OT: what affordable computer for graphic design

[jimcav]

So our HP (2008 or 9) just died. Can anyone save me countless hours researching on computers that are good for doing graphic design/runnning adobe CS6 stuff? My wife has been out of the workforce proper for 9 years, but sill does stuff for friends and freelance, but she has hated doing it the last several years as our HP was so slow/froze up etc.

Do I need Nvidia graphics card for CS6?
Do I need to go above 3rd gen i5

compared to putting a bike together, how hard is building your own system?

Before anyone tells me Mac, I love my macbook, but she has everything saved from the old PC on an external and I am not sure the Mac could read it, and my sons LOVE minecraft which apparently only works on PC (except pocket edition, but that is like me riding a walmart bike I guess)


thanks
jim

[cdn_bacon]

best have at least 8gb of ram.

building your own system is not difficult with a little research.

with new SATA drives it's one cable and only plug in one way only in one spot on the motherboard.

You would need...
case under 50$
motherboard (ram, CPU) http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7473188&CatId=14 $339 (would last for quite a long time)
powersource at least 450 watts $70
graphics card - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4501123&CatId=7387 $100
DVD burner


I'm just picking random parts that are good and ballpark.
it's as addictive as bike parts.
the only really difficult thing is the small pins that attach from your tower to your motherboard. so when you press the on/off button or the reset button these pins have a particular order on the board. Master that, the rest is no big deal. Things can really only go into certain places on a motherboard.

if you ever need help, you can always contact me.

I'm a graphic artist that built a similar computer a few years ago for $600 or so. It still will play any game out there and handle Illustrator/photoshop and other apps open at the same time with no lag.

parts I just gave to you are better than what I have.
just my 2 cents.

[jimcav]

I have been doing research before getting your reply, and was looking to go for a intel i5 k series cpu but know i need to make sure the motherboard is compatible--i will look at similar bundles at tigerdirect do you think having the bronze plus or gold power certification on the PSU is important?

thanks again
jim

[R3awak3n]

first of all, the most important question. How much do you want to spend?

you do not need an NVIDIA card for cs6 and you would be fine with an i5.

how easy was it to put your first bike together? thats how easy it will be to put ur first computer together. Its hard when you do not know what you are doing but nothing like some internet research and a good friend to help you out.

Let me know how much you want to spend and I will spec you out something proper. Also, do you have a microcenter near by? (I ask because micro center has the best deals on processors right now, i got my i7 for $230 which is ridiculous).

What else do you want the computer for? design, minecraft, anything else?

[jimcav]

There is a microcenter near LA, i'd guess 90min to 2 hr depending on traffic.
My wife did photoshop,illustrator, and dreamweaver. she wants CS6 if we can find a deal. i'd jut do basic email, web surfing, powerpoint, word. The kids do minecraft and clash of clans--these aren't hi res realistic games, but i suppose it is only a matter of time. She hates how slow PS was to load and work, so i am thinking i should focus on good PSU, a good CPU (I5 4th gen?). 8-16 GB RAM, and an SSD drive. she has an external drive from when they saved the old computer's files, but not sure on its specs
We have a HP 209m LCD 20" that works, as does the keyboard and aftermarket wireless mouse

Thanks for letting me know what systems can work together. I'd like to shoot for $700-1000, obviously lower is great. higher and might as well go high end and try to swap a set of envy smarts or madfiber clinchers i have gathering dust

jim
first of all, the most important question. How much do you want to spend?


you do not need an NVIDIA card for cs6 and you would be fine with an i5.

how easy was it to put your first bike together? thats how easy it will be to put ur first computer together. Its hard when you do not know what you are doing but nothing like some internet research and a good friend to help you out.

Let me know how much you want to spend and I will spec you out something proper. Also, do you have a microcenter near by? (I ask because micro center has the best deals on processors right now, i got my i7 for $230 which is ridiculous).

What else do you want the computer for? design, minecraft, anything else?

[Tony T]

Before anyone tells me Mac, I love my macbook, but she has everything saved from the old PC on an external and I am not sure the Mac could read it, and my sons LOVE minecraft which apparently only works on PC (except pocket edition, but that is like me riding a walmart bike I guess

Mac should be able to read the drive. You have a MacBook, so give it a try.
Also, You can buy Minecraft for a Mac (Minecraft Pocket Edition is for iPhone)

Get a Mac :)

[rice rocket]

Find anything i5 that's on the market today and max out the RAM (usually another $30).

[oldpotatoe]

best have at least 8gb of ram.

building your own system is not difficult with a little research.

with new SATA drives it's one cable and only plug in one way only in one spot on the motherboard.

You would need...
case under 50$
motherboard (ram, CPU) http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7473188&CatId=14 $339 (would last for quite a long time)
powersource at least 450 watts $70
graphics card - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4501123&CatId=7387 $100
DVD burner


I'm just picking random parts that are good and ballpark.
it's as addictive as bike parts.
the only really difficult thing is the small pins that attach from your tower to your motherboard. so when you press the on/off button or the reset button these pins have a particular order on the board. Master that, the rest is no big deal. Things can really only go into certain places on a motherboard.

if you ever need help, you can always contact me.

I'm a graphic artist that built a similar computer a few years ago for $600 or so. It still will play any game out there and handle Illustrator/photoshop and other apps open at the same time with no lag.

parts I just gave to you are better than what I have.
just my 2 cents.

or just buy a Mac

[pcxmbfj]

Can you really build one for less than mass market?
I used to do my own and it just wasn't worth it except for customization.
Kinda like buying a bike or building one.

[R3awak3n]

Do not buy a Mac. I am a PC (both windows and linux) and also a mac user. I work in the vfx industry so I need something a little more power, macs are fine for design work (they are actually prefered and I do like working/designing on my mac but the pc works as well but it lets you do other things better like gaming). For the price of a mac, you will also get a much more powerful PC (hell, you are not gonna find a nice mac for your budget).


Core i5 4670K - http://www.microcenter.com/product/413251/Core_i5_4670K_34GHz_Socket_LGA_1150_Boxed_Processo r - $200

(this is the brand new i5, the k means its unlocked if you want to overclock it. You do not need to and I have a K and dont Overclock it but it will have better resale value in the future if you want to sell)
____________

GIGABYTE GA-H87-D3H LGA 1150 -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128603
- $100 - Not a lot of reviews on the 1150 boards yet but I like gigabyte.
____________
SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB
-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231455
-$70. You do not need for than 8gb of ram but you will have 2 more slots in case you want to upgrade to 16gb.
____________
CORSAIR CX600M 600W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=17-139-048&Tpk=17-139-048
-$70 after rebate (modular psu, do not cheap on the PSU... corsair makes some of the best PSUs)

____________
MSI N660 TF 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 660 2GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127699

-$205 .... This is a hard one, you can get a better ATI card for less but NVIDIA does better with Adobe products (I think adobe now lets you use ATI cards with pshop but before they didnt so I recommend NVIDIA anyways) the annoying thing is that the new 700 series are now being released but they havent released a 760 yet (only 770 and 780) but when the 760 gets released you will be able to get one or get a 660 for even cheaper (this card will kill minecraft its way over kill for that and should let you play most modern games on highish settings).

_____________


Samsung 250gb 840 SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147189

- $180 ... The second best SSD, right before the samsung 840 PRO. Great drive, I have 2. You should keep the 250 for your OS and software and then buy a 2tb drive to keep all your stuff.


__________________




we are now at $825. add $20 for a DVD drive and $100 for windows and you are under $1000 for a computer that is similar, scratch that, better than a mac twice the price (sure the mac comes with a nice 27in display).

Oh, forgot the case, you can get a nice case for under $100. Do no get a $50 case though... Cases are important and I can find you a nice one for a good deal. We could also go 120gb SSD instead of 250 and save $60 there or get a cheaper proc.


We could probably save money on other parts but I think with this computer you will be set for the next 4 years no problem. Let me know if you need any more help and I am more than happy to help

[jimcav]

Find anything i5 that's on the market today and max out the RAM (usually another $30).

the outlet has the i5 model on sale for 750 but it only has 6gb ram, i assume it is straightforward to put additional or diff memory in there (it comes with a 4gbx1 and 2gbx1).
it gets us the decent CPU and a really nice high resolution monitor, but seems to leave off some RAM and just uses intel 4000 graphics, but i think that is ok for photoshop?

[jimcav]

Mac should be able to read the drive. You have a MacBook, so give it a try.
Also, You can buy Minecraft for a Mac (Minecraft Pocket Edition is for iPhone)

Get a Mac :)

on the Mac that is--i have a macbook, and he wants to do minecraft online with his friends. Obviously my 9 yr old is more computer savy than I.

[rice rocket]

the outlet has the i5 model on sale for 750 but it only has 6gb ram, i assume it is straightforward to put additional or diff memory in there (it comes with a 4gbx1 and 2gbx1).
it gets us the decent CPU and a really nice high resolution monitor, but seems to leave off some RAM and just uses intel 4000 graphics, but i think that is ok for photoshop?


That's plenty of power. Graphics processors are used primarily for decoding 3D stuff, 2D is almost all processed by the CPU still*.


* Okay, so there's some optimizations, but the majority is still done by the CPU.

Here's a quick look:

http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Adobe-Photoshop-CS6-GPU-Acceleration-161/

http://images.pugetsystems.com/images/pic_disp.php?id=21533&width=601

As for the RAM, try it. 6GB is enough in my opinion, I didn't notice much gain going for 4GB to 8GB. Just tell her to close her browser if she's manipulating a lot of layers at once.

[R3awak3n]

ram is so cheap now a days though, I would definitely go 8gb and not have to worry about anything.

I have 32gb and run out sometimes :(


also depending on what she is doing in pshop, a dedicated graphic card will be beneficial over an on board one. However the SSD will be the most noticable thing on the new upgrade

[jimcav]

can that motherboard be installed so the "rear" usb ports actually go to the front, or do i need to search for a similar board that says it has front usb?
this is a big learning curve--it doesn't appear the actual building is that difficult, but knowing what to get and why is worse than campy vs shimano. I have been looking on some gaming and computer forums and it is abit overwhelming.


Do not buy a Mac. I am a PC (both windows and linux) and also a mac user. I work in the vfx industry so I need something a little more power, macs are fine for design work (they are actually prefered and I do like working/designing on my mac but the pc works as well but it lets you do other things better like gaming). For the price of a mac, you will also get a much more powerful PC (hell, you are not gonna find a nice mac for your budget).


Core i5 4670K - http://www.microcenter.com/product/413251/Core_i5_4670K_34GHz_Socket_LGA_1150_Boxed_Processo r - $200

(this is the brand new i5, the k means its unlocked if you want to overclock it. You do not need to and I have a K and dont Overclock it but it will have better resale value in the future if you want to sell)
____________

GIGABYTE GA-H87-D3H LGA 1150 -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128603
- $100 - Not a lot of reviews on the 1150 boards yet but I like gigabyte.
____________
SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB
-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231455
-$70. You do not need for than 8gb of ram but you will have 2 more slots in case you want to upgrade to 16gb.
____________
CORSAIR CX600M 600W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=17-139-048&Tpk=17-139-048
-$70 after rebate (modular psu, do not cheap on the PSU... corsair makes some of the best PSUs)

____________
MSI N660 TF 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 660 2GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127699

-$205 .... This is a hard one, you can get a better ATI card for less but NVIDIA does better with Adobe products (I think adobe now lets you use ATI cards with pshop but before they didnt so I recommend NVIDIA anyways) the annoying thing is that the new 700 series are now being released but they havent released a 760 yet (only 770 and 780) but when the 760 gets released you will be able to get one or get a 660 for even cheaper (this card will kill minecraft its way over kill for that and should let you play most modern games on highish settings).

_____________


Samsung 250gb 840 SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147189

- $180 ... The second best SSD, right before the samsung 840 PRO. Great drive, I have 2. You should keep the 250 for your OS and software and then buy a 2tb drive to keep all your stuff.


__________________




we are now at $825. add $20 for a DVD drive and $100 for windows and you are under $1000 for a computer that is similar, scratch that, better than a mac twice the price (sure the mac comes with a nice 27in display).

Oh, forgot the case, you can get a nice case for under $100. Do no get a $50 case though... Cases are important and I can find you a nice one for a good deal. We could also go 120gb SSD instead of 250 and save $60 there or get a cheaper proc.


We could probably save money on other parts but I think with this computer you will be set for the next 4 years no problem. Let me know if you need any more help and I am more than happy to help

[cdn_bacon]

first of all, the most important question. How much do you want to spend?

you do not need an NVIDIA card for cs6 and you would be fine with an i5.

how easy was it to put your first bike together? thats how easy it will be to put ur first computer together. Its hard when you do not know what you are doing but nothing like some internet research and a good friend to help you out.

Let me know how much you want to spend and I will spec you out something proper. Also, do you have a microcenter near by? (I ask because micro center has the best deals on processors right now, i got my i7 for $230 which is ridiculous).

What else do you want the computer for? design, minecraft, anything else?

Mother always told me. If you don't have something nice to say...

[R3awak3n]

to answer your question, the board installs so the USB ports are in the back, however the case you have will have USB ports in the front (btw 4 and 8) and the case has a cable that will plug into the motherboard so you will have USB ports in the back of the case (keyboard, mouse, ect) and in the front (USB keys, etc).


It really is not that hard but you definitely have to know what you need but I can help you out, the folks at hard forum can as well (http://www.hardforum.com/). Once you get the right parts then its not too bad but you will probably be going online for answers a lot. I really recommend having a buddy that will help, just like building a bike for the first time because he can show you. Building a computer is usually pretty fun for me but sometimes a part comes DOA or there is a problem so you have to pin point it and can get frustrating... I have built over 10 computers and always been fine, its defintely not for everyone but I enjoy it.

[jimcav]

to answer your question, the board installs so the USB ports are in the back, however the case you have will have USB ports in the front (btw 4 and 8) and the case has a cable that will plug into the motherboard so you will have USB ports in the back of the case (keyboard, mouse, ect) and in the front (USB keys, etc).


It really is not that hard but you definitely have to know what you need but I can help you out, the folks at hard forum can as well (http://www.hardforum.com/). Once you get the right parts then its not too bad but you will probably be going online for answers a lot. I really recommend having a buddy that will help, just like building a bike for the first time because he can show you. Building a computer is usually pretty fun for me but sometimes a part comes DOA or there is a problem so you have to pin point it and can get frustrating... I have built over 10 computers and always been fine, its defintely not for everyone but I enjoy it.


@cnd_bacon: huh? I am trying to help so I do not understand you right now.

Thank for that forum link--I found one via google called tom's hardware and have been seeing various specs where people as they " critique my build" question.
I am willing to give this a shot--just watched part 1 of the newegg video on DIY, "seems" easy--but my wife is impatient--my son's team just won their little league championship and she has all these pictures she wants to play with etc. and no PC for it

[jimcav]

As I discussed various build options with my wife she wanted me to "just buy something": so the newest 4770 i7 chip, ok graphics, decent memory and a much better monitor than our 5 yr old lcd for under $1k. plus it is something that i can upgrade down the road.
thanks again for all the good advice!
jim

[oldpotatoe]

Do not buy a Mac. I am a PC (both windows and linux) and also a mac user. I work in the vfx industry so I need something a little more power, macs are fine for design work (they are actually prefered and I do like working/designing on my mac but the pc works as well but it lets you do other things better like gaming). For the price of a mac, you will also get a much more powerful PC (hell, you are not gonna find a nice mac for your budget).


Core i5 4670K - http://www.microcenter.com/product/413251/Core_i5_4670K_34GHz_Socket_LGA_1150_Boxed_Processo r - $200

(this is the brand new i5, the k means its unlocked if you want to overclock it. You do not need to and I have a K and dont Overclock it but it will have better resale value in the future if you want to sell)
____________

GIGABYTE GA-H87-D3H LGA 1150 -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128603
- $100 - Not a lot of reviews on the 1150 boards yet but I like gigabyte.
____________
SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB
-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231455
-$70. You do not need for than 8gb of ram but you will have 2 more slots in case you want to upgrade to 16gb.
____________
CORSAIR CX600M 600W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=17-139-048&Tpk=17-139-048
-$70 after rebate (modular psu, do not cheap on the PSU... corsair makes some of the best PSUs)

____________
MSI N660 TF 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 660 2GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127699

-$205 .... This is a hard one, you can get a better ATI card for less but NVIDIA does better with Adobe products (I think adobe now lets you use ATI cards with pshop but before they didnt so I recommend NVIDIA anyways) the annoying thing is that the new 700 series are now being released but they havent released a 760 yet (only 770 and 780) but when the 760 gets released you will be able to get one or get a 660 for even cheaper (this card will kill minecraft its way over kill for that and should let you play most modern games on highish settings).

_____________


Samsung 250gb 840 SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147189

- $180 ... The second best SSD, right before the samsung 840 PRO. Great drive, I have 2. You should keep the 250 for your OS and software and then buy a 2tb drive to keep all your stuff.


__________________




we are now at $825. add $20 for a DVD drive and $100 for windows and you are under $1000 for a computer that is similar, scratch that, better than a mac twice the price (sure the mac comes with a nice 27in display).

Oh, forgot the case, you can get a nice case for under $100. Do no get a $50 case though... Cases are important and I can find you a nice one for a good deal. We could also go 120gb SSD instead of 250 and save $60 there or get a cheaper proc.


We could probably save money on other parts but I think with this computer you will be set for the next 4 years no problem. Let me know if you need any more help and I am more than happy to help

or buy a mac.

[phcollard]

or buy a mac.

This. And I don't know if someone already mentioned this buy get an SSD. Let me insist : get an SSD. Traditional hard drives are the performance bottleneck these days. I have an old Mac Mini Core2Duo which I was ready to give away because it was becoming very slow. I switched the HD for an SSD and it's now faster than the current i5 or something. No need to change anytime soon. Yes I run Photoshop and Illustrator. They start up almost instantly. The performance increase is _very_ obvious.

[phcollard]

Do not buy a Mac. I am a PC (both windows and linux) and also a mac user. I work in the vfx industry so I need something a little more power, macs are fine for design work (they are actually prefered and I do like working/designing on my mac but the pc works as well but it lets you do other things better like gaming). For the price of a mac, you will also get a much more powerful PC (hell, you are not gonna find a nice mac for your budget).

I'm not going to get into that Mac vs PC thing but Mac are fine for anything else than design work. I'm a Java developer and I work on a Mac. I run very demanding processes everyday on this old thing and it works very very well. And it does everything I ever ask him to do, runs every software that I ever need, and it's very user friendly. For your budget you can find a nice used Mac, upgrade RAM and put an SSD and voilà. Super performing thing.

[ultraman6970]

Just a thought... anybody has some computer parts moving around to give away to the OP??? More than somebody sure has an i5 or maybe a quad core moving around that wont be used no more to give away to the op??? I would love to offer you something but all the crap I have in the garage wont cut it for what you want to do, maybe for a kid will work tho.

If the op wants to put a lot of memory he needs a 64 bits OP system... regular windows wont address more than 4 gb of ram, many stores sells you tons of memory and the suckers doesnt even ask what OS you have, a sale is a sale right?

As for the video card pretty much anything expensive enough and that he can afford will do just right... 150 bucks video cards are more than enough basically for anything now a days, i get the idea that there are more expensive things moving around but if the op wont do pixar's type of video editing probably a mediium range 150 bucks video card will do just fine.

As for the software, if the op knows somebody in the school, some colleges have deals for students and even microsoft give operating systems for free to students (where do you think I got my windows xp/7 and 8?), you have to know who to ask in the school.

In one of the things you have to be really picky is in the power supply (a good one), the case can be pretty much anything will do but a good power supply IMO is a must and add a couple more fans to cool the HDs, that helps a lot.

Good luck.

[HenryA]

I'll add in that as Adobe moves to their subscription model you might want to look at buying the last non-subscription version of CS to avoid future payments. In other words - get equipped for the life of the new computer, it's OS, and software. 3-5 years down the road you'll have to make a move, but until then you're good to go without additional spending.

[jimcav]

I'll add in that as Adobe moves to their subscription model you might want to look at buying the last non-subscription version of CS to avoid future payments. In other words - get equipped for the life of the new computer, it's OS, and software. 3-5 years down the road you'll have to make a move, but until then you're good to go without additional spending.

To those still giving me (great) advice-I decided to buy a Dell with the new 4th gen i7 chip. I have no idea if her old photoshop will work with it, it is 9-10 yrs old. CS6 is "non-subscription" isn't it?
thanks
jim

[jimcav]

I'm not going to get into that Mac vs PC thing but Mac are fine for anything else than design work. I'm a Java developer and I work on a Mac. I run very demanding processes everyday on this old thing and it works very very well. And it does everything I ever ask him to do, runs every software that I ever need, and it's very user friendly. For your budget you can find a nice used Mac, upgrade RAM and put an SSD and voilà. Super performing thing.

but there was nothing affordable or easy to upgrade (at least to my skill/comfort level), and my wife and boys preferred to stay with what they know (and what freezes ad crashes etc), which is PC.