Looking for a system to run PHOTOSHOP HARD!!!!

[graphicguy]

Looking for a system to run PHOTOSHOP HARD!!!! I have a budget of about $1500 , I run Photoshop and Corel Draw hard everyday. My current system was stolen over the weekend and now i get to replace it. I do Large Format Digital printing. So i rip and print large files everyday. I use to use a pentium 3 and 256 megs of ram,,but i wasnt real happy with that setup,,,Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[NOSOUP4U]

keep everything else and buy as much ram as your system will allow. bubye now.

 

[eyor]

Are you looking to build a system and overclock it? Or just buy a dell or something?

 

[eyor]

NOSOUP4U: Keep everything else? sounds like it is a little too late for that!

 

[nEoTeChMaN]

I use Dreamweaver 4, Photoshop 6, Office 2000 and several internet windows open at the same time with this system beautifully.

Asus P3V4X
650mhz o/c 945mhz (PIII)
256MB PC-133
15GB Fujitsu HD ATA/66
CL GeForce2 GTS
SCSI-2 8x CD Burner
Pioneer 16x/40x DVD/CD
SB Sound card
Hollywood+ DVD card
NT 4.0 Server

 

[graphicguy]

no, no dells or any of that crap,,i build them.

 

[Hardware]

I have now 768 mb in my rig!
Thats the way for a photoshop user!

 

[AmdEmAll]

AMD Tbird 1Ghz
MSI K7T-PRO2A
256mb PC-133 Crucial
ATI Radeon 64MB
SBLive! Value
Maxtor 40.9Gb 7200rpm ATA100

 

[Oyeve]

What do you have against dell? Best brand name out there! At least they use real components and not proprietary crap like compaq.

 

[eyor]

I have read that AMD CPUs are better for graphics work, so I recommend the 1 gig tbird with an MSI K7T Pro2A.
Maybe 2-3 sticks of Kingmax PC150 RAM from Mwave, and either a Radeon, Geforce, or Voodoo5 graphics card.

WTF? I just did a search at MWave, and they seem to have the mobo, cpu, and 128MB of the RAM I recommended for $390... is that a pricing error or something?

 

[eyor]

Oyeve: Maybe you missed the last part of that post... he builds them himself, like most people here. I wouldn't ever get a dell, just because I like it better to build it myself.

 

[AmdEmAll]

Radeon would be best for the graphic stuff he uses. It has the best image quality.

 

[Dark4ng3l]

Maybe he should go for a g450 and save some $ for more ram and still kepp the image quality.

 

[Oyeve]

I agree with Dark4ng3l, the g450 should do the trick and then some.


I understood the post eyor. I just asked what he has against dell, being that he called it crap.

 

[sciencewhiz]

I would suggest Dual PIIIs, win2000, 384+ megs of high quality ram (brand name cas2) and a G400max or 450. That should put you around $1500. Or did you need a full system?

If you need everything than forget the dual PIIIs and get a Athlon 1ghz.

 

[borealiss]

512 megs of ram - $290
quantum atlas 10k 18 gigs. - $300
AHA 19160 ultra160 scsi card - $151
Microstar K7T Pro2 - $115
Matrox g450 dual head - $73
Case - $40
Sound Blaster Live! Value - $29
1 ghz T-bird - $182
teac 40x cdrom - $38
viewsonic z90 optiquest 19" .22mm dpi monitor - $280

$1498 total. do you already have a monitor? if so, i would add more ram.

 

[Kwad Guy]

BUY A DUAL PROCESSOR SYSTEM. Photoshop is one of the few programs
that is SMP aware--i.e. it WILL take advantage of the two processors.
(Many programs will just peg one processor and leave the second
at 0% utilization).

My recommendation is a dual processor machine, 2*800Mhz (or better),
with 512Mb of memory. If you are comfortable building your own
machine, this is entirely doable in the price range you specified.

Kwad

 

[Dexion]

Being a graphic designer myself I seriously recommend either a FAST processor or lots of RAM for Photoshop. Of course the HD speed is also important, however, what I do notice is that the system prices are going lower and lower, and the requirements for graphic work isn't as steep as it was. Having more than 256mb RAM(what I have) is quite adequate(of course the more the better).

 

[borealiss]

Kwad Guy, photoshop will take advantage of 2 cpus, but to a certain extent. the majority of the filters that are run in photoshop aren't even multithreaded, probably because it'd be to much work to rewrite them. only some operations are multithreaded. i've tried practically every filter on my dual rig, and usually the cpu usage goes to 50%, meaning 1 cpu is being used for the filter. other filters like gaussian blur use both cpus near full capacity, so even though photoshop is smp capable, it's very finicky about what situations you'll run it under. a tbird at 1ghz would have overall better performance than a dual 800 i think.

 

[Kwad Guy]

Hey borealiss0:

You're right...Forgot about that...The plugins are hit-and-miss
with respect to SMP support...Adobe doesn't have much control
over those...So perhaps a 1Ghz single processor machine would
be about as good (better?) overall. Still, dual processors
gives you the freedom to multitask and whatnot, and 2x800 can
easily be overclocked to 112Mhz FSB on a Tyan Tiger 100, giving
you 2 x 896...Which I would argue is a better system than 1 x 1Ghz.

But whatever!

Kwad

 

[Howard]

Oyeve

Dell uses proprietary power supplies.

 

[borealiss]

Kwad Guy

if i had a choice of systems between the amd and your recommendation, i would definitely go with your setup. smp is pimp. but then again, i can always dream can't i? i wish i had a cent for every decibel my system outputs, then perhaps i can get me some dual coppermine lovin'. drooooooool. but my budget is a joke. ugh.

 

[rhinox99]

At the risk of getting flamed for suggesting this:

Why not get a dual processor G4? It seems all the professional graphic designers prefer the mac platform over the PC. Just consider it, unless your company doesn't allow/use macs then that would kinda suck

 

[HellRaven]

Kwad Guy,

Your arguments are valid but I think with the new AMD prices it is a no brainer. 1ghz Tbirds are around and below the $200 mark and the athlon has an excellent FPU, the motherboards have fallen in price closer to the $100 area, and memory is quite cheap for either platform. By going with one tbird over two 800's you save some money that could go towards SCSI, more memory, better monitor. I think duel P3 800's would outperform a single tbird in SMP applications but when you factor in cost and the fact that SMP, at least on the windows platform, still is not very advanced that it tips in favor of a tbird.

 

[HellRaven]

Rhinox,

Please equip your flameproof suit ASAP I think without a doubt there is no reason to suggest a G4, let alone a duel g4.

First of all he said he wanted to build it himself.

Second of all one would assume he cares about saving money as in his first post he set a $1500 limit which the standard value single processor g4 system is priced around. Any apple system is overpriced for what you get when compared to a conventional pc. For example, even one of the midrange G4's that is in the pricerange of a 1ghz major pc vendors (dell,hp,compaq) system still comes with 64mb of ram, wtf?

Next is the fact that whatever gains you may get from software optimizations in adobe software for the mac platform are vastly overestimated by mac zealots and only come into play with a few select filters. Lastly is the fact that if you plan on doing any game playing at all or don't want to worry if there is a mac version of your favorite software, you should go with a pc system.

Sorry but I thought that my response deserved its own message