CPU - Flash + Photoshop, budget intel?

[solidsponge]

Hello

I have read in the FAQ that for video editing intel is best. However I mainly use flash CS3 and Photoshop CS3. I mainly only use one program at a time but will have various other things running such as referance images, word documents, and the internet. So I thought a dual core AMD would be best for my next upgrade, but I have read Intel dual core is better? Is that correct? I dont play games at all either.

Incidently Im still only a student so I am only aiming to purchase a budget dual core, but having always bought AMD is it right to get a intel?

Are these intel core 2s the best to get on a budget?

Intel Pentium Dual Core E2160
Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180

Also Im wont be overclocking I dont think, unless anyone recommends it for a stable performance type setup.

 

[jonislost]

To put it frankly. Get an intel. For budget yes a 21xx would be fine, you could over clock any of those to 3ghz easily if thats your thing.

 

[weescott]

Intel have always been good at this. I have used PS since the P3 days. P4HT was great. HDD and ram help a lot too though.

 

[ergonomics]

photoshop will allocate more files to RAM meaning faster access and edit times. if you deal with larger photoshop files, its best to have 2gb+ ram. the more you have the more improvement you will see.

 

[Duke]

If you are on a budget then the 2180 would be fine, but personally I would try and get one of the higher models with the extra cache and clock speed.

What RAM and HD do you have / plan to get?

 

[solidsponge]

Ah right so intel are the way to go, thanks. Also I cant believe how cheap DDR2 is compared to the DDR I have now. Its pretty much twice as much. I was going just going to update my current PC which has 1gb DDR, but I saw it was time to make a total change. Ill get 2gb to start then probably move up to 4gb.

The only shame is my graphics card is an AGP so Ill need a new one for the PCI-Express boards which is annoying since I dont play games and havent used this one much geforce 6800.

Anyway Im not getting a hard drive at the moment, Ive just got a now small 160gb maxtor one, which was big when I got it. I could swear it came with a SATA cable but no actual plug for it in the hard drive, which was strange, I must be mistaken. Im pleased to see hard drives are now extremely cheap! I have had two maxtors break though so next time I think Ill get something else.

One thing I dont understand is the intel motherboards listings? There all called 775 but they have different chipsets? So there's lots of versions. I guess Ill have to investigate that!

 

[jak731]

1st option (overclocking nearly impossible with this setup)

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Corsair VX 450W ATX PSU (CMPSU-450VXUK) £37.99
(£44.64) £37.99
(£44.64)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £24.99
(£29.36) £24.99
(£29.36)
Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2 (Socket 775) PCI-Express/AGP DDR2 Motherboard £36.99
(£43.46) £36.99
(£43.46)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST3500320AS) £61.99
(£72.84) £61.99
(£72.84)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)
Sub Total : £226.94
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £41.28
Total : £277.17
get smaller hdd if you want
drop psu if your current one is good
this MB suports both PCI-E and AGP cards
the cpu cooler is there because i dont like the intel stock cooler but it will be sufficient for a non-OCed pc.
2nd option (highly OCable)
Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Corsair VX 450W ATX PSU (CMPSU-450VXUK) £37.99
(£44.64) £37.99
(£44.64)
Asus ATI Radeon EAH2600XT HTDP Silent 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
Abit IP35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £69.99
(£82.24) £69.99
(£82.24)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £24.99
(£29.36) £24.99
(£29.36)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST3500320AS) £61.99
(£72.84) £61.99
(£72.84)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)
Sub Total : £314.93
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £56.85
Total : £381.73

get smaller hdd if you want
drop psu if your current one is good
the hd2600xt isnt really for gaming but you dont seem to game.
the MB will take that cpu up to 3ghz easily so if you get this spec you should really Oc.

 

[solidsponge]

ah right thanks for the info, I have read about the agp and pci board but apparently it only takes 2gb of memory, so not too keen on that. I unfortunately just had to buy a power supply and had no choice but to go to PC world because I had to finish some work in a few days, so I got a 450w jeantech as its all they sell, but to my surprise it is listed as an "ok" power supply on some forums! Still annoying though never the less!