Suggestions for upgrade on photoshop rig

lt_shiro

2[H]4U
Joined
Aug 19, 2005
Messages
3,659
Current Specs

P2 x4 940 @ stock
Gigabtye 790GX
Kingston Hyperx 2x2GB DDR2 1066
WD 640GB Blue
Sapphire 4770 1GB
Antec New TP 650watt
Antec 300

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Photoshop and Gaming

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$400-$500

3) Where do you live?
Barbados (but he is going Comic-Con, so in store pick deals would be fine or newegg, amazon or tigerdirect)

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.
SSD, HSF, Video card


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

6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes hehe

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
currently Acer 20" 4:3 display but he should be getting a 27" or 2x 23" later this year

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
within the month

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
N/A

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit

I want some second opinions on my suggestions

GTX 460 or 5830
OCZ agility 2 50GB SSD
Thermaltake Frio (will get this locally for $65)
 
Depending on his PS usage I would say that more ram would possibly help, atleast more than a gpu upgrade.. If he is going to be gaming at 27" I wouldn't go lower than a 5850. I personally wouldn't spend that much on a heatsink unless he wants to go to 4.0+.
 
Depending on his PS usage I would say that more ram would possibly help, atleast more than a gpu upgrade.. If he is going to be gaming at 27" I wouldn't go lower than a 5850. I personally wouldn't spend that much on a heatsink unless he wants to go to 4.0+.

well outside in normally 30+ year around.

gaming isn't primary use of the machine.
 
What exactly are you trying to improve? Photoshop can eat memory like few things can if you start getting nuts with the layers so another 4GB kit is an obvious upgrade if the mobo can handle it. You're already running a quad there. You could possibly gain with a hexacore but I don't recall how multithreaded PS is. Could move to an Intel quad which would be faster but that would also mean a mobo and memory upgrade.

The SSD would definitely make the system feel snappier but would offer absolutely zero actual performance boost to PS.

Just depends on what exactly you're trying to improve here. The rig is respectable as it sits.
 
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