building a pc for photoshop

^^Gord^^ said:
I think people just think they can get a better deal / fit with building their own. I'd expect if you had posted up HP machines you would have got the same response.

I would agree with the point that you can get exactly the PC you want building it yourself but that also means supporting it yourself. For a lot of people of here that isn't an issue (in fact judging by some of the 1st line support people I've "experienced" it can be an advantage!) but if you don't feel confident about supporting it yourself having someone like Dell to fall back on will be a plus.
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If you buy a dell you'll in al likelyhood find their upgrades are limited, the MoBo on the older Dells are proprietory, so forget keeping the case for a future upgrade (same with the PSU) this in itself is a major disadvantage as you're pretty much stuck with the original spec and will just have to fork out again for a new base unit when you need to upgrade.

If you build yourself (and get decent components to begin with) you can retain most parts (like the case, PSU) just replace CPU / MoBo and RAM.

In the long run if you aren't going to upgrade your PC, but just buy a new one next time as well Dell may be the way to go, if you plan on upgrading rather then keep buying new PCs buld it yourself.

Also note even if you get the Dell for photo work I wouldn't use the dell monitor anyway
 
Wyvern971 said:
Also note even if you get the Dell for photo work I wouldn't use the dell monitor anyway
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are you saying you dont like dell monitors? I use the 2007FPW 20 " widescreen at work and its great.

I think you do have a point about the upgrade path tho...It my be the case that the dell is a bit of a false economy in the long run.
 
I might be talking out of my arse, but although the idea of >2GB of RAM for photo work is lovely, I was under the impression that Win XP can't use more than 2GB?
 
here is a basic system which would be ok u could do without video card if u wanted and use integrated and if u wanted to overclock spend more money on a better motherboard etc

Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £105.99(£124.54)
Asrock Conroe945G-DVI (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £43.99(£51.69)
Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-4200C4 Dual Channel Kit (CT2KIT12864AA53E) £129.99(£152.74)
Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 80GB 800JD SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £26.99(£31.71)
Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 200GB 2000JS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £42.99(£50.51)
Pioneer DVR-111BK 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM £18.35(£21.56)
Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black £48.99(£57.56)
BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7300 LE Turbo Cache 256MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £28.99(£34.06)
Black Hiper HPU-4M580 Type R 580W ATX2.2 PSU - Black £44.99(£52.86)
Dell Ultrasharp 2007WFP 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey £284.99(£334.86)
Sub Total : £776.26
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £14.95
Vat : £138.46
Total : £929.67

hard drive for windows and 2nd for your photos 20"tft etc just to show u can do it pretty much to budget if you need

regards
dave
ps its just subjective as i dont know what case etc you would want :)
 
hoodmeister said:
I might be talking out of my arse, but although the idea of >2GB of RAM for photo work is lovely, I was under the impression that Win XP can't use more than 2GB?
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I think the limit is 3gb. I have heard something about vista being able to use upwards of this tho?

Mtx said:
here is a basic system which would be ok u could do without video card if u wanted and use integrated and if u wanted to overclock spend more money on a better motherboard etc

Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £105.99(£124.54)
Asrock Conroe945G-DVI (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £43.99(£51.69)
Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-4200C4 Dual Channel Kit (CT2KIT12864AA53E) £129.99(£152.74)
Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 80GB 800JD SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £26.99(£31.71)
Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 200GB 2000JS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £42.99(£50.51)
Pioneer DVR-111BK 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM £18.35(£21.56)
Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black £48.99(£57.56)
BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7300 LE Turbo Cache 256MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £28.99(£34.06)
Black Hiper HPU-4M580 Type R 580W ATX2.2 PSU - Black £44.99(£52.86)
Dell Ultrasharp 2007WFP 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey £284.99(£334.86)
Sub Total : £776.26
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £14.95
Vat : £138.46
Total : £929.67

hard drive for windows and 2nd for your photos 20"tft etc just to show u can do it pretty much to budget if you need

regards
dave
ps its just subjective as i dont know what case etc you would want :)
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Thats great. Thanks for taking the time to do that. I've heard great things about the E6300 chip. I think I am swaying towards the self build route as it seems I'll have more flexibility in the future plus I have the opportunity to overclock.

I'm taking a lot of time to look through the ocuk hardware forums to try to learn more about this stuff. The last time I overclocked etc was on my slot A Athlon 750!! :eek:
 
just been pretend shopping on ocuk :)

Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
Dell Ultrasharp 2007WFP 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey Dell
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit
Pioneer DVR-111BK 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM
Hiper HPU-4M580 Type R 580W ATX2.2 PSU - Black Hiper HPU-4M580 Type R
Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS
Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 1000 Black - Retail (BV3-00007)
Netgear WG311 54Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter Netgear WG311 54Mbps
Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) Arctic Cooling Freezer
Leadtek GeForce 7600 GS SILENT 256MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) -
Akasa SATA-2 45cm Silver Data Cable Akasa SATA-2 45cm Silver Data


comes in at £1112. totally blown my budget! but the e6300 can easily do 2.8-3ghz, plus good quality memory etc.

I've got to be careful though, as it easy to blow money on components when in real world scenarios it wouldnt make a difference for regular photoshop/web stuff.

I'm using a 3.2ghz xeon dell precision 690 here at work (over £2,200 worth) and its obviously great for photoshop....but I certainly wouldnt pay for it out of my own pocket. The e6300 would probably be as fast (maybe faster?) but at the end of the day its a lot of cash.

I'm also now getting dangerously tempted by gfx cards to play games but maybe a compromise is a xbox 360 and a slightly lower spec pc.

laptop posted today so i've got to do something quick!
 
Then as long as you've got yourself a responsive monitor that'll get your Delta E < 1, everything else is just garnish. Whatever speed your PS works at on your new rig, you'll be able to live with it. I know mine's slower that it could be but speed is relative - I don't know any better so I'm happy!

PS. I'm not 100% sure of the quality of the 2007WFP as I believe Dell change the panel used in the monitor on a semi-regular basis. Someone in the monitors forum will be able to give you the latest news. If the panel is good then it's an accurate choice once calibrated, and you've got the best kit to be able to do so.
 
I've got a 2007 and its fine and calibrated no probs but yeah there is a couple of panels used by dell. I was just trying to demonstrate it could certainly be reachable to build a good fast machine on the budget spec'd. Dont be fooled by the core2duo its a lot of bang for the buck and is currently the most viable path to take with huge performance gains reachable with simple cpu upgrade etc. the cheap motherboard is perfectly functional and the goal was to show what was achievable to a set price.
 
morgan said:
are you saying you dont like dell monitors? I use the 2007FPW 20 " widescreen at work and its great.
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Well the only Dells I've seen in use are the 24" widescreen variety and in terms of quality I'm not impressed, as also mentioned you aren't guaranteed a good one (not that other manufacturers do) but dell are in general built on the cheap. I'd take my Hyundai L90D+ over one any day
 
well I've just had some rather splendid news. My boss just offered to buy the pc for me, so obviously the budget skyrocketted and I just ordered from ocuk:

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
Gigabyte GA_965P_DS4 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit
2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache
HIS ATI Radeon X1950 XT-X ICEQ 3 SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR4
Dell 20" Widescreen E2007 Ultrasharp
Samsung SH-W183 18x18 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 Sound Card
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU
Titan Vanessa-L TTC-NK25TB/SC (RB) Heatpipe Cooling Fan
Creative Gigaworks T20 2.0 Speaker System
Lian-Li PC-60 PLUS Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black
Microsoft Remote Keyboard for Windows XP Media Center Edition
Microsoft Cordless Laser Mouse 6000 - Retail
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
2 x Akasa SATA-2 45cm Silver Data Cable
Akasa Serial ATA 100cm



...phew

and it didnt cost me a penny

smug git of the day award goes to meeee :D
 
^^Gord^^ said:
For 32bit Windows XP Pro it's 4GB and for 64bit it's 16GB.
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Cor where did you get those numbers from!

For 32-bit Windows XP, it can address a maximum of 4Gb memory BUT its divided between the kernel and the applications such that the maximum any one application can use (ie. Photoshop) is 3Gb, and you have to fiddle with its boot settings to get that, 2Gb being the default largest single app.

64-bit Windows XP is "limited" to 128Gb, but this itself is a soft limit which Microsoft have said they could increase if there was a need, the addressable space by a 64-bit kernel is ~18 billion Gigabytes, or "sufficient" for photoshop!

I'm currently running 64-bit XP with 4Gb RAM which is real nice for performance when using big apps, but be warned XP-64 bit support is still weak, especially with anything that involves USB.
 
Tumbletop said:
For 32-bit Windows XP, it can address a maximum of 4Gb memory BUT its divided between the kernel and the applications such that the maximum any one application can use (ie. Photoshop) is 3Gb, and you have to fiddle with its boot settings to get that, 2Gb being the default largest single app.
Click to expand...

:rolleyes: This thread is started by someone asking help about a spec for a PC, he won't know or care about the application / OS memory allocation. The question was how much memory it could support which is 4GB.

Tumbletop said:
64-bit Windows XP is "limited" to 128Gb, but this itself is a soft limit which Microsoft have said they could increase if there was a need, the addressable space by a 64-bit kernel is ~18 billion Gigabytes, or "sufficient" for photoshop!
Click to expand...

Well, if you really want to split hairs the 64-bit kernel can actually address 16TB. The actual 64-bit Windows XP limit is listed as 128GB in Technet articles but as 16GB in other MS articles. Windows 2003 Standard (x64) is listed as 32GB so I tend to stay with quoting 16GB.

Thanks for your helpful post :rolleyes:
 
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