Budget photoshop pc, $1000

Turin39789

Lifer
Nov 21, 2000
12,218
8
81
I need to build a budget pc for my girlfriend, she graduated with a graphic design degree, but is currently running the dell windows me rig she got when she went into college.

I thought the $1000 budget originally was for just the box, but have now found it includes the entire setup.

Her work is all 2d, photoshop, quark, indesign etc. I'm hoping someone can confirm this, but I'm hoping that she will be able to get by with onboard graphics, as there won't be any gaming going one.

Here's what I've got so far, needs a lot of tweaking, but I havn't had any cash for a new pc since my thunderbird rig of old. This'll be my first shot at ddr, and I don't have 12 hours a day to devote to research like I used to.

Antec Sonata II w/450 watt antec psu = 90
Seagate 7200.10 320gb =95
Corsair twinx2048-3200 = 217(30MIR)
Biostar tforce 6100 mobo
AMD x2 64 3800+ / 217.00 combo
Samsung 940bf lcd = 260(30 mir)

Total so far is 880 minus 60 in rebates, need to scrounge up a keyboard and mouse (looking at logitech mx500 combo for $100 bucks - wanting wireless with rechargable mouse, might look used for an old logitech bundle or see just get the wireless rechargeable mouse) and speakers(nothing fancy, a 2.1 system)

Please start tearing me apart, or point my to the reviews that are actually useful that I no longer seem capable of locating. It sucks getting old
 

dclive

Elite Member
Oct 23, 2003
5,626
2
81
Originally posted by: Turin39789
I need to build a budget pc for my girlfriend, she graduated with a graphic design degree, but is currently running the dell windows me rig she got when she went into college.

I thought the $1000 budget originally was for just the box, but have now found it includes the entire setup.

Her work is all 2d, photoshop, quark, indesign etc. I'm hoping someone can confirm this, but I'm hoping that she will be able to get by with onboard graphics, as there won't be any gaming going one.

Here's what I've got so far, needs a lot of tweaking, but I havn't had any cash for a new pc since my thunderbird rig of old. This'll be my first shot at ddr, and I don't have 12 hours a day to devote to research like I used to.

Antec Sonata II w/450 watt antec psu = 90
Seagate 7200.10 320gb =95
Corsair twinx2048-3200 = 217(30MIR)
Biostar tforce 6100 mobo
AMD x2 64 3800+ / 217.00 combo
Samsung 940bf lcd = 260(30 mir)

Total so far is 880 minus 60 in rebates, need to scrounge up a keyboard and mouse (looking at logitech mx500 combo for $100 bucks - wanting wireless with rechargable mouse, might look used for an old logitech bundle or see just get the wireless rechargeable mouse) and speakers(nothing fancy, a 2.1 system)

Please start tearing me apart, or point my to the reviews that are actually useful that I no longer seem capable of locating. It sucks getting old

Go to gotapex.com or a similar site and get the mid-level of Dell boxes. The E510 and up will easily handle what you've listed and far, far more, and typically for $599 - $659 you can get a 19" monitor as well.

Just checked - with the 35% off discount on that site, and with a $1079 config, you're basically paying $700 for a 19" LCD, decent gfx card, 1G RAM, Pent D 930, 80G, XP Home, and a 1-year warranty. A steal for having someone else make it and support it.
 

Turin39789

Lifer
Nov 21, 2000
12,218
8
81
I usually recommend dell to friends who aren't gamers and need a general purpose pc, for exactly that reason, I don't want to get phone calls for support. But the girlfriend is a live in, so I'm not too worried about doing the support. She's also computer literate, and on firefox etc.

 

Turin39789

Lifer
Nov 21, 2000
12,218
8
81
Can anyone comment on using the onboard video from that mobo?

I picked this ram because it was around $200, along with many others, at newegg. Anyone have a link to understanding cas numbers? Like I said, this is my first ddr, and now there seem to be 4 numbers instead of 1
 

rudder

Lifer
Nov 9, 2000
19,441
86
91
I have a biostar tforce 6100. Onboard video would be fine for 2d stuff. Its even decent for some 3D apps. The only drawback is it uses system ram. With 2 gigs that should be plenty.

 

crucibelle

Senior member
Feb 21, 2005
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If your gf is going to be doing some serious graphics work, she's probably going to need a graphics tablet (Wacom is the brand most people use). That would need to be considered in the budget. If she already has one of these, just disregard this post. =)
 

razor2025

Diamond Member
May 24, 2002
3,010
0
71
Definitely check the hot deal sites for cheap dell deals. You don't have to buy the bundles, just get a decent tower for $500-600, add your own RAM and HDD upgrade and you should be good to go.

For graphics, on-board might work or it might not. Check to see if you can scrounge older Matrox cards. Old Matrox cards are still the king in doing 2D color. The LCD choice is good, as I use the 940Be @ work, and I'm amazed at its color quality over the older Dell 1905FP I have next to it.

And as cuicibelle said, she'll definitely need a Wacom.
 

Turin39789

Lifer
Nov 21, 2000
12,218
8
81
Most of her work will be advertising, There isn't a large market for graphic designers where we are, but she is starting to develop some leads for freelance work that may go full time.


Is there any reason to go socket 939 anymore. Right now I'm thinking that I need to do an entire reconfigure when I get home.

I can get 2 x 1gb of ddr400 for ~$200, or I can get 2 x 1gb of ddr2800 for the same price
The am2 64x2 processors are identically priced to the 939's
and the motherboards I'm looking at are the same too, around $80

is there any reason not to get the new platform? Why aren't the old parts discounted more?
 

fuzzybabybunny

Moderator<br>Digital & Video Cameras
Moderator
Jan 2, 2006
10,455
35
91
I do photoshop work for digital photography, some serious, and I don't think that video card matters that much. Maybe get a $50 video card or something.

Some important notes:

1. Get lots of RAM. I frequently empty my 2GB of RAM, but then again my work may differ from her's.
2. Get a faster hard drive for a scratch disk, because the RAM empties so often. You may not need this if you have 4GB RAM.
3. Get a color calibration unit for your monitor, so colors in print will match what you see on the monitor. Something like a Gretag Macbeth.
4. Get a good monitor that produces accurate colors. The Dell Ultrasharp monitors are really good.
5. Consider a back-up system and a hard disk failure contingency, like RAID 5 where a disk's contents can be rebuilt if it dies.
 

Blorg

Member
Jul 16, 2005
36
0
0
"Is there any reason to go socket 939 anymore?"

Other than the amount of feedback on different 939 cpu's and mobo's, the am2 will cost you a bit more on the mobo and a bit less on the ram, evening out more or less. And the am2 board will be compatable with am3 cpus (Where did I read this?)

If you're starting from scratch go AM2.
 

dclive

Elite Member
Oct 23, 2003
5,626
2
81
I'll second my recommendation - if she's going to use this professionally, get a machine from Dell, supported by Dell, with fully legal and licensed XP software from Dell. For pro work, it's not worthwhile to take chances to save $50. Speed differences between CPUs for pro-level 2D work just aren't that significant. If she renders all day, sure, but for 2D work, just get a reliable brand.

...and it appears with the 35% Dell coupon that the Dell box (albeit with slightly lower specs) is $120 cheaper....
 

HannibalX

Diamond Member
May 12, 2000
9,359
2
0
ASUS Vintage V2-AE1 AMD Socket 939 AMD Athlon 64 up to 3800+ VIA K8M800 Barebone - Retail $97.99

2xBenQ 16X DVD±R DVD Burner With exclusive SolidBurn Technology Black ATA/ATAPI Model DW1650 BK - OEM $54.50

Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM $169.99

Hanns?G JW-199DPB Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail $184.99

SAPPHIRE 100156L Radeon X1600PRO 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Overclocked Edition CrossFire Ready Video Card - Retail $104.99

BenQ x805 Black USB + PS/2 RF Wireless Ergonomics Keyboard & Mouse Mouse Included - Retail $19.99

2xPatriot 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model PEP1G3200LL - Retail $199.98

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester 2000MHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA3800BVBOX - Retail $147.00

Total: $979.43

All from Newegg. Sure not the best system but for a complete system under 1k I think it?s pretty good. /me waits for everyone to tell me how bad the parts are.

Let her keep the system five years and build a new one then. No reason to buy ultra-high end parts when she won't use em.
 

dcr

Member
Jul 25, 2006
90
0
0
How odd...I just built my wife a PC for her Photoshop work.

I bought:

Antec Case w/350w PSU - $65
AMD ATHLON 64 X2 3800 + MSI K8NGM2 Bundle - $228
SAMSUNG SH-S182D DVD Burner - $34.99
SONY 16X DDU1615/B2s DVD-ROM - $19.99
LOGITECH Keyboard and Opt. Mouse - $13.99
HANNS G LCD19"5MS DVI HW-191DPB - $189.99

Total - $551.96 + $25 or so shipping.

I already had 512mb of RAM, and a 250g HD so that is what is in there now and didn't factor into cost.

The system works awesome, and the onboard video is more than fine for Photoshop.
 

PascalT

Golden Member
Nov 20, 2004
1,515
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0
I wouldn't get an LCD for great color reproduction. CRTs are still better for that.

 

dclive

Elite Member
Oct 23, 2003
5,626
2
81
Originally posted by: dcr
How odd...I just built my wife a PC for her Photoshop work.

I bought:

Antec Case w/350w PSU - $65
AMD ATHLON 64 X2 3800 + MSI K8NGM2 Bundle - $228
SAMSUNG SH-S182D DVD Burner - $34.99
SONY 16X DDU1615/B2s DVD-ROM - $19.99
LOGITECH Keyboard and Opt. Mouse - $13.99
HANNS G LCD19"5MS DVI HW-191DPB - $189.99

Total - $551.96 + $25 or so shipping.

I already had 512mb of RAM, and a 250g HD so that is what is in there now and didn't factor into cost.

The system works awesome, and the onboard video is more than fine for Photoshop.

Why doesn't anyone include the cost for Windows XP in any of these system builds?
 

Turin39789

Lifer
Nov 21, 2000
12,218
8
81
Originally posted by: dclive
Originally posted by: dcr
How odd...I just built my wife a PC for her Photoshop work.

I bought:

Antec Case w/350w PSU - $65
AMD ATHLON 64 X2 3800 + MSI K8NGM2 Bundle - $228
SAMSUNG SH-S182D DVD Burner - $34.99
SONY 16X DDU1615/B2s DVD-ROM - $19.99
LOGITECH Keyboard and Opt. Mouse - $13.99
HANNS G LCD19"5MS DVI HW-191DPB - $189.99

Total - $551.96 + $25 or so shipping.

I already had 512mb of RAM, and a 250g HD so that is what is in there now and didn't factor into cost.

The system works awesome, and the onboard video is more than fine for Photoshop.

Why doesn't anyone include the cost for Windows XP in any of these system builds?



Because I don't need suggestions on which version of windows provides the best performance for the price and matches my hardware.
 

dclive

Elite Member
Oct 23, 2003
5,626
2
81
Originally posted by: Turin39789
Why doesn't anyone include the cost for Windows XP in any of these system builds?



Because I don't need suggestions on which version of windows provides the best performance for the price and matches my hardware.[/quote]

Fair enough, but that increases the price of the setups by $100 - $200.... Dell's #s come out even better.
 

Turin39789

Lifer
Nov 21, 2000
12,218
8
81
Originally posted by: dclive
Originally posted by: Turin39789
Why doesn't anyone include the cost for Windows XP in any of these system builds?



Because I don't need suggestions on which version of windows provides the best performance for the price and matches my hardware.

Fair enough, but that increases the price of the setups by $100 - $200.... Dell's #s come out even better.[/quote]


Not a big fan of the quality they use
 

Turin39789

Lifer
Nov 21, 2000
12,218
8
81
Brining this back from the dead, I never hit the buy button on the cart. I'm getting ready to go ahead and start buying, I'm thinking about going conroe, but dont want to spend much more than I am now, are there any good c2d motherboards with onboard video? Is c2d worth it if im not planning on overclocking?
 

Turin39789

Lifer
Nov 21, 2000
12,218
8
81
Originally posted by: rudder
I have a biostar tforce 6100. Onboard video would be fine for 2d stuff. Its even decent for some 3D apps. The only drawback is it uses system ram. With 2 gigs that should be plenty.

I was looking at their am2 boards, conroe is pushing the system too far over the top. But the 6100 doesnt have dvi out. The only thing I can find with dvi out is an $85 board based on the 6150, but there looks to be only one o newegg. any other onboard dvi am2 socket options out there?