Any Graphic design Gurus in the house? Building a Comp. need help!

[Neyd3400]

My friend recently asked me if I would help build her a setup if she bought the parts. I said "No problem." She then asked me for some advice on parts the next day. Ram and video cards. I told her I would look into it.

Since I am a Biochemistry graduate, I don't know squat about graphic design. I've built plenty of computers for gaming, don't know how they would be different. I appreciate any advice. She hasn't given me a price range, but my impression is she wants a fast computer, but feel that she is getting her dollars worth.

FYI: She is upgrading from a 4-5 year gateway pentium. Fresh graphic design student. Interested in graphic design and setting up pages. Don't know her price range. She has already stated that she would like to go with Pentium.

 

[Anubis]

will she be dooing CAD and such? or just stuff like photoshop

 

[Neyd3400]

I don't know, but I ask her the next time I see her. I do know that her current computer is way to slow for her needs.

 

[Mik3y]

wuts her budget? and wut does she not need?

 

[DaveSimmons]

My brother is a graphics designer who switched from a mac last December, here is what he's running:

* P4 3.2 GHz Northwood with Zalman alcu HSF
* 2 GB RAM (PhotoShop likes RAM)
* OS hard drive plus RAID-1 pair of work/data drives
* DVD burner
* ATI card supporting dual monitors (he says he thinks nVidia's dual-monitor support is a little better though)
* pair of Dell 20" LCDs (probably not in her budget)

Of that, the RAM and dual displays are most important to him, since he runs PhotoShop with the image on one display and all the menus and tools on the other.

 

[yhelothar]

CRT > LCD for graphics design, more accurate colors, and higher resolution so there is more workspace to work with.
And yes nvidia cards are far superior in terms of dual monitor support.

I think she'd be happy with just about anything, considering what she's comming from, and considering that she's a novice.
I'd just get her a nice Athlon64 or P4 are neck to neck with A64 for graphics design, and 1GB ram, you don't need a good video card, a matrox G550 would be great.

 

[DaveSimmons]

CRT > LCD for graphics design, more accurate colors, and higher resolution so there is more workspace to work with.

if you have the desk space for 2 monster CRTs -- I have a 19" CRT and it's huge.

Color is better on CRTs, but 2 x 17" LCDs at 1280x1024 will fit ncely on a desktop and are priced fairly reasonably these days.

2 GB is overkill for most users, but if she'll be doing anything at high dpi (for printing) PhotoShop will be much faster with the extra GB.

...but if she's a broke student, a single CRT or LCD and 1 GB RAM will get the job done of course.

 

[chimmytime]

!

 

[Neyd3400]

Wow, I really appreaciaite the input. I got a few questions to ask her. I had not even thought about dual display. But that sounds like it would really appeal to her.