Computer just for photoshop

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animebuster

86 posts

Master Geek

#58425 11-Mar-2010 16:53

I'm going to Build a Desktop for My mums friend. She wants this computer just for photoshop CS4 and web
browsing. She Definitely wont be playing any games :) She asked her computer tech Guy and he told her this is the kind of system she would be looking at.

Intel Core i5 750 2.66 GHz Qcore

Asus Motherboard P7P55

4GB DDRIII SDRAM 2Gx2

Asus DVD Writer 22x

Nvidia EN240 1GB DDR3

ATX 350W PSU

Mid Tower Case TL566

MS Keyboard & Optical Mouse

Viewsonic 24" VX2433WM

WD 1TB SATA HDD

I think this is way to much for Just photoshop. but i dont use photoshop so i would like your guys opinion. What would you say I should get her? What would you change from that
list?

the things im going to change so far

Harddrive: 500GB should be fine
Power supply: 500-600W
Screen: AOC 24inch 2434PW

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#306326 11-Mar-2010 16:59

Don't get an AOC monitor, get a Dell, this one I would recommend.

http://www1.ap.dell.com/nz/en/home/monitors/monitor-dell-u2410/pd.aspx?refid=monitor-dell-u2410&s=dhs&cs=nzdhs1

Make sure the HDD is 7200RPM or higher, with a big Cache, also you need a colour management package as well... try Spyder http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=254068

wazzageek

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#306328 11-Mar-2010 17:04

"Just photoshop" implies disk space usage - what's the price difference between the two hard drives?

Agree on the power supply - a more power supply that is only just cutting it will cause grief.

What's the spec and price differences between the screens?

The rest looks pretty much OK (as long as the motherboard and OS choices cope with the 4GB of RAM)

vectran

59 posts

Master Geek

#306329 11-Mar-2010 17:07

Have you considered an iMac?

If she is just going to use it for web browsing and Photoshop it should be great (IMO).

wazzageek

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#306332 11-Mar-2010 17:13

vectran: Have you considered an iMac?

If she is just going to use it for web browsing and Photoshop it should be great (IMO).

That could be a very good suggestion - assuming that she doesn't already have Photoshop CS4. I haven't looked at the licensing for a while, but I don't think the license is transferable between Windows and OS X?

animebuster

86 posts

Master Geek

#306337 11-Mar-2010 17:23

macuser: Don't get an AOC monitor, get a Dell, this one I would recommend.

http://www1.ap.dell.com/nz/en/home/monitors/monitor-dell-u2410/pd.aspx?refid=monitor-dell-u2410&s=dhs&cs=nzdhs1

Make sure the HDD is 7200RPM or higher, with a big Cache, also you need a colour management package as well... try Spyder http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=254068

That screen is over Triple the price of other screens

we may look into Spyder though

wazzageek: "Just photoshop" implies disk space usage - what's the price difference between the two hard drives?

Agree on the power supply - a more power supply that is only just cutting it will cause grief.

What's the spec and price differences between the screens?

The rest looks pretty much OK (as long as the motherboard and OS choices cope with the 4GB of RAM)

Good point about the harddrive they are cheap now these days. Yeah im going with windows 7 64bit and the motherboard can cope with that amount of ram.

the specs between the two screen is not much but i have heard bad thangs about that ViewSonic screen like really low max brightness, bad colors and blurry text.

vectran: Have you considered an iMac?

If she is just going to use it for web browsing and Photoshop it should be great (IMO).

Nope we are not mac people :)

wazzageek:
vectran: Have you considered an iMac?

If she is just going to use it for web browsing and Photoshop it should be great (IMO).

That could be a very good suggestion - assuming that she doesn't already have Photoshop CS4. I haven't looked at the licensing for a while, but I don't think the license is transferable between Windows and OS X?

She has already bought cs4

gehenna

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#306339 11-Mar-2010 17:25

I seem to recall the license being transferrable, but don't quote me.

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Batman

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#306368 11-Mar-2010 19:03

howabout this http://www.itd.co.nz/product/i/331200/n/23-6-244e1sb-1080p-hdmi-wide-lcd-mon.html

that's what i've got.

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#306369 11-Mar-2010 19:04

or a mac - perfect for these sort of people. could save money even if they bought another licence and sold the one they've got.

wazzageek

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#306375 11-Mar-2010 19:45

joker97: or a mac - perfect for these sort of people. could save money even if they bought another licence and sold the one they've got.

Are you meaning saving money on the software or hardware?

The closest option for iMac I see is the entry level - that only has a 21" screen, however and it's priced at $1999 (incl GST) from the online apple store.

Not quite sure how that compares with the quote for the OP.

wazzageek

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#306376 11-Mar-2010 19:49

gehenna: I seem to recall the license being transferrable, but don't quote me.

I just looked at the license from Adobe's website (http://www.adobe.com/products/eulas/) - and it states in 2.10 that this is not possible.

Interestingly enough, section 2.4 allows installation on a secondary computer, provided the two copies are not in use at the same time (I'm paraphasing a bit here - it has to be a secondary computer for your usage ...)

animebuster

86 posts

Master Geek

#306390 11-Mar-2010 21:03

joker97: or a mac - perfect for these sort of people. could save money even if they bought another licence and sold the one they've got.

as i stated in my second post we are not getting a mac. cant stand the stuff :D Anyway macs are more expensive than pcs.

Im thinking of swapping the case to a Antec 300 and the power supply to a Antec EarthWatt 500W Do you guys think that would be Sufficient enough to power/cool/fit that Hardware?

Case
Power Supply

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kobiak

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#306398 11-Mar-2010 21:26

She won't need stand alone video card, save money and get all-in-one motherboard and spend the difference on RAM and Monitor - the most important thing for designer.

helping others at evgenyk.nz

samwooff

219 posts

Master Geek

#306509 12-Mar-2010 10:08

Hey there
Most of that build looks pretty good, definitely get a decent power supply, with CS4 a decent graphics card can help too as it is designed to use the GPU for optimisation, look up "CUDA" for a long detailed description, I'm pretty sure ATI has there own version of this too.

The reason macuser pointed you towards a $1000 monitor is because it has an IPS panel as opposed to a TN panel, don't know the difference?

TN: cheap, can only display 6 bit colour (260,000 colours), usually pretty good response times, have inaccurate colours, red being especially bad.
IPS: more expensive, can do 8 bit colour(16 million colours), input lag and response vary, usually have the best out of box colours and the best after calibration as well.

So if you're going to spend that much money on a photoshop machine and a colourimeter it seems pointless to go for a TN panel because you're never going to get a true representation of what you're drawing. However a good IPS screen with a good calibration can get you within a few shades of perfect colours.

If you want to see the difference for yourself computer lounge should still have the HP2475(the exact same screen as that dell) on display next to two "normal" monitors.

Desktop: i7 920, GTX 275, asus P6T, antec 1200, 6gb ram, 1tb spinpoint f1, 1tb spinpoint f3, Logitech Z2300, Zero DAC, Shure SRH440
Laptop: Toshiba satellite, T5300, Go 7300
Home Theatre: 32" loewe CRT, Harmon kardon amp, dvd player, image 418 speakers, rega planar 25 turntable :)

ronindanbo

180 posts

Master Geek

#306532 12-Mar-2010 11:08

Too much CPU not enough GPU, as a serious Photoshop user I find GPU is the most important, by the way I totally agree with you bumping up the power supply, good call.

animebuster

86 posts

Master Geek

#306720 12-Mar-2010 18:50

ronindanbo: Too much CPU not enough GPU, as a serious Photoshop user I find GPU is the most important, by the way I totally agree with you bumping up the power supply, good call.

samwooff: Hey there
Most of that build looks pretty good,
definitely get a decent power supply, with CS4 a decent graphics card
can help too as it is designed to use the GPU for optimisation, look up
"CUDA" for a long detailed description, I'm pretty sure ATI has there
own version of this too.

The reason macuser pointed you towards a
$1000 monitor is because it has an IPS panel as opposed to a TN panel,
don't know the difference?

TN: cheap, can only display 6 bit
colour (260,000 colours), usually pretty good response times, have
inaccurate colours, red being especially bad.
IPS: more expensive,
can do 8 bit colour(16 million colours), input lag and response vary,
usually have the best out of box colours and the best after calibration
as well.

So if you're going to spend that much money on a
photoshop machine and a colourimeter it seems pointless to go for a TN
panel because you're never going to get a true representation of what
you're drawing. However a good IPS screen with a good calibration can
get you within a few shades of perfect colours.

If you want to
see the difference for yourself computer lounge should still have the
HP2475(the exact same screen as that dell) on display next to two
"normal" monitors.

AH ok i'll look into that Monitor.

Yeah after researching about photoshop cs4, I found out that it uses the graphics card more than the cpu. So a fast Gpu would be good.

By the way has anyone heard of the Nvidia EN240 graphics card? I have never heard of it and nothing even comes up when googleing it. I think the tech guy who gave her this quote did a typo maybe he meant the GT240?

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