoma...

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
- CPU, MOBO, Hard Drive(s), Power Supply, Case, RAM, Video Card, DVD burner, Decent Cooling, Monitor (I was eyeballing a lovely 27 inch HP on Newegg- listed below).. I am going to buy a mouse & keyboard also, but you don't need to include that in the build's price, because I already know which ones I will buy.
Request: At least 2TB storage. I have around 640 gigs of video, photos & software to transfer to the new drive(s)... So the extra space will last me a year or so before I need another HD.. The more space you can squeeze in there, the merrier.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
- Nothing... Well, do those little tie thingies that hold your wires together & make them neat count? I have extra of those. lol I also have a Firewire card I can reuse, but is not really necessary.

6) Will you be overclocking?
- No. I don't know anything about Overclocking, to be honest. If I knew how to do it, I probably would... but I don't, so no. :/ I'm not as awesome as you folks in that regard. lol

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
- I was eyeballing a lovely 27 inch HP on Newegg.. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824176160. I currently have a Samsung SyncMaster 226BW 21.5 inch monitor, but I want to move this one over to my smaller office for my dad to use & get a bigger one for myself for editing/creating photos/video/etc & what little gaming I do.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
- By December, sometime before X-Mas.. A present to myself!

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
- Would like RAID, for performance... In regards to Crossfire/SLI, I'd rather just have one nice video card, rather than 2 mediocre ones, but whatever would be better for the budget is peachy keen to me.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
- No. I'll be getting some version of Windows 7 64 bit. No need to include it in the price, but if you wanna see if you can squeeze it in there, then go for it. lol Whatever floats your boat.

Okie dokie, thanks in advance for your help!

 

[cn06]

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
- By December, sometime before X-Mas.. A present to myself!

Unfortunately, most of what we tell you now will not be relevant in December. It would be better to revisit this thread when you intend to buy in December.

 

[Dangman]

Is there anyway you can narrow down when you're gonna buy/build the PC? December is quite a long time away in the hardware world and there are gonna be a couple of new hardware releases in that time that's gonna influence the price and availability of current parts. Basically, the parts we recommend in October may not be the same parts we recommend in December.

If you can't narrow down when you're gonna buy the PC, I recommend making another thread two weeks before the your actual buy date.

Though a few of general notes:
- You're basically looking at a Nvidia card with at 1GB of VRAM since Adobe CS5 can take advantage of Nvidia's CUDA architecture.

- For graphic design and photo work, you really should be looking at an IPS monitor for accurate color representation. Something like these:
$290 - Viewsonic 23" IPS Widescreen LCD Monitor
$330 - NEC EA231WMI-BK 23" Widescreen LCD Monitor

- In any case, that HP monitor isn't that good of a monitor for the money apparently according to the guys over in the Display subforum.

 

[cn06]

- For photo work, you really should be looking at an IPS monitor for accurate color representation. Something like this:
$290 - Viewsonic 23" IPS Widescreen LCD Monitor
- In any case, that HP monitor isn't that good of a monitor for the money apparently according to the guys over in the Display subforum.

How is that Viewsonic compared to the Dell U2311 and NEC EA231WMI, Danny?

 

[tiraides]

You should also buy a color calibration unit, like the Pantone HueyPRO or the Datacolor Spyder3, to ensure that your monitor produces the accurate colors for your graphics or photos.

 

[girl]

Is there anyway you can narrow down when you're gonna buy/build the PC? December is quite a long time away in the hardware world and there are gonna be a couple of new hardware releases in that time that's gonna influence the price and availability of current parts. Basically, the parts we recommend in October may not be the same parts we recommend in December.

If you can't narrow down when you're gonna buy the PC, I recommend making another thread two weeks before the your actual buy date.

Though a few of general notes:
- You're basically looking at a Nvidia card with at 1GB of VRAM since Adobe CS5 can take advantage of Nvidia's CUDA architecture.
- For photo work, you really should be looking at an IPS monitor for accurate color representation. Something like this:
$290 - Viewsonic 23" IPS Widescreen LCD Monitor
- In any case, that HP monitor isn't that good of a monitor for the money apparently according to the guys over in the Display subforum.

Thanks for the info. I can buy the computer now, I was just giving myself some time since some newer stuff is coming out soon, but it's not a big deal, now's as good of a time as ever.

Thank you for the monitor suggestion, too.

 

[Dangman]

Thanks for the info. I can buy the computer now, I was just giving myself some time since some newer stuff is coming out soon, but it's not a big deal, now's as good of a time as ever.

Well alrighty then:
$333 - AMD Phenom II X6 1055T CPU + Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AMD 890GX ATX Motherboard
$146 - 2 x G.Skill Ripjaw Series F3-10666CL9S-4GBRL 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$55 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$150 - 2 x Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$17 - LG iHAS124-04 DVD Burner
$285 - Gigabyte GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 1GB PCI-E Video Card + Corsair 650TX 650W PSU
$70 - Cooler Master CM690 II Basic ATX Case
$330 - NEC EA231WMI-BK 23" Widescreen LCD Monitor
$100 - Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM
----
Total: $1486 shipped.

Some notes:
- Install your OS as well as your programs onto the 500GB drive. Keep your data (i.e photos, videos, other files) on the two 1TB drives. In case you lose your OS for whatever reason, at least there is a higher chance that the other two drives won't be affected. Plus it frees up more space on those 1TB drives for more data.

- Make sure that you do this hack in order to use Adobe's GPU acceleration feature with the GTX 460 1GB:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1532552

- Fairly sure that six cores and 8GB of RAM should make that system fly in video and photo editing

 

[E4g1e]

Good suggestion, Danny. Although the OP is going to use Photoshop CS5 and makes only a token mention of video editing, keep in mind that the AMD CPUs are not all that good in Premiere Pro CS5 in terms of performance due to their lack of full SSE 4.x support. In fact, even the fastest Phenom II X4 sometimes falls behind a Socket LGA 775 Intel Core 2 Quad processor at the same clock speed in Premiere Pro CS5 (not that I would recommend buying anything that's part of an EOL platform these days) simply because the Core 2 has full SSE 4.0 support. Moreover, even a highly overclocked Phenom II X6 CPU barely keeps pace with a stock-speed low-end Intel i7-9xx series CPU (Socket LGA 1366) in Premiere.

As for the memory, although Premiere can work with 8GB of RAM, it really needs 12GB or more to perform well, and 24GB or more to perform at its best. In fact, in Premiere CS5, standard-definition DVD-compatible encodes are especially sluggish with less than 12GB of RAM installed. On one of my older configurations, in a test of transcoding a 53-second HD video to SD MPEG-2 DVD, it took more than 3 minutes to complete with 6GB of RAM but only about 76 seconds with 12GB.

 

[girl]

I was just thinking- what about if we remove the monitor issue.. I'll just wait until next payday to get a better one, it's not that big of a deal right now, as I have been using the photographer's computer/monitors to help her with the photo stuff, so it's not really that important right this second... Then more goodies can be squeezed into the tower? lol

In regards to video editing, I don't really do a lot of it. Mainly just simple little 30 second commercials for a couple small local businesses- It's not like I am editing films or anything hugely important.- not to say that I don't care about the clients, but they're just local folks and only want pretty simple stuff.

Also: Thank you everyone for responding & trying to help me out. I appreciate it!

 

[E4g1e]

In regards to video editing, I don't really do a lot of it. Mainly just simple little 30 second commercials for a couple small local businesses- It's not like I am editing films or anything hugely important.- not to say that I don't care about the clients, but they're just local folks and only want pretty simple stuff.

Fair enough. And since you don't do much if any video editing, I merely put out what I stated about Premiere Pro CS5 as info for those who want to use that program on a regular basis.

 

[girl]

Fair enough. And since you don't do much if any video editing, I merely put out what I stated about Premiere Pro CS5 as info for those who want to use that program on a regular basis.

I appreciate it, too! It's definitely a valid concern!

 

[Dangman]

Good suggestion, Danny. Although the OP is going to use Photoshop CS5 and makes only a token mention of video editing, keep in mind that the AMD CPUs are not all that good in Premiere Pro CS5 in terms of performance due to their lack of full SSE 4.x support. In fact, even the fastest Phenom II X4 sometimes falls behind a Socket LGA 775 Intel Core 2 Quad processor at the same clock speed in Premiere Pro CS5 (not that I would recommend buying anything that's part of an EOL platform these days) simply because the Core 2 has full SSE 4.0 support. Moreover, even a highly overclocked Phenom II X6 CPU barely keeps pace with a stock-speed low-end Intel i7-9xx series CPU (Socket LGA 1366) in Premiere.

As for the memory, although Premiere can work with 8GB of RAM, it really needs 12GB or more to perform well, and 24GB or more to perform at its best. In fact, in Premiere CS5, standard-definition DVD-compatible encodes are especially sluggish with less than 12GB of RAM installed. On one of my older configurations, in a test of transcoding a 53-second HD video to SD MPEG-2 DVD, it took more than 3 minutes to complete with 6GB of RAM but only about 76 seconds with 12GB.

Fair enough. And since you don't do much if any video editing, I merely put out what I stated about Premiere Pro CS5 as info for those who want to use that program on a regular basis.

Will definitely keep that in mind for future Premiere Pro CS5 heavy setups. Though out of curiosity, do you have similar misgivings about the Phenom II X6 1055T with just Photoshop CS5? i,e, if Photoshop was the main app, would the Phenom II X6 1055T be a better choice than the Core i5 750 or is the other way around?

 

[E4g1e]

Though out of curiosity, do you have similar misgivings about the Phenom II X6 1055T with just Photoshop CS5? i,e, if Photoshop was the main app, would the Phenom II X6 1055T be a better choice than the Core i5 750 or is the other way around?

The two CPUs would have been about equal in Photoshop. Especially since the higher-end X6 1090T barely outperforms an i5-750 in that app.

 

[Dangman]

The two CPUs would have been about equal in Photoshop. Especially since Photoshop still does not take full advantage of multicore CPUs.

Hmmm in that case, I'll still recommend the Phenom II setup then simply because I think the extra two cores will come in handy during heavy multi-tasking.

@ girl
Since you don't do much heavy gaming, that extra cash freed up by ditching the monitor shouldn't be going into a faster video card. Since you don't do heavy video editing, I don't see the need for a Core i7 based setup. So IMO, that extra cash should go towards more RAM and a SSD for the OS and critically important apps:

$333 - AMD Phenom II X6 1055T CPU + Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AMD 890GX ATX Motherboard
$292 - 4 x G.Skill Ripjaw Series F3-10666CL9S-4GBRL 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$200 - Intel SSDSA2MH080G2R5 2.5" 80GB SSD
$150 - 2 x Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$17 - LG iHAS124-04 DVD Burner
$285 - Gigabyte GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 1GB PCI-E Video Card + Corsair 650TX 650W PSU
$70 - Cooler Master CM690 II Basic ATX Case
$100 - Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM
----
Total: $1447 shipped.

If you want Intel for whatever reason, an Intel Core i5 750 setup is only $27 more and therefore still well within budget:
$360 - Intel Core i5 750 CPU + Asus P7P55D-E Pro Intel P55 ATX Motherboard Combo

Alternatively, if you just want to save money, just go with the first build I did but without the monitor and you should be set.

 

[girl]

Hmmm in that case, I'll still recommend the Phenom II setup then simply because I think the extra two cores will come in handy during heavy multi-tasking.

@ girl
Since you don't do much heavy gaming, that extra cash freed up by ditching the monitor shouldn't be going into a faster video card. Since you don't do heavy video editing, I don't see the need for a Core i7 based setup. So IMO, that extra cash should go towards more RAM and a SSD for the OS and critically important apps:

$333 - AMD Phenom II X6 1055T CPU + Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AMD 890GX ATX Motherboard
$292 - 4 x G.Skill Ripjaw Series F3-10666CL9S-4GBRL 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$200 - Intel SSDSA2MH080G2R5 2.5" 80GB SSD
$150 - 2 x Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$17 - LG iHAS124-04 DVD Burner
$285 - Gigabyte GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 1GB PCI-E Video Card + Corsair 650TX 650W PSU
$70 - Cooler Master CM690 II Basic ATX Case
$100 - Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM
----
Total: $1447 shipped.

If you want Intel for whatever reason, an Intel Core i5 750 setup is only $27 more and therefore still well within budget:
$360 - Intel Core i5 750 CPU + Asus P7P55D-E Pro Intel P55 ATX Motherboard Combo

Alternatively, if you just want to save money, just go with the first build I did but without the monitor and you should be set.

Sounds great! Thank you so much (again!)