Looking for input on new build for a friend

[dmoney1980]

Happy Friday everybody!

As a long time poster / contributor, the time has come for me to post a build! This is for a friend of mine, he's looking for a photoshop PC.

here goes

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Photoshop, Illustrator, basic web browsing and office applications. No gaming at all!

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread. Around $600- $650 tops

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from. USA

4. IF you're buying parts OUTSIDE the US, please post a link to the vendor you'll be buying from. Micro center is about 30 minutes away...so that is an option as well as newegg


5. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.
prefer intel cpu's

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
just a 1080p monitor. will need basic a keyboard and mouse

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
no overclocking

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using?
23" 1080p

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Note that it is usually not cost or time effective to choose your build more than a month before you actually plan to be using it. next week or so

X. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software? I will need a windows OS

What I have so far...

CPU / mobo: intel i3 3225 and asrock pro 3 mobo $180 after tax at micro center.
HDD: 500gb seagate barracuda $57 at micro center
RAM: 8gb crucial ddr3 1600 $44 at micro center
PSU: antec basiq 450 $40 at micro center
ODD: Samsung dvd $17 at micro center
OS: win 8 x64 $98 at micro center
Case: unsure- he wants something basic without a ton fan vents. he does need/prefer 4 usb ports on the front. I figured about $40 is a good amount to set aside here.
SSD? I'd like to think that I can squeeze that in here.
Mouse / keyboard- looking for input here, I'd imagine it doesn't need to be wireless.

sub total without kb/ mouse or case/ ssd - $460.96 (with tax)

 

[lehtv]

What version of Photoshop?

 

[dmoney1980]

I believe its cs9

 

[lehtv]

cs6 is the newest

 

[dmoney1980]

I meant cs3

 

[Termie]

Just my quick take on this...

Your friend is looking to spend $600-650 for a complete system, including OS, monitor, and peripherals, to do Photoshop work. Photoshop costs $600.

Therein lies the problem. Photoshop is a serious application, and can take advantage of serious hardware. Throwing $650 at it (or in this case, $500 max for the rig itself), is not going to get you much of a Photoshop rig.

Here are the basic things I would want to do serious Photoshop work:
(1) 16GB of ram,
(2) An SSD, at least for the OS, application and scratch disk, if not the images themselves
(3) A quad-core CPU.
(4) A GTX650 or above for hardware acceleration.

Unfortunately, just those parts cost about $400. That's why this is going to be tough to do. Your proposed build is a great budget build, but it has no particular attributes that would lend themselves to Photoshop work.

So, I guess my advice is this: if your friend is looking for a budget build, pass along the build you created, which is an excellent, balanced build (I'd use the Corsair 200R as the case, by the way). But if he's hoping to do serious semi-pro work, he'll need to spend more on the hardware.

And that's setting aside the issue of monitor quality, by the way, which is also going to be an issue with this budget.

 

[dmoney1980]

Termie- thanks for the input. The $650 is for the tower itself, he already has a monitor. I spoke with him just now and he told me that 90% of his photoshop work is centered around web graphics, so I doubt that he would need a dedicated GPU for acceleration.

I'll give him the option to spend a little more to get an i5 combo from micro center, but I'm not really sure if his workload for photoshop would take advantage of it.

Also-what do you guys think about maybe getting a 64gb SSD to use with Intel RST, that way he benefits from a faster system overall without worrying about space?

 

[Termie]

Oh, that makes more sense. I don't have much insight into RST, but I would think he'd want more control over use of the SSD, for instance using it fit for scratch, the application, or certain images.

The trick will be whether you can fit both an SSD and the 3570K within the budget. Based on your build he might get a 60GB SSD in there plus the i5.

 

[mfenn]

You mean SRT? It's fine for somebody who isn't technically savvy enough to manage multiple storage devices, but you don't get anywhere near the performance of a split SSD/HDD setup.

i5 3570K + MSI B75MA-E33 combo $195
Corsair Ballistix DDR3 1600 16GB $83
Samsung 840 120GB $110
Seagate 1TB $75
CX500 $30 AR AP - only because it's cheaper than the CX430
NZXT Source 210 $30
Windows 7 HP 64-bit $100 - screw Win8 for productivity
Logitech basic kb/mouse $15
Total: $638 AR AP

This drops the discrete GPU; that's less important for core Photoshop work than RAM and SSD.

 

[dmoney1980]

You mean SRT? It's fine for somebody who isn't technically savvy enough to manage multiple storage devices, but you don't get anywhere near the performance of a split SSD/HDD setup.

i5 3570K + MSI B75MA-E33 combo $195
Corsair Ballistix DDR3 1600 16GB $83
Samsung 840 120GB $110
Seagate 1TB $75
CX500 $30 AR AP - only because it's cheaper than the CX430
NZXT Source 210 $30
Windows 7 HP 64-bit $100 - screw Win8 for productivity
Logitech basic kb/mouse $15
Total: $638 AR AP

This drops the discrete GPU; that's less important for core Photoshop work than RAM and SSD.

mfenn- nice catch on the i5 combo, I didn't even know that was an option! Here's what I have so far:

i5 / b75 combo - $195
Crucial ballistix 16gb kit $78 - http://www.microcenter.com/product/...l_Desktop_Memory_Kit_(Two_8GB_Memory_Modules)
Samsung 840 120gb $99 - http://www.microcenter.com/product/...TA_60Gb-s_25_Internal_Solid_State_Drive_(SSD)
Toshiba 1TB hdd $55 - http://www.microcenter.com/product/...s_35_Internal_Desktop_Hard_Drive_-_Bare_Drive
CX 500 psu $30ARAP - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687
OS - $100 (I'm trying to talk him out of win 8)
MSI mATX case $28 (he's dead set on this because of the 3 fron usb ports and it's simplistic look)
Samsung ODD $17
Logitech mk120 kb / mouse $20
Total $622

 

[Termie]

Awesome build and great prices from Microcenter. Nice to see them competing on more than just motherboards and CPUs.

Newegg recently had win 7 for $80. Might want to check there before purchasing.

 

[mfenn]

mfenn- nice catch on the i5 combo, I didn't even know that was an option! Here's what I have so far:

i5 / b75 combo - $195
Crucial ballistix 16gb kit $78 - http://www.microcenter.com/product/...l_Desktop_Memory_Kit_(Two_8GB_Memory_Modules)
Samsung 840 120gb $99 - http://www.microcenter.com/product/...TA_60Gb-s_25_Internal_Solid_State_Drive_(SSD)
Toshiba 1TB hdd $55 - http://www.microcenter.com/product/...s_35_Internal_Desktop_Hard_Drive_-_Bare_Drive
CX 500 psu $30ARAP - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687
OS - $100 (I'm trying to talk him out of win 8)
MSI mATX case $28 (he's dead set on this because of the 3 fron usb ports and it's simplistic look)
Samsung ODD $17
Logitech mk120 kb / mouse $20
Total $622

All that stuff looks great to me!