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Photoshop/Light Gaming

B

bboyborrego

n00b
Joined
Dec 21, 2008
Messages
5
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Photoshop CS4 - Illustrator CS4 - Corel Draw - Light Gaming ( TF2,Minecraft-RPG games) HD Movies

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$800 but can go up to $1000 if there's better performance.

3) Where do you live?
California

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU-CPU Cooler-HD-Motherboard-RAM-Optical Drive-Case-PSU-Video Card-Gaming Mouse

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Keyboard-Speakers-Monitor

6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
17"- I'll be acquiring a 24" in 3 weeks.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
In 1 week.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
USB 3.0 if possible - Crossfire/SLI for future upgrades.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
No, need Win 7 64bit
 
Any plans on upgrading to Adobe CS5? If so, when?
 
Do you use those programs as a primary means of income or is it more just for fun, on the side, a hobby, etc.?
 
This build assumes you're not upgrading to CS5.

$340 (before $10 MIR) - Intel Core i5 2500k and MSI P67A-G43
$155 (before $15 MIR) - SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6850 (use promo code EMCKFKB25)
$130 - Samsung F3 1TB and Antec EarthWatts EA-650 650W PSU
$40 - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
$35 - Cooler Master Hyper 212+
$60 (before $10 MIR) - Cooler Master HAF 912
$19 - Samsung DVD Burner (use promo code EMCKFKC38 for free shipping)
$100 - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM
$53 (before $20 MIR) - Logitech G500 (use promo code EMCKFKC49)

I have to run to lunch, but I'll update this later because I think I can get this budget down. The thing that's causing the budget to be high is overclocking, hd movies, and the mouse.
 
Are you encoding/editing HD movies, or just watching them? You can always do a reg edit to enable CUDA acceleration for the Mercury playback engine, as well as some plugins that will benefit from CUDA. Otherwise, an AMD card will be fine if you don't plan on upgrading to CS5 anytime in the near future.
 
luluthemonk said:
Are you encoding/editing HD movies, or just watching them? You can always do a reg edit to enable CUDA acceleration for the Mercury playback engine, as well as some plugins that will benefit from CUDA. Otherwise, an AMD card will be fine if you don't plan on upgrading to CS5 anytime in the near future.
Click to expand...

I agree. Knowing if you're planning to upgrade to CS5 is very important for how this build gets laid out. I also think it's important to know if this is for work or play, because I really think a quad core Sandy Bridge is the way to go, but I don't think I can get it down to 800 without cutting corners. Lulu and I have both posted builds in this other thread that also focuses on CS4/CS5, but has a higher budget. You might get a few ideas from there that will help you out as well because some of the parts (SSD, high end graphics card) can get trimmed down or out pretty easily.
 
I'm not planing on upgrading to CS5 anytime soon. I primarily use my system for freelance work and it's not my primary means of income, I also don't encode or edit HD movies, I would only like to watch them.

EDIT: I'll be back later today, to answer any other questions you guys might have. I'll review the builds you guys posted up. Thank you
 
Last edited:
Oh, okay. I'd still encourage you to find a way to make Sandy Bridge work, but if sticking to the $800 end of the budget is important, you can definitely get there by using an AMD quad core chip while leaving yourself room to upgrade to an AM3+ chip later.
 
Alright, I decided to go with:
Core i5 2500k
Cooler Master Hyper 212+
MSI P67A-G43
HAF 912
8GB of G.Skill RAM
Samsung DVD Burner(Tonytnnt & luluthemonk suggested)
Samsung F3 1 TB HD(Tonytnnt & luluthemonk suggested)
Antec EarthWatts EA-650 - Bundled with the Samsung F3(Tonytnnt)

All I need is the video card, do you guys think the 6950 is too much?
 
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