Photoshop set-up spec me!

Jamous · 16 Dec 2008 at 19:25

Hi all, I'm building a pc set-up for a mate, he uses it for general internet use and his Mrs uses Photoshop CS3, now I've no experience of it so I need some spec advice.
Hoping to sort it out inc monitor for £500.
Was thinking along lines of quad (or is dual better here?), 500gb,4gb ram, but unsure if on-board graphics will do or do I need card?
I sthere any life in AMDcpu's for this kind of thing? I was thinking maybe a Phenon would do as the x4 is pretty cheap.

Only things he wants it not too flashy so kinds don't get nosey and a card reader.

Thanks in advance!!

reflux · 16 Dec 2008 at 19:31

Quad is probably a better idea as PS is multi-threaded for certain things like filters. Other than that, I'd suggest a quick hard disk and 4GB of RAM.

Jamous · 17 Dec 2008 at 00:18

Would there be much difference going for AMD instead of Intel in this case?

Chimerical · 17 Dec 2008 at 00:22

Definitely go Intel for this.

Q6600 or Q9550.

ham_mcfist · 17 Dec 2008 at 11:57

I'm guessing his wife is a casual photoshop user? in which case on-board graphics and a cheapy monitor will suffice.

Go for the q6600 and you might as well go for 4gb of ram, considering the small price difference between 2GB vs 4GB.

LeeC22 · 18 Dec 2008 at 00:14

ham_mcfist said:
I'm guessing his wife is a casual photoshop user? in which case on-board graphics and a cheapy monitor will suffice.

Photoshop is starting to offload functions to the GPU. If you don't have a decent card, then you're going to struggle, especially with CS3 & CS4. In keeping with that age old saying... Trust me, I'm an artist.

You don't need a card with a lot of memory, but you need one with capabilities of moving graphic memory round at a good speeds.

If you're looking at graphics usage, then be wary of TN panels, I'd recommend a PVA panel minimum to be honest, if not, she will be pulling her hair out with the colour change that occurs from top to bottom of the screen... unless she is used to TN panels that is.

If you have to scarifice either the monitor or the graphics card to keep the price reasonable, go for the cheaper monitor, but try and get a decent cheap one if you can.

Jamous · 19 Dec 2008 at 00:56

Great advice folks, would the Q8200 be usefull here?

Yes, very casual, I wondered if on-board graphics would do or not.