Building a new Photoshop system - need input!

[gsaldivar]

I'm building a new system for a client. This system will be used mainly for graphics/desktop publishing: Photoshop, QuarkXpress, Premiere, and occasionally for Quickbooks.

I originally planned to configure a Dell system for him, but after spending some time researching, I found that I should be able to build him a much better system for what he was prepared to pay Dell.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated:

Qty -- Description
1 -- INTEL P4 3.4C Ghz 800Mhz FSB, 512 L2 Cache, HT, Retail (right CPU for this mobo?) LINK
1 -- ASUS "P4C800-E Deluxe" Motherboard, Retail LINK
2 -- CORSAIR XMS TWIN PACK 2GB (2X1GB) DDR400/PC3200 DDR RAM (4GB total) LINK
2 -- MAXTOR 250GB 7200 3.5" SATA Hard Drive, OEM (250GB workspace with RAID-0)
1 -- SONY 1.44MB FLOPPY DISK DRIVE BLK FACE
1 -- LITE-ON DUAL DVD-RW BLK FACE, 8X DVD+R, 4X DVD-R, 24X CD-RW, 12X DVD-ROM
1 -- LITE-ON DVD-ROM BLK FACE, 16X DVD-ROM
1 -- ASUS NVIDIA GEFORCE 4200TI, 8XAGP, 128MB DDR
1 -- ACARD PCI INT/EXT SCSI CONTROLLER CARD
1 -- IOMEGA JAZ 2GB SCSI INTERNAL BLK FACE (REFURBISHED)
1 -- IOMEGA ZIP 250MB ATAPI INTERNAL BLK FACE
1 -- SERVER-GRADE CASE TBA, BLK FACE (need suggestions)
1 -- SERVER-GRADE 450W PSU (need suggestions)
1 -- MICROSOFT MULTIMEDIA BUNDLE PS2 KBD, BLK + USB WHEEL MOUSE OPTICAL, BLK (prefer cords)
1 -- LOGITECH Z-340 2.1 SPEAKERS, BLK (basic sound for non-gaming use)
1 -- SAMSUNG 213T 21" LCD FLAT PANEL DISPLAY 1600X1200, BLK FACE

Portable Storage Drive:
1 -- MACALLY PHR-250CC SLIMLINE USB2.0/IEEE1394 EXT ENCLOSURE
1 -- SEAGATE ST94011A 40GB 5400 2.5" ATA FLUID BEARING LAPTOP HARD DRIVE

Thanks guys!

:beer:

 

[gsaldivar]

I forgot to mention: We'll be running this system at 100% stock speed. No overclocking.

 

[InlineFive]

For the PSU I would suggest a 550w Antec or Fortron/Sparkle PSU. Otherwise it looks powerful!

-Por

 

[Eug]

Buy him an IBM or HP (or Dell). Home or 3rd party custom builds are a bad idea for clients.

 

[John]

[*]2GB of memory is plenty....and you'll save $565.00
[*]Antec 1080AMG w/ Antec True 430w psu is a solid choice
[*]How about Dual DVI LCD's?
[*]Be prepared to be the tech support guy on call if you build this for your "client"

 

[Schadenfroh]

i would go with a matrox card myself

 

[Thegonagle]

Lite-On could do no wrong for a long time with their CD-RWs and DVD-ROMs, but people have been having trouble with their DVD-+RWs. Plextor is the 100% safe choice, but NEC has a decent one if the client doesn't want to spend the extra $70. The general buzz says avoid Lite-On's DVD-+RWs for now.

 

[Thegonagle]

Also, if you're going to spend that much for 2 GB of high-latency memory, don't. Buy 4x512, and if you wish, look for lower latency. For example, you'll lower the bill by $225 by using some of these.

 

[Hyperfocal]

A few thoughts from a daily Photoshop user.

What size files is the client working with? 11 X 17 600DPI? Anything in the 8 x 10 300DPI range is going to work fine with 2 gigs ram.

I would go for the highest quality optical drives possible. I have worn out a few cheap CD-RWs over the years.

Graphic arts types are very picky about monitors. They will need a LARGE monitor with full calibration capabilities. More like a 21" trinitron CRT monitor rather than an LCD.

Raid 0 scares me for working with client image files. There is nothing worse than losing 8 hours of work in a hard drive issue.

Think 250GB firewire for external storage. For me that's about one year's worth of camera images.

You don't need a gaming card for a photoshop workstation. Get a pro 2D card -- Like Schadenfroh said, Matrox.

Do they need the Jaz drive? If their customers still use them, is there a Jaz drive on another machine that can be used for transfer.

If you need to go SCSI for the JAZ drive, server grade SCSI hard drives may be the way to go for the entire system.

Do these people have a file server? Personally, I'm not a big fan of one huge monster system. I'd rather have a cheap system for quickbooks and other office needs, a fast system with good graphics and memory for the high-end image editing and a robust server to handle the data. I also recommend they get some form of reliable backup important data will always disappear or be corrupted on deadline.

 

[gsaldivar]

Thanks alot for the input so far. Please keep the suggestions coming!

I updated the quote, replacing the LITE-ON DVD/RW drive with this Plextor drive.

To answer a few questions:

What size files is the client working with? 11 X 17 600DPI? Anything in the 8 x 10 300DPI range is going to work fine with 2 gigs ram.

My client will be working with a wide variety of sizes, from letter-size all the way up to 24x36 poster-size. The PS files he works with are heavily layered, CYMK images which will easily make full use Photoshop's 2GB RAM limit. While PS uses the first 2GB, the other 2GB is intended for heavy background multitasking. The designer who will use this system routinely leaves several other apps open - QuarkXpress, Internet Explorer, Illustrator, CorelDraw, etc.

Graphic arts types are very picky about monitors. They will need a LARGE monitor with full calibration capabilities. More like a 21" trinitron CRT monitor rather than an LCD.

He actually already has many of these on other workstations, but has been looking forward to moving to the new "flat-panel" form for a while now.

Raid 0 scares me for working with client image files. There is nothing worse than losing 8 hours of work in a hard drive issue.

The designers already perform regular backups, so data-loss due to hardware failure isn't a huge issue.

Do they need the Jaz drive? If their customers still use them, is there a Jaz drive on another machine that can be used for transfer.

Yes. Each workstation must have its own set of drives. Unfortunately Jaz was discontinued a few years ago - but still remains an industry standard for these guys.

If you need to go SCSI for the JAZ drive, server grade SCSI hard drives may be the way to go for the entire system.

I considered this originally, but i've had very good luck moving people from high-cost SCSI drives, to low-cost IDE arrays. I've designed several (Mac) systems for this particular client, and the performance of the cheaper IDE arrays seems to be excellent for them.

Also, if you're going to spend that much for 2 GB of high-latency memory, don't. Buy 4x512, and if you wish, look for lower latency. For example, you'll lower the bill by $225 by using some of these.

Actually the quote is for 2 x 2GB kits (1GB DIMM for each of 4 slots = 4GB total). Is the Corsair XMS considered high-latency memory? Their website guarantees 200Mhz at 3-4-4-8. As I mentioned, we won't do any overclocking - but we really feel its necessary to max out the system at its full 4GB limit. Are there any other sources for lower-latency 1GB sticks of DDR Ram that you might be able to recommend?

Antec 1080AMG w/ Antec True 430w psu is a solid choice

Don't you think 430W is under-powered for this setup? We will have 4GB RAM, 2 HDs, 2 Optical drives, an internal Jaz drive, an internal Zip drive, and a PCI SCSI card installed in this machine.

Thanks again for the input guys... Please keep the suggestions coming!

:beer:

 

[Hyperfocal]

Good responses. I work in an environment where the largest we will ever go is 11 x 17 170dpi, so 24 X36 with multiple layers is way out of the ordinary.

I'm actually kind of surprised about the preference for LCDs. Our layout department just got a bunch of big, heavy CRT monitors. My photo department would mutiny if IT started bringing in LCDs. Of course, our company is plenty cheap, so LCDs aren't in anyone's future. We run a museum of antique Macs. A new hire just got a ---- wait for it --- PowerMac 75 Two years ago we had people running Mac Classics.

 

[Huma]

I'm surprised by LCD use for design as well. CRTs are still more accurate (as well as cheaper).

as has been mentioned, ditch the ti4200 for a matrox g550. simple, cheap, but a strong 2D performer even today

 

[gsaldivar]

I found this posted in Newegg's Customer Reviews section:

I have been using Matrox G-450 Cards for the past five years and just built a new system and decided to go with the G-750 Card plugged into a ASUS P4C-800 E MB. This is what I have discovered: The G-750 is not compayable with the ASUS Board in the BIOS mode, I had to switch out the Board every time I needed tp access BIOS during the initial configing.

Ouch!

 

[mooojojojo]

A graphic manip system with no Wacom tablet? No thank you . Or perhaps the client already has one?

 

[Cerb]

with a TruePower, 430w is not underpowered. The Antec Truepower supplies are rated for their wattages aounts--period. unlike other spplies, it doesn't matter what the various rail are pulling, as long as it doesn't add up to over 430w in this case for more than a few seconds. Though if you think it might not be enough, thre is the TruePower 480.

I must agree with eveyrybody else of video. The worst you should get for graphics work is a BBA Radeon, but why do that when you're easily looking at a $4000 PC minimum?

Does your client already have a mouse and keyboard he likes? If so, you might want to use them or get new similar ones, unless he uses a different input device fo the actual work.

 

[sharkeeper]

Forget the Asus junk (no offense intended, but it's time to take off the kid's gloves folks!) and seek a real workstation solution available now. Intel E7505 and dual Xeons of 2.8GHz or better. This will have no problem with memory issues either. Just remember to add /PAE at the end of the boot.ini file or Windows XP will not see all four gigabytes of physical memory.

SuperMicro boards are the weapon of choice here. If you're concerned with storage speed, you will want a few SCSI disks and a decent hardware RAID solution plugged into the fast PCI-X 133MHz pipeline. The Intel SCRU42X is the weapon of choice here, armed with up 1GB of DDR cache, it will not disappoint.

I agree on the comments regarding video cards. If the customer does not plan on playing games, the Matrox G550 is a winner.

Dell is ok if you don't want the nuisance calls, but I despise the company and their products so I will never recommend them.

Cheers!