New Computer Build for Photoshop - needs advice

[Lee101]

Im building a new computer mainly for Photoshop and other visual/art programs (illustrator and painter). Im probably over shooting with my setup but thats ok my budget can spill a little past $2000. I want it to run photoshop 7 as smooth as it can go. This is also my first build so ive debated it and did much research over the past 6 months. Enough BS heres the specs:

Case:
Antec Performance I P180 atx 4x HDD mid tower

Processor:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+

MBoard:
Asus A8n SLI Deluxe NVIDIA socket 939

Ram:
Cosair TWINX Dual Channal (2 x 1gb) x 2 (total 4 gb)

HDrives:
Western Digi Caviar se 80gb 7200 rpm sata (for operating system)

Western Digi Caviar se16 250gb 7200 rpm sata (for programs and some data)

Video card:

Asus en6600 silent/td/512m Geforce 6600 512mb gddr2 pci express x16

Power supply:

Antec Smart Power 2.0 sp-450 atx12v 450w

Floppy:

Ultra Black 3.5" floppy w 6 in 1 flash card reader (for photo memory cards)

CD/DVD:

NEC nd3550a cd/dvd burner

Monitor:

ViewSonic vx922 19" XTREME 2ms response time ghost free lcd

And of course:

Wacom Intous3 6x8 Tablet




I hope i did a decnt job considering the little time i took to learn all the components of a computer. Thanks for looking let me know if i should change anything.

 

[Smartazz]

for photoshop, I think it might be worth getting a Core 2 Duo.
edit: Also, don't get socket 939, get am2.

 

[Lee101]

so a

AMD Athlon 4200 socket am2

and a

Asus m2n-sli deluxe nvidia socket am2 atx mobo

is a better fit for me

 

[Lee101]

Will there be any compatibility issues with the other hardware??

 

[cmdrdredd]

Everything looks fine. If you want to you can get a C2D which IS faster than AMD. Although I still say keep AMD

If all you're really doing is Photoshop get more memory than just 1GB. Photoshop and graphics apps need memory which makes a very very big difference.

 

[Operandi]

939 is done, it doesn?t make sense to go there at this point. For high-end AMD AM2 is the way to go, and the Asus M2N is a great board.

For the case and especially PSU I think there are better choices then Antec.

PSU: Seasonic, Forton-Source, Enhance, PCP&C are all flat out better then Antec. It looks like you may be leaning towards low noise, in which case Seasonic is easily the best choice. As far as wattage is concerned 350-400 watts is plenty; more will not run your system any better.

Case: The P180 is overpriced in my opinion. Far too much of plastic is used in it's construction and there are more then a few people having issues with it's build quality. For a $2,000 budget I wouldn't settle for anything less then the Lian Li PC-V1100.

 

[Lee101]

Cool thanks ill take your advise about the case after a little more research this morning.

 

[rivan]

From my perspective, the Antec case will do just fine, unless your plans include frequent upgrades. If you're into the extra eye candy from the Lian-Li, go for it, but once you hit a threshold of quality (which the Antec exceeds) you'll get very little for spending more, other than eye candy. Personally for the $100 extra I'd rather get a faster drive/additional drive for raid/faster processor.

On that note, another consideration if you're working on larger files is drive read/write speed. If your workflow is primarily web stuff, the drive setup you've got is fine, but if you're print-oriented at all, you'll want a faster drive setup. Either faster drives or a couple drives RAIDed together for better throughput - or both. Batching speed is much improved with higher drive throughput as well.

As a final note, I'd VERY strongly recommend rethinking your monitor situation. Either get a larger primary monitor or better yet, a second monitor as a palette monitor. The palette can be a cheapie (maybe the extra $100 instead of the Lian-Li?) with a d-sub input, since your gfx card has one DVI and one d-sub. I've been working in photoshop and illustrator for some dozen years, and I can't explain how much moving the palettes off to a secondary monitor helps. Depending on your need for color accuracy (print/photography being more exacting than web) you might give some thought to a more color-accurate primary display (good for gaming != good for design) and/or a calibration system. On calibrators, I've used and like the ColorVision Spyder and Monaco's OptixXR Pro. I've heard good things about the Pantone Huey as well, for a much more moderate price. All of these will go *much* farther in producing better color than, say, Adobe Gamma.

Good luck.

 

[HannibalX]

Looks like a good build to me.

 

[Lee101]

I know with any thing visual CRT monitors are a better choice, but i dont print to often. My work is mostly in the production side of things so sometimes i print some times its not needed.

CRT- better color, cheaper, could afford a dual set up
LCD- Non flicker so my eyes dont hurt from spending 10+ hours on a project, as long as theres no ghost (2MS) then the colors dont have to be perfect

I dont know now whats your call

Oh and i do plan to RAID in the future so the hdd speeds are ok

 

[Bobthelost]

You're not going a great route on the CPU, Conroe is flat out faster. The GPU is overpowered for a pure photoshop machine, good onboard would be sufficent for that, or an X300 / 6200.

 

[lamere]

Sounds like a good built. The video card may be a bit much though. Other than that, thumbs up.

 

[dakotagts]

Like bob said overpower on the Vid Card. Save some money and get Photoshop CS2, MUCH BETTER... Also find a BIG monitor to see every thing. The second monitor is not a bad idea either if you have the room.

 

[rivan]

Bumping HDD speed will still help, even if you're going to RAID in the future. The larger your file sizes are the more concerned you should be with this; if you're working at screen res you're fine, if you're on smaller (4x6, 8x10) print pieces you're probably ok, but once you start with tabloid spreads with a bunch of layers, you'll want something faster.

On LCD vs CRT - As long as you're using an LCD that calibrates well you should be ok. CRTs are still superior for color, but the tradeoff these days isn't what it used to be, and the eyestrain advantage LCDs have make a pretty significant difference if you're going to be in front of it for 8+ hours a day. I'm of the opinion you'll be alright with LCDs as long as you're not working in highly color-critical situations - retouching skintones, that sort of thing - and even then, you can be OK with LCD, but you'll need to be spending a good deal more than your budgeting for displays on either LCD or CRT.

 

[Lee101]

seems like any monitor i buy might break the bank

i need to stay in a price range of 300-350

 

[kpb]

I don't know what size files you typically work with in photoshop but newer versions of photoshop may be worth while. Photoshop 7 can only access 2gbs of ram max ever. PS CS 2 can access more than that in the right situation and will let windows cache the scratch disk if you've got a 64 bit system with more than 4 gbs of ram. Can check the doc 320005 on adobe's web site for info.

 

[lamere]

Absolutly CRT for photoshop....and photoshop CS2 is another $700-800 if you already don't have it, stick with PS7, especially if you have some plugins for it as most are useless in CS2. If it aint's broke, don't fix it, right? Besides CS2 is much slower then PS7 in my experience unless you're using a MAC
I stare at a LCD at work @60hz and CRT's @ 85hz most of the day. Eye strain shouldn't be a problem on a CRT @85hz, at least it's not for me

 

[kpb]

Originally posted by: lamere
Absolutly CRT for photoshop....and photoshop CS2 is another $700-800 if you already don't have it, stick with PS7, especially if you have some plugins for it as most are useless in CS2. If it aint's broke, don't fix it, right? Besides CS2 is much slower then PS7 in my experience unless you're using a MAC
I stare at a LCD at work @60hz and CRT's @ 85hz most of the day. Eye strain shouldn't be a problem on a CRT @85hz, at least it's not for me

Assuming he owns a lisenced legal copy of photoshop upgrading to the latest version from any previous version is only 169$.

As for speed it depends. Working on 2gb files in pscs 2 on a 64 bit system with 8gb of ram is going to blow ps 7 outta the water. Working on web graphics ps 7 may very well perform better since it is simpler with less features that you don't need to use.

 

[Lee101]

i think im going to go with CRT so i can afford a dual set up (drooool)

and as far as photoshop 7 i just like it like an old pair of shoes. ill have to update soon but for now ill be lovin the hardware up grade


thanks for all the help guys