Need ideas for $5500 budget

As I understand it, a workstation card is mostly for 3d apps like CAD that need tons of processing power on the video card.

If your just doing Photo editing and the like, then you do not need a workstation card, you would be just throwing money away.

What you should be concentrating on is Large amounts of ram, Fast cpu processors like the Xeon chips, Dual preferably. And a fast hard drive, like one of the 10,000 rpm drives. to use as ONLY a scratch disk. Because when photoshop runs out of ram to work with, it needs something fast to use.

I would use a WD raptor, probably a 74 gig for JUST the scratch disk . And a couple of 500 gig 7400 rpm drives for the operating system, general storage and photoshop.

The video card really makes no difference when it comes to photo editing. So you can get away with a lesser card like a 7600 card. It will still give you the resolution you need to drive the monitor of your choice. Remember, you are not doing any 3d work when editing photo's. This is a business, they will probably not be doing any gaming on this sytems.

Forget everything you have learned about gaming systems, it does not apply to a workstation.

You want it to be fast at the tasks you need it for and nothing else.

If you really insist on a Quadro work station card, Then this one should be all you would need.

PNY VCQFX1500-PCIE-PB Quadro FX1500 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133173
 
tlarkin said:
What does your client want? You have to realize when consulting its not about what you want it is about what your client wants. I always give my clients the choice of platform and tell them the advantages of each. If your client is interested in a Mac, all you need to do is have them buy it with an Apple care plan and the rest is just setting it up. They will have three full years of software/hardware support and extended warranty with the apple care plan. That way you don't have to support the machine.

It sounds like this is not your business and not your money, therefore you should be giving your client tons of choices. Like I said earlier, custom built PCs for business is not a good idea for the most part.
Click to expand...

I am a shareholder and manager.... my aunt owns the biz...
 
if you're a "shareholder and manager" then you should be explaining to your aunt why you don't NEED to spend $5k+ on a computer in 2007 and helping her manage her money.

we use $349 dells from dealsofamerica.com at work, with amd 64 x2 processors and 7-series nvidia cards, and running mcad, or sketchup never runs more than 5-8% of my cpu on either of the cores
 
Last edited:
heyman421 said:
if you're a "shareholder and manager" then you should be explaining to your aunt why you don't NEED to spend $5k+ on a computer in 2007 and helping her manage her money.

we use $349 dells from dealsofamerica.com at work, with amd 64 x2 processors and 7-series nvidia cards, and running mcad, or sketchup never runs more than 5-8% of my cpu on either of the cores
Click to expand...


He wants what he wants. He has asked for help, not criticism.

Now, back to topic. How about this system, just add a couple of monitors and a case of your choice.

ASUS DSBF-D12/SAS Dual Socket 771 Intel 5000P MCH SSI EEB 3.61 Server Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131167


PNY VCQFX1500-PCIE-PB Quadro FX1500 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814133173

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 EPS12V EPS12V 610W Continuous @ 40°C Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817703005

(4) for a total of 8 gigs Kingston 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 FB-DIMM ECC Fully Buffered DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Server Memory - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820134086

Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822136033


Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000KSRTL 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822136040


That totals $2,027.91

Cheap enough to get some good monitors and a good case with it.

Is that more of what your looking for?

EDIT: I forgot the processor! Sheesh. Next post will have it in it.
 
well i said my piece, you can take it or leave it. I still think the Mac offers so much more than Windows out of the box for digital photography. It all depends on the level of work your Aunt does. Running SLI is a complete waste of money in most cases and in this case it is definitely a waste of money.

Is she does not even utilize the power needed then a basic C2D machine will do fine. If she does need the power of dual Xeons, well then I would buy a Dell or a HP business class or a Mac Pro.

Just remember every day that computer is down is a day you aren't making money on it. Building one is not smart considering it would take probably at least 2 weeks to RMA a part if it fails under warranty. Dell, HP, Apple, etc will over night the part to you. Less downtime.
 
tlarkin, I am not disagreeing with you, As a matter of fact I was the one that first posted about getting a mac. I think the mac would be the best solution for him as well.

But, that's not what he wants, and it's his money.

And let me say again, I am NOT a mac boy, never owned one never will. I don't even own an Ipod. But I am not the one that has a need for a workstation for doing Photoshop work. If I was, then I would get one.
 
paratwa said:
tlarkin, I am not disagreeing with you, As a matter of fact I was the one that first posted about getting a mac. I think the mac would be the best solution for him as well.

But, that's not what he wants, and it's his money.

And let me say again, I am NOT a mac boy, never owned one never will. I don't even own an Ipod. But I am not the one that has a need for a workstation for doing Photoshop work. If I was, then I would get one.
Click to expand...

Well considering out of the box she could be organizing her photos (iphoto) putting them in slides shows with music (iphoto) importing or customizing the music (with garage band), and authoring them on a custom DVD with menus and everything (iDVD) or editing them in short films (iMovie HD) with out purchasing any other software packages all right out of the box.

Thats probably 750ish dollars of software for the PC right there. If not more.

I am not a fan boy either, Apple does some things I don't like. However being both MS and Apple certified and working with and supporting both, at least my opinion comes from experience. I try to be as unbiased as possible, but Vista just isn't a good product at all. So I do favor the Linux/OS X sides of things a bit more these days.

I don't own an ipod or an iphone. I do own two mac desktops and a mac laptop though. However they are old (except my laptop is brand new) and I use them mostly to learn.

I find it funny people are suggesting running SLI, I mean just because its awesome for gaming doesn't mean its awesome for everything else.
 
heyman421 said:
if you're a "shareholder and manager" then you should be explaining to your aunt why you don't NEED to spend $5k+ on a computer in 2007 and helping her manage her money.

we use $349 dells from dealsofamerica.com at work, with amd 64 x2 processors and 7-series nvidia cards, and running mcad, or sketchup never runs more than 5-8% of my cpu on either of the cores
Click to expand...

Yeah, CAD for what? Making cereal boxes?

$5k is fine with us, she was trying to buy a $7000 Alienware, until I stopped that. We don't just fix imperfections or that 'Prom acne', I will show you some of her work sometime. I can explain this for now, she took a pic of a girl's high heels, she made them larger and photoshopped the girl in between them, with her name above her and in the same pattern of her shoes, which was red and white polkadot. We do some crazy stuff and that's what it takes to make generate the $$ to buy a $5500 PC. We are also investing in two C90S Laptops. The reason Mac is out, she is certified and trained for Photoshop on a PC, not on a Mac, I don't like them anyway. Not that Bill Gates lawful ways are better, at least he didn't try to make free AT&T calls with a 'blue-box', like Steve Jobs. We also use our laptops for presentations, some ppl, they have a party for their 1st Anniversary, so they call us up wanting to know if we can make and display a slideshow of their wedding at the party....
 
well just so you know, for the record running adobe products is the same on the PC as it is the mac, the keyboard short cuts are the same.

If you don't want to use one then fine, its not my money and its not even on me to decide. It is all on you. I don't care either way. However, at least try to get your facts straight. Adobe doesn't re-write their application for the Mac, they develop them both at the same time. In fact they used to sell the Mac/PC software suites in the same bundle, so if you purchased it, the same CD would install on both platforms. One had an x86 version for windows and the other had PPC for Mac. Now that CS has been around they changed all that, and when they acquired Macromedia they changed all that again.

Also, MS has done way worse things than Apple *cough*DRM*cough* *cough*software activation*cough*

However, don't waste money on video cards when you could be buying dual xeons, tons of ram, and tons of HD space.

Hope you have a back up solution so when vista crashes you don't lose your photo work.
 
^agreed on the last comment.

That "certified photoshop on a pc" smells like bs, though. Photoshop on Mac runs just the same as a PC (and for the past 10 years every benchmark says photoshop renders faster on a mac) but the shortcuts are a little bit different (IE the cut command is apple+X instead of control+X.) As a computer for work you'll want something that has no incompatibilities and is stable, and for that you need a Mac.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top