Building a PC for photoshop use

2010-08-20 11:38:56

#1

Bevo: Nah; +718|6779|Austin, Texas

Hey all,

Mom needs a new comp. Thinking i7 build, used mostly for photoshop and other editing software. Price range is unknown, but let's say $1000-$1500.

A few comments:

Doesn't watch movies/etc so a decent GPU should be enough (right?)
Constantly has 7 billion programs and processes open simultaneously. Won't change her ways. How much RAM is "reasonable"? I was thinking 8g at least. She currently runs on 3g DDR2 and es no bueno.
Already has a pretty nice thermaltake tower.
Has 4 internal HDDs atm.
Thinking about SSD for OS/PS use.
Needs to include win7 64bit.
Needs to have enough power to use (I'm thinking) all of those HDDs.

I'm going to make a mock build soon but seeing as I've been prone to doing stupid things in the past, I always encourage input.

2010-08-20 11:49:42

#2

Bevo: Nah; +718|6779|Austin, Texas

Here's what I have right now.

https://static.bf2s.com/files/user/19950/mombuild.jpg

Is that PSU enough? Any other thoughts?

ed: This comes out just under $1100

Last edited by Bevo (2010-08-20 11:49:58)

2010-08-20 12:03:51

#3

Bevo: Nah; +718|6779|Austin, Texas

On a related note: It seems her current tower won't boot. It gets to the window "loading" screen on XP (Black with the bar), once it completes that it bluescreens, there's 3 clicks, and then it reboots.

HDD is dead I'm assuming? Is there any way to boot this up without a windows disk? Linux usb key?

2010-08-20 12:11:26

#4

Finray: Hup! Dos, Tres, Cuatro; +2,629|6046|Catherine Black

A) Stop using Vista
B) Pirate Win 7
C) 460 would be perfect for a build like this.. even my computer gets a bit laggy in Photoshop with my 5770.
D) i7 930, rather than the 860, I'm not sure 860 supports triple channel RAM. Let me google.

2010-08-20 12:12:48

#5

.Sup: be nice; +2,646|6711|The Twilight Zone

SSD would speed up Photoshop a lot especially if you have a lot of plugins to load up

https://www.shrani.si/f/3H/7h/45GTw71U/untitled-1.png

2010-08-20 12:13:02

#6

Finray: Hup! Dos, Tres, Cuatro; +2,629|6046|Catherine Black

Next in line is the Core i7 860 (...) but still... locked multipliers, and it lacks triple-channel memory. Something a similar priced Core i7 920 doesn't have.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/core-i5-7 … ew-test/19

2010-08-20 12:27:23

#7

Bevo: Nah; +718|6779|Austin, Texas

A, B) Fuck you

C) Is it really necessary? Not much of a price change I guess.. she's using SLI 8800 GTXs atm.

D) Kay.

Is more than 8gig feasible? Is it dumb? Should I do 2x4gig instead to leave the option open?

2010-08-20 12:28:35

#8

liquidat0r: wtf.; +2,223|6885|UK

Bevo wrote:
A, B) Fuck you

tbh, I really would recommend getting Win7 for the new PC.

2010-08-20 12:29:47

#9

Bevo: Nah; +718|6779|Austin, Texas

liquidat0r wrote:
Bevo wrote:
A, B) Fuck you
tbh, I really would recommend getting Win7 for the new PC.

he's talking about my laptop that i'm posting from. new pc will have win7

2010-08-20 12:37:36

#10

Finray: Hup! Dos, Tres, Cuatro; +2,629|6046|Catherine Black

Bevo wrote:
A, B) Fuck you

C) Is it really necessary? Not much of a price change I guess.. she's using SLI 8800 GTXs atm.

D) Kay.

Is more than 8gig feasible? Is it dumb? Should I do 2x4gig instead to leave the option open?

Triple channel needs 3 modules.. can't have triple channel with only 2 modules. Kinda defeats the purpose. I'd say 3x2GB DIMMs, 6GB is usually more than enough.

2010-08-20 12:39:52

#11

Kimmmmmmmmmmmm: ©; +1,811|6255

Finray wrote:
Bevo wrote:
A, B) Fuck you

C) Is it really necessary? Not much of a price change I guess.. she's using SLI 8800 GTXs atm.

D) Kay.

Is more than 8gig feasible? Is it dumb? Should I do 2x4gig instead to leave the option open?
Triple channel needs 3 modules.. can't have triple channel with only 2 modules. Kinda defeats the purpose. I'd say 3x2GB DIMMs, 6GB is usually more than enough.

roger that.. i JUST read that in the mobo manual

2010-08-20 14:08:18

#12

Bevo: Nah; +718|6779|Austin, Texas

Finray wrote:
Bevo wrote:
A, B) Fuck you

C) Is it really necessary? Not much of a price change I guess.. she's using SLI 8800 GTXs atm.

D) Kay.

Is more than 8gig feasible? Is it dumb? Should I do 2x4gig instead to leave the option open?
Triple channel needs 3 modules.. can't have triple channel with only 2 modules. Kinda defeats the purpose. I'd say 3x2GB DIMMs, 6GB is usually more than enough.

So 6GB or 12GB are my only options with an i7?

2010-08-20 14:08:54

#13

13urnzz: Banned; +5,830|6755

they're the best options

2010-08-20 14:12:38

#14

Bevo: Nah; +718|6779|Austin, Texas

So what kind of differences am I looking at between 6gb 1600 and 12gb 1333 and 8gb 1600?

I hear "triple channel" RAM but what's the difference between filling out a channel and filling both of them with 2 sticks? Could I stick 6x 2gb sticks in, say

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6813128423

this mobo? Or is that dumb for some reason..

2010-08-20 14:17:13

#15

Bertster7: Confused Pothead; +1,101|6839|SE London

Bevo wrote:
So what kind of differences am I looking at between 6gb 1600 and 12gb 1333 and 8gb 1600?

I hear "triple channel" RAM but what's the difference between filling out a channel and filling both of them with 2 sticks? Could I stick 6x 2gb sticks in, say

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6813128423

this mobo? Or is that dumb for some reason..

No that's fine.

You don't need to buy them in triple channel kits. There is no difference between buying 3x 2x2GB DIMMs and buying 2x 3x2GB DIMMs.

Triple channel just means it uses a maximum of 3 DIMMs to transfer the data in parallel. More DIMMs accessed simultaneously means more data transferred per clock cycle. So long as your RAM is matched in 3s it'll go as fast as it can. Unmatched DIMMs will go more slowly.

Last edited by Bertster7 (2010-08-20 14:23:29)

2010-08-20 15:09:38

#16

Bevo: Nah; +718|6779|Austin, Texas

So 8gb (4x 2g) would still outperform 6gb at the same speed, regardless?

ed: I suppose if I filled one channel completely and added another stick to the other channel, it would still be an increase in performance.. just not optimized, yes?

Cheers

Last edited by Bevo (2010-08-20 15:45:58)

2010-08-20 15:51:18

#17

Bevo: Nah; +718|6779|Austin, Texas

So... thoughts on this?

https://static.bf2s.com/files/user/19950/mombuild2.jpg

Is the PSU enough to handle 4 internal WDs plus the above?

ed: Price @ $1280

Last edited by Bevo (2010-08-20 15:53:17)

2010-08-20 16:16:36

#18

Finray: Hup! Dos, Tres, Cuatro; +2,629|6046|Catherine Black

12GB may be overkill, but if she's willing to spend the extra $100, why not.

PSU is more than enough. Get the 1GB version of the 460, not a lot more dolla and a lot better.

2010-08-20 16:36:01

#19

Bevo: Nah; +718|6779|Austin, Texas

Finray wrote:
Get the 1GB version of the 460, not a lot more dolla and a lot better.

Does it really matter for a photoshop machine

2010-08-20 16:38:55

#20

Finray: Hup! Dos, Tres, Cuatro; +2,629|6046|Catherine Black

Bevo wrote:
Finray wrote:
Get the 1GB version of the 460, not a lot more dolla and a lot better.
Does it really matter for a photoshop machine

It's worth it.. Big files use a lot of memory, it'd be handy, and the 1GB version has a larger memory bus, leading to faster vRAM.

Internet is failing me atm, so I can't check prices (Only BF2s and Facebook work.. weird), but I'm thinking it'll be no more than $30-40, but it's quite a big whack in performance.

2010-08-20 16:38:58

#21

13urnzz: Banned; +5,830|6755

Bevo wrote:
Finray wrote:
Get the 1GB version of the 460, not a lot more dolla and a lot better.
Does it really matter for a photoshop machine

the new versions leverage the GPU, and yes- a bigger frame buffer is nice for the big rez pics of today + tomorrow . . .

2010-08-20 16:42:13

#22

Bevo: Nah; +718|6779|Austin, Texas

okay fare do

I think I've got it all then - cheers everyone

2010-08-21 09:46:58

#23

Bertster7: Confused Pothead; +1,101|6839|SE London

Bevo wrote:
So 8gb (4x 2g) would still outperform 6gb at the same speed, regardless?

ed: I suppose if I filled one channel completely and added another stick to the other channel, it would still be an increase in performance.. just not optimized, yes?

Cheers

It's not a case of filling one channel.

There are 3 channels available. Filling one channel completely is least efficient way you can possibly configure your RAM. You spread the memory as evenly as possible between the channels.

If you have some spare that is unmatched, it's not going to reduce your overall performance in any way, but that DIMM will run slower than the rest of the RAM.

BF2S Forums Building a PC for photoshop use

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liquidat0r wrote:

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