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Help with a friends cheap photoshop machine

E

Exterous

Super Moderator
My friend has a 5 year old computer he has been trying to use with CS3. He recently lost his job but has been able to get some free lance work using CS3 but its taking forever to do the work on his old machine.

He only has $300 to work with. We are going to keep his existing drives, PSU and case. It looks like we should be going with an AMD CPU for that price and trying to get him into a quad core
AMD 9950

Is there a better option out there for relatively cheap? Also would a 250watt PSU support this with a mobo, 2-4 gb RAM, 1 HDD and 1 optical drive?

Also, I have a preference for Gigabyte Mobos, but are there some other budget options that I can consider for him?

Thanks for all the help guys and hopefully this is enough info
 
250w is probably not going to cut it, unless it's a fairly new top quality PS, what brand?

With a $300 budget your not going to get much, I would suggest a barebones system like these, or look for white box barebones and refurbs on ebay

PortaTech

I configured a Q8200 quad system w/DVD-R and 450w PS for around $350 w/o Ram, Hdd's, or OS. Pick up 4gb ram on a deal like the Patriot at newegg for $25 after rebate


I config'd an AMD X4 9850 system same as above and it came to $267, with a ram deal you can almost get a quad for $300


For a $300 budget you will be limited to "no name" cases, PS, and low end mobo's with basic onboard graphics. the difference between a $300 and $500 makes a huge difference in component selection in the low end price range
 
Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
250w is probably not going to cut it, unless it's a fairly new top quality PS, what brand?

With a $300 budget your not going to get much, I would suggest a barebones system like these, or look for white box barebones and refurbs on ebay

PortaTech

I configured a Q8200 quad system w/DVD-R and 450w PS for around $350 w/o Ram, Hdd's, or OS. Pick up 4gb ram on a deal like the Patriot at newegg for $25 after rebate


I config'd an AMD X4 9850 system same as above and it came to $267, with a ram deal you can almost get a quad for $300
Click to expand...

Its a hippo from about 5 years ago
 
I'd probably go with an X4 9850 barebones and try and pick up some ram on the cheap, and upgrade the HDD's asap. For a CS3 rig having at least a couple of fast hard drives will help alot. And hard drives have come a long way performance wize in the last 5 years

And I assume he has a OS disk? He should also consider upgrading to Vista 64bit asap, so he can get support for more than 3.25gb of ram, CS3 is ram hungry and a 64bit OS will allow upgrading from 4gb to 8gb for an additional $25
 
Update ECS A780GM-A AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #:A780GM-A
Item #:N82E16813135075
Mail-in Rebate $15

$69.99 $69.99

Update AMD Phenom 9850 2.5GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor Model HD985ZXAJ4BGH - OEM
Model #:HD985ZXAJ4BGH
Item #:N82E16819103286

$149.00 $149.00

Update Patriot Extreme Performance 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PDC24G6400LLK - Retail
Model #PDC24G6400LLK
Item #:N82E16820220269
Mail in Rebate $25

$49.99 $49.99

Update Rosewill R363-M-BK Micro ATX Black Ultra High Gloss Finished Computer Case with 400W ATX 2.2 12V Power Supply - Retail
Model #:R363-M-BK
Item #:N82E16811147099

$64.99 -$5.00 Instant $59.99
Subtotal: $328.97



-$40 in rebates = $289


Actually this combo is better
Asus mobo and 9850 $209

That would make the total after rebate $295 but you get a better mobo and eliminates 1 MIR, personally I hate rebates
 
Yep, although CS3 will in certain situations take advantage of a Quad it is generally clock speed dependent and a faster dual core will perform better in most situations. And ram is the big thing in Photoshop, but going above 4gb requires upgrading to a 64bit OS which doesn't sound like is in his budget

Even if you drop to a E7400 your well over $300 if you include the OS upgrade

E7400 $120
Asrock G31 mobo $48
8gb,s patrioit $50 after MIR
$60 case w/450w PS
windows 64bit OEM $100

That's $378 after $50 in rebates,
 
Wow guys thanks for all the excellent info! Actually the company I work for is going out of business (ahh....the joys of living in Michigan) and my boss says I might be able to snag a copy of ultimate 64 bit when we close up. Should I be rethinking Intel then with an E8400?

Edit: since its only $164 it sounds like this is the better way to go
 
Yes, if you can get the OS free it's a no brainer

E8400 $165
G31 mobo $50
8gb ram $50 after MIR
$60 case and PS

Thats $310 after rebates

And the E8400 is considerably faster clock for clock than a phenom, and has clock advantage to start with. In anything that doesn't push four cores the E8400 has a 30% advantage

And it's critical for maximum Photoshop performance to keep the "scratch" file on a seperate drive, so if you don't start out with at least 2 drives seriously consider upgrading soon.
 
Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
Yes, if you can get the OS free it's a no brainer

E8400 $165
G31 mobo $50
8gb ram $50 after MIR
$60 case and PS

Thats $310 after rebates

And the E8400 is considerably faster clock for clock than a phenom, and has clock advantage to start with. In anything that doesn't push four cores the E8400 has a 30% advantage
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for the help GuitarDaddy
 
I'd be looking pretty hard at that $65 e5200 that ewiz is running a special on. It will clock up just fine on a slightly better board with a little help cooling.

So long as you have all your accys I would consider an open box MB from Newegg ASUS P5Q SE/R LGA 775 Intel P45 or something in that price range ($55)


G31 is not exactly a robust video setup. You might be better served with a passive GT9400 or, my choice, would be a used card in the GT8600 - 9600 class. You can get one for $50.

This Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC 430W is an OK PSU for $31 AR

You can find 4 GB of RAM for under $40, l(ast time I looked anyhow)

65+55+50+30+40 = 240, add a $20 CPU cooler and you are still under budget

 
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