Sara,
Have you searched the forum? This gets discussed quite often.
Bob
See the Hardware Choices thread in this forum two days ago as one example of previous similar discussions.
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Regards
John Waller
Also, what’s your budget?
The sky’s limit with hardware choices.
Is it for professional or hobbyist use?
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Regards
John Waller
Sarah,
As the others have said, the choices you have are many and much is driven by budget, planned use, etc. True, you can search the forum, but, as a quick rundown for something not too terribly expensive, I’d suggest something like the following, using approximate Newegg prices:
MB – Asus P5B-E, supports RAID and up to 8GB DDR2-800 memory @ $155 CPU – Intel Core 2 Duo 6600 (2.4GHz with 4MB cache) @ $315 DDRAM – Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X2048-6400C4, 2GB dual channel kit @ $300
Video Card – XFX Geforce 6800XT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card @ $135 (or most any card in this price range, letting outputs guide your choice…dual DVI?…DVI+Analog?…etc.) You don’t need the latest, greatest for PS support. 256MB should be more than enough video memory for PS use, even with dual monitors.
Sound Card? – Motherboard has built-in audio which may more than suffice for your needs.
Wireless? – None on motherboard, but under $100 to add via PCI expansion.
Ethernet? – Motherboard has it
Hard Drives – How much space do you really need? RAID option provided by motherboard but not essential, and you could save about $20 if you left off RAID support and went with ASUS P5B rather than the "-E" version. Two good fast hard drives are recommended, but you might even consider three. Western Digital Raptors have perhaps the best performance but run hotter and are only available up to 150GB. Many choices, but I’ll suggest 3 x 320GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA 3.0GB/s hard drives at $95 each…. $285
Optical Drives – A pair of DVD burners although one may be enough. LG 16X DVD±R Super-Multi DVD Burner Model GSA-H10N @ $30 each… $60
Case – With or without power supply? Without P/S allows you to optimize the Power Supply for your projected power needs, overall quality, etc., but a case with p/s may be a better value and still provide a good p/s. For now I’ll suggest a popular case & P/S combo that seems popular for being quiet and well designed, the Antec Sonata II with 450-watt P/S @ $100
Thats $1180 total, and should be a pretty good system I’d think. Mouse, keyboard, monitor remain to be chosen or moved from existing system.
I don’t know what to recommend among currently available CRT monitors, and many people are steering toward LCDs although calibrating them may be trickier. I’m presently using a calibrated Iiyama 19" Vision Master 450 CRT for image edited, supplemented by a 19" Samsung 930B LCD. But, I’ve got a 24" BenQ FP241W LCD ($800) on the way that I hope will calibrate nicely and work well for Photoshop use, allowing me to dispense with the CRT while moving the Samsung to another PC. The CRT may stay nearby however…we’ll see. $720 should buy a pretty nice 19" CRT and LCD combo I’d bet, bringing the total to $2000 so far.
Other considerations? Wacom tablet at $250 and up for the Intuos varieties. A colorimeter for calibrating your monitors is worth the price, especially if using an LCD monitor and the PANTONE Huey might be a good start at $73. I use the Monaco Optix XR which starts at around $220 depending upon the package you go with.
Hope that helps…I was trying to avoid work. ha!
Daryl
Thank you Daryl, Bob, and John.
There are some great suggestions here, my budget is a bit tight- I’m hoping to use as much from my current computer as is possible. Also, regarding your question for level of use- I use photoshop professionally, but not as my full time work. Someday, yes, but I’m a senior in college and planning on attending grad school after this- so realistically, this system won’t be used for full time professional use.
Do any of you have more information on a monitor calibration system that involves a small pen like object that affixes to the screen for the initial calibration and then functions to read the ambient light around the workstation after that? I’ve heard a bit about a system like this, but I can’t remember the name of the device. . .
Thanks so much!
Sara
Hi Sara,
The calibration device you’re referring to is most likely the Pantone Huey…it’s the only thing I know of that might be described as pen-like. While I have never seen or used it, I’m sure it is still better than a pure software solution and would be a good choice for a student’s tight budget. Here’s a NewEgg link: <
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E168826850 01>
If you’re carrying over some parts from your current PC to a new one, then you may find that mostly to be the hard drive(s) and optical drive(s). The RAM will not likely be compatible with a current motherboard. The video card, if PCI, may be usable but you’d be better off just buying a low-end card for $50-60 that matches the slot interface on whatever motherboard you buy. For that price, you can still easily find a card suitable for Photoshop use with more than adequate memory.
Regards,
Daryl
Thanks- the Pantone Huey sounds just like what I heard described. I do hope to keep my current hard drive and optical drives- the whole reason for my upgrade is that my current RAM would be incredibly expensive to upgrade from 256 mb to 2 gigs.
The system you outlined a few posts ago sounds amazing, but probably beyond my needs and certainly beyond my price limits. Do you think it would be a reasonable hope to find a system for around $800 preferably including a decent monitor that could handle photoshop, or should I continue saving money for a bit longer?
Thanks for all your help, hope youhave a great night!
Sara
Sarah,
Depending upon how much of your existing equipment can be reused in a new system, an $800 investment on a new system may be possible but I don’t think you should try including a monitor in that price. You would have to pare down the stock performance (meaning "as is", without overclocking). But, it would be so much faster than what you’ve got, that you would probably still be very happy and might not need anything more until you really start putting the system to task on larger images and more intensive editing sessions. Perhaps by that time you could afford to upgrade.
Working from what I first suggested and paring that down, I can’t quite get the price to $800. Ignoring shipping costs and other small items you might find a need for, here’s what I’ve come up with at NewEgg:
MB – Asus P5B-E, supports RAID and up to 8GB DDR2-800 memory @ $155 CPU – Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz @ $223
DDRAM – Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X2048-6400C4, 2GB dual channel kit @ $300 VIDEO – PNY VCG66256XPB GeForce 6600 256MB 128-bit DDR @ $53 HDD – Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA 3.0GB/s hard drives at 2 x $95 each…. $190 DVD – LG 16X DVD±R Super-Multi DVD Burner Model GSA-H10N @ $30 CASE – Antec Sonata II with 450-watt P/S @ $100
Rebates:
$40 on memory if purchased by 11/16/06 and submitted within 3 weeks of purchase date $40 on case if purchased by 11/14/06 and submitted by 12/4/06
TOTAL: $1051
Get rid of the DVD burner if you truly think there’s not need for it given what you’ve got already, and save $30
The motherboard only supports 2 ATA (IDE) devices, so a pait of optical drives or 1 hard drive/1 optical drive could be configured. To cut out as much extra cost as possible, you could reuse your hard drive (presumably an ATA drive) and 1 optical drive. Personally, I think hard drives are cheap enough that I’d really start off with two SATA hard drives instead, but you can always add one later quite easily.
I also think 2GB of RAM is highly advisable, but you could go with 1GB ($153) for now and add another 1-2GB later as your finances allow. You’d lose the rebate though, as it doesn’t apply to the 1GB memory kit.
So…Knocking out the DVD drive, 1 hard drive, and reducing to 1GB DRAM: Savings = $30 + 95 + 147 = $272
REDUCED TOTAL: $779 and still eligible for one $40 rebate.
Add in shipping and you’d be hovering around the $800 mark.
Daryl
