Photoshop System

[Skypix7]

Hi all, thinking it's about time to upgrade my system for photo work, had this one for 3 years now and could use a bit more muscle, and appreciate any advice on what's a good PS-intensive setup.

I'm running an ASUS P5Wdh Deluxe with Intel Quad core 6600, 8GB Ram, Nvidia 7600GS, tons of external and internal drives, 500GB to 1 TB size, 750 Corsair power supply, vista 64 bit.

Don't game, don't overclock, just bought a new laptop with an i3 and 4GB in it and it's almost as fast as my desktop!

Not interested in gaming, want to spend about $1500 or so. Appreciate just some basic hardware suggestions, I can research the details myself: moboard, CPU, video card, memory.

thanks!

 

[impressme]

Use something like this as a guideline:

Windows 7 64-bit
ASUS P6X58D-E (future-proof yourself for USB 3.0 & SATA6)
Intel Core i7
12GB DDR3 RAM
Intel X25 series SSD
ATI 5770 or nVidia equivalent

This motherboard in particular supports up to 24GB RAM, but depends on which version of Windows 7 64-bit you use.

There are many options for DDR3 RAM. Ultimate choice will depend on your budget. Over-clocking here is an option to consider as well. You had 8GB DDR2 in your old system? 8GB DDR3 or more would be a good place to start.

If you go with a Core i7 930, over-clocking is certainly an option and will save you some money. I believe you can get it as high as 4Ghz with the right hardware, and just air-cooling.

An SSD hard drive you should SERIOUSLY consider as your primary for the O/S and Photoshop. You'll see a huge improvement. Boot times and loading an application like Photoshop are super snappy! Read the section of the forum here regarding SSD's for details.

You don't need cutting edge video card for Photography. It's not like you are gaming, so an ATI 5770 or nVidia equivalent would be sufficient and will save you some money. This card has 1GB DDR5 VRAM.

 

[impressme]

Actually over-clocking wouldn't even be necessary really, and you'll get great performance with what I suggested as a guideline.

 

[Skypix7]

Thanks impressme, that's a great overview, just what I needed. I've been running ASUS boards for 10 or more years now and have a lot of confidence in them...thanks for the other suggestions too, very helpful.