1500 USD Workstation Rig?

thebeginning · Nov 4, 2008

Hey everyone, got a quick question. I need help coming up with the best parts for a workstation PC that will be used predominately for large quantity photo editing. I will be using Photoshop CS3, Adobe Lightroom, and a few other utilities for the most part. I run a photography business, and I will be likely be using this machine as my main workstation and photo displaying machine. It doesn't sound like it requires much, but you would be surprised. It needs to run extremely fast, and extremely smooth.

It's been about 2 years or so since I was really in the know-how with hardware capabilities, and because of the quantities and sizes of the files I'm working with, I need to upgrade soon.

First, should I try to build it myself (parts from Newegg)? If this is a work machine, should I go on the safe side and buy it from a place with a warranty (like cyberpowerpc.com)?

Also, which windows OS is generally the most stable? XP Pro with Service Pack 3, or one of the Vista options?

That's pretty much it...I have some ideas as to what parts I need, but past that it's pretty flexible. Small requirements:

Processor that programs can take full advantage of now (dual core instead of quad, most likely)
4gb of solid DDR3 RAM (which I'm assuming is better)
500gb hdd
36gb 10k RPM scratch disk
GPU that isn't too pricey but can easily play next gen games at 1680x1050 (I found several for $300 or less a few months ago)

Haha that's a load of info. ah well.

thanks all

Ramodkk · Nov 4, 2008

atentora · Nov 4, 2008

I would go with Vista if you want to have the full 4 gigs of ram or if you want more eventually.

Otherwise what ramodkk posted is good. If you are going to be burning a lot of DVDs you could always throw in another Burner.

Edit: DDR3 is not worth the money right now.

thebeginning · Nov 5, 2008

ahh, gotcha. which Vista would you recommend (for stability and not frilliness, although they all have a bit of that)?

Also, would it really be wise to get a slower clocked quad core instead of a faster clocked dual-core? The only reason I asked is because in Photoshop benchmarks, quad-cores lag behind because CS3 doesn't take advantage of more than 2 cores yet.

I was looking at this processor (about the same price):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115036

so would buying from newegg and building be a wiser choice than having it built at cyberpower?

daisymtc · Nov 5, 2008

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...2E16883229057,N82E16883227085,N82E16883229054

Dystopia · Nov 5, 2008

thebeginning said:
ahh, gotcha. which Vista would you recommend (for stability and not frilliness, although they all have a bit of that)?
Also, would it really be wise to get a slower clocked quad core instead of a faster clocked dual-core? The only reason I asked is because in Photoshop benchmarks, quad-cores lag behind because CS3 doesn't take advantage of more than 2 cores yet.

I was looking at this processor (about the same price):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115036

so would buying from newegg and building be a wiser choice than having it built at cyberpower?

NONE. Vista is getting better, but let it sit a while longer, XP SP3 is aesome. sure, no DX10, but what does that help if vista is unstable?

GET THE PARTS FROM NEWEGG. Obviously ppl have already given you pretty good help, ao you won't need more

thebeginning · Nov 5, 2008

Elimin8or said:
NONE. Vista is getting better, but let it sit a while longer, XP SP3 is aesome. sure, no DX10, but what does that help if vista is unstable?

GET THE PARTS FROM NEWEGG. Obviously ppl have already given you pretty good help, ao you won't need more

Therein lies the problem though...how many Gb's of RAM can XP take advantage of? Would Vista be able to better take advantage of 4gb, or even 8gb?

I also just read that adobe CS4 now has 64bit support for windows, and also can support large amounts of RAM. I'm seriously considering getting 8gb of RAM and Vista to access all of it.

any thoughts on that?

ScOuT · Nov 5, 2008

daisymtc said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...2E16883229057,N82E16883227085,N82E16883229054

If I needed a computer for the things you will be doing...I would absolutely have 8GB of RAM. The price of RAM is soo low right now there is no reason not to have the full 8GB for that line of work.

I would also recommend Vista Home Premium 64bit...I think it's a great operating system. I always had problems with XP, far more than I have had with Vista in 2 years now of everyday use.

The computer daisymtc posted is an absolute winner for you. When you open up his link the computer for $1300 will be exactly what you need. Quad Core Q9550, 8GB of RAM, Vista Home Pre 64bit, blue ray it's got everything you need for a decent price. That would save you the time of building a machine also.

thebeginning · Nov 5, 2008

ok good deal, that's encouraging.

About that link though (the pc on the left and middle), do you think that's just put together with the cheapest components? I went to cyberpower and used their configurator to make something similar, and just with a few upgrades (set the main HD to a 150gb raptor, and used brand names for the drives, memory, etc.) the total was well over 2000. So now I'm wondering if I would be in better shape if I built it from brand-name parts from newegg.

?

CaptainAwesom · Nov 6, 2008

buying parts from newegg is definitely better because you know exactly what you put in it, you could fully customize it, and do you need moniter, mouse, keyboard, and speakers??????

CaptainAwesom · Nov 6, 2008

thebeginning · Nov 6, 2008

bullzi · Nov 6, 2008

Everything looks good, but consider a second 500GB for running a Mirror RAID (RAID 1) for redundancy if you have important data to store.

EDIT: It's obviously a bit more expensive, but it's a priceless feature to save thousands of dollars worth of data.

CaptainAwesom · Nov 6, 2008

wow sorry about the os system error i forgot this was for a business!!!!!

i would only change the cpu down a little or make room in the budget for an after market cooler(quad cores run rather warm)

if it seems too expensive you could go amd but it's up to you

is the sound card necessary???

Dystopia · Nov 6, 2008

Looking good. If you get vista, make your you get sp1.

thebeginning · Nov 6, 2008

CaptainAwesom said:
wow sorry about the os system error i forgot this was for a business!!!!!

i would only change the cpu down a little or make room in the budget for an after market cooler(quad cores run rather warm)

if it seems too expensive you could go amd but it's up to you

is the sound card necessary???

oh it's no biggie

considering that I hope the computer to be able to handle new cameras and programs for the next two years or so, I think I'll probably stick with that processor unless you think that the performance jump from the 2.5Ghz is minimal. I'll be processing 25Mb files (that can get up to 150Mb), and using some graphic-intense programs like Lightroom 2 (if anyone is familiar with that)...I'm all for getting the cheaper CPU's and even overclocking if it will really help. I forgot about an after market cooler, thanks!

The sound card isn't necessary, and I probably won't get it. I was just playing around to see what prices would add up.

CaptainAwesom · Nov 7, 2008

if it's no big deal then stick with intel

no you don't need to downgrade to 2.5ghz in my opinion

an after market cooler is almost necessary for a quad core

be careful about overclocking it will reduce your processor's life span(try to only overclock a little)

bullzi · Nov 7, 2008

Don't forget about RAID1

I highly recommend it for workstation computers.

1500 USD Workstation Rig?

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