A New Computer - Home Build Suggestions?

colinr

A new PC for Photoshop
I have looked at the original thread on this subject (2005) but there have been many new innovations since forum members gave those suggestions and I wondered if anyone would care to suggest a design for a 'diy' home-build PC to be used primarily with Photoshop taking advantage of the newer hardware and the recent price reductions by Intel and AMD

I have read the Mac comments and appreciate that many still feel that Mac is the way to go - however I wish to go down the PC route and would be grateful for any suggestions covering : (I have a budget of USD 2000 - USD 2500) Choice of :

1) motherboard - plus power supply recommendations
2) processor - plus cooling considerations
3) Number of HDDs - type - capacity - ( I read somewhere that 3 was a good choice)
a) where to put OS
b) scratch disk
c) where to put apps
4) memory
5) video / graphics card
6) sound card (to play music while working)

In short - everything !

many thanks

claudermilk

colinr wrote:

A new PC for Photoshop
I have looked at the original thread on this subject (2005) but there have been many new innovations since forum members gave those suggestions and I wondered if anyone would care to suggest a design for a 'diy' home-build PC to be used primarily with Photoshop taking advantage of the newer hardware and the recent price reductions by Intel and AMD

I have read the Mac comments and appreciate that many still feel that Mac is the way to go - however I wish to go down the PC route and would be grateful for any suggestions covering : (I have a budget of USD 2000 - USD 2500) Choice of :

1) motherboard - plus power supply recommendations

Basically one that supports the features you want. Most of them now have on-board LAN, USB, Firewire, etc. I'd stick with well-rated ones from the better known manufacturers (MSI, Asus, etc.).

2) processor - plus cooling considerations

Definitely get a dual-core. Right now common wisdom says Intel has the edge, so look ath the Core2 Duos.

3) Number of HDDs - type - capacity - ( I read somewhere that 3 was a good choice)

First of all remember there is no such thing as too much storage space. I'd suggest at least two drives: one for the OS & programs, the other for your data. This insulates your data from any issues on the OS drive & allows a more trouble-free reload when that day finally comes. If you want to run a RAID (many mobos support this now), then choose what exactly you want to do. For me, I left the OS drive non-RAID and set my data drives to RAID 10--though I'd have used RAID 5 if the controller supported it.

a) where to put OS

See above

b) scratch disk

That would be the third drive that was recommended. I just made a partition on my OS drive for that. It works well enough for me.

c) where to put apps

again, see above.

4) memory

2-3GB. Anything less is causing a bottleneck, anything more the OS cannot use (I would stick with XP and avoid Vista for now).

5) video / graphics card

Surprisingly this isn't that big a deal. Look at dual-DVI output cards with 128-256MB RAM that do no use system memory. Basically most anything about $100 or so at Newegg will be fine. The gamers are pushing this technology well beyond what we 2-D photographers need.

6) sound card (to play music while working)

Whatever you want. My mobo supports 5.1 digital surround & is plenty for my needs.

colinr

Thanks Chris
Thanks very much for taking time to provide this reply - this is really helpful

Much appreciated


Colin

ChrisJ

Good advice from the other Chris...

I run my setup similarly, except I only have a single internal data drive. I back it up regularly to an external disk, though. This is solely to reduce heat and noise in my system, otherwise I would at least run my data mirrored (RAID-1).

Core 2 Duo E6600 is still the sweet spot on price/performance. From what I've been reading, the Quads just don't give any bang for extra bucks.

The thread with my specs is somewhere here still... a search should find it. It's only a little out of date now.

claudermilk

Honestly, those 5 permanent drives are pretty silent. I also have a total of 11 fans in the case and have gone to no effort to make it a silent box--and on the whole they are all quiet (occasionally one will rattle).

For backup & expandable storage space, I have a couple of the Kingwin removable racks. Uses the typically empty 5.25" bays and gives me internal drive access speed--win-win. Overall it will be cheaper than a pile of externals as I don't have to keep buying power supplies & interfaces, just another aluminum case for additional drives.

ChrisJ

claudermilk wrote:

Honestly, those 5 permanent drives are pretty silent. I also have a total of 11 fans in the case and have gone to no effort to make it a silent box--and on the whole they are all quiet (occasionally one will rattle).

Heh, I guess we must have a different definition of quiet. 11 fans!!! Wow!

Pupator

OP - check your PM.

claudermilk

ChrisJ wrote:

Heh, I guess we must have a different definition of quiet. 11 fans!!! Wow!

Really, it is pretty quiet. No more noise than the old HP with three fans in the case. Besides, with the radio on, you can't hear the PCs any more anyway.

The rundown is: 1 CPU fan, 2 80mm case fans, 1 120mm case fan, 1 GPU fan, 5 40mm drive bay fans (3 in a dedicated bay, 1 each in the removable trays), and 1 PWS fan. Nothing's melting down in my case!

ChrisJ

claudermilk wrote:

Really, it is pretty quiet. No more noise than the old HP with three fans in the case. Besides, with the radio on, you can't hear the PCs any more anyway.

The rundown is: 1 CPU fan, 2 80mm case fans, 1 120mm case fan, 1 GPU fan, 5 40mm drive bay fans (3 in a dedicated bay, 1 each in the removable trays), and 1 PWS fan. Nothing's melting down in my case!

Definitely the larger fans don't make a lot of noise... do you have dynamic control of their RPMs, or are they always on?

My system has a GPU fan, CPU fan, 80mm case fan, and PWS Fan. That's it. I don't overclock, so the heat stays reasonable, if not air-conditioned like yours . Only other noise sources are the two HDs and the DVD Burner (which is usually empty).

Good info at: http://www.silentpcreview.com/

claudermilk

Nope, always on. With 5 hard drives, a DVD-RW, and floppy/card reader in there I got a bit paranoid about cooling & figured a few fans was cheap insurance. I was afraid it would sound like a plane taking off, but it's surprisingly quiet. I'm just lucky I guess--that or I'm so used to computer sound that I don't even notice any more (I started out in IT maintaining an HP3000 with 3 "washing machine" drives and 2 tape drives--you want noisy? ).