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Archive 2009 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Tom K.
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p.1 #1 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

I'm running Photoshop CS3 on a 6 year old self-built PC. In it's day it was a powerhouse......but 6 years is a long time in the world of computers and it's time for an upgrade.

I don't want to build this time. I need a powerful computer to run Photoshop CS4. 64 bit.

I am will to go PC or Mac. It doesn't matter.

Can folks please recommend a computer to run Photoshop CS4 that won't even break a sweat working with huge files and multiple layers if needed.

Thank you,
Tom K.

Nov 02, 2009 at 05:59 PM

sjms
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p.1 #2 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

currently the cs4 version in mac flavor is still a 32 bit app and the pc version is 64 and/or 32 bit.( if you have a 64 bit pc the default install loads both 32 and 64 bit versions allowing the use of legacy 32 bit plug ins to still be used in the 32 bit version while waiting for the world of plug in makers to play catch up with 64 bit.) that will change in the next release which is possibly still 6 months away as the cycle for adobe has grown to about 18 months between versions.

Nov 02, 2009 at 09:10 PM

Nickle S.
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p.1 #3 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Tom K. wrote:
I'm running Photoshop CS3 on a 6 year old self-built PC. In it's day it was a powerhouse......but 6 years is a long time in the world of computers and it's time for an upgrade.

I don't want to build this time. I need a powerful computer to run Photoshop CS4. 64 bit.

I am will to go PC or Mac. It doesn't matter.

Can folks please recommend a computer to run Photoshop CS4 that won't even break a sweat working with huge files and multiple layers if needed.

Thank you,
Tom K.

Tom,
Here's a great place to start:

http://www.avadirect.com/product_details_configurator.asp?PRID=14884

AVA probably offers more options than any other boutique-computer company. This rig starts out at $700 and you can add on anything you want. They built my computer earlier this year and it is a powerhouse, to say the least.
http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/image/116244768/original

Nicholas
www.copperhillimages.com

Edited on Nov 02, 2009 at 11:51 PM · View previous versions

Nov 02, 2009 at 09:41 PM

Richard in Ida
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p.1 #4 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Puget systems is one of the top rated custom builders. They are very helpful.

http://www.pugetsystems.com/

OK, any time you order a computer online you cannot just walk in an talk to some one about a problem. While my Puget computer is great I will check with local shops next time I buy.

Just, will not buy from mass market sellers. No HP, Dell, Best Buy, etc.

Nov 02, 2009 at 11:27 PM

sjms
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p.1 #5 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

if you built it yourself once you can do it again and most likely just the way you need it. each component
will carry its own particular warranty and will be usually longer then most of these "custom" builders

Nov 03, 2009 at 12:02 AM

Tom K.
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p.1 #6 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

sjms wrote:
if you built it yourself once you can do it again and most likely just the way you need it. each component
will carry its own particular warranty and will be usually longer then most of these "custom" builders

I have no desire to build again. Thank you for the suggestion though.

Nov 03, 2009 at 03:08 AM

JayGolden
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p.1 #7 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Costco has some Dell's and HP's with the i7 processor which sounds like what you are looking for. There is no such thing as enough RAM, the applications will alway eat it up so more is better.

Most video cards now can handle the HD codec if you plan on doing any video editing but it worth checking into.

If you really want some speed replace or add to a solid state hard drive like the Intel X25-E Extreme as your main boot drive. Then get a esata multi disk enclosure to store your pictures and you will be set for at least 6 months till something faster comes out.

Good Luck

Nov 03, 2009 at 03:55 AM

h_2_o
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p.1 #8 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

if you go pc just remember 3 things and you will be happy

i7
lots of ram
newer video card that cs4 supports

Nov 03, 2009 at 01:01 PM

Tom K.
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p.1 #9 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

h_2_o wrote:
if you go pc just remember 3 things and you will be happy

i7
lots of ram
newer video card that cs4 supports

Can you be more specific about the video card?

Nov 03, 2009 at 05:33 PM

Tom K.
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p.1 #10 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Nickle S. wrote:
Tom K. wrote:
I'm running Photoshop CS3 on a 6 year old self-built PC. In it's day it was a powerhouse......but 6 years is a long time in the world of computers and it's time for an upgrade.

I don't want to build this time. I need a powerful computer to run Photoshop CS4. 64 bit.

I am will to go PC or Mac. It doesn't matter.

Can folks please recommend a computer to run Photoshop CS4 that won't even break a sweat working with huge files and multiple layers if needed.

Thank you,
Tom K.

Tom,
Here's a great place to start:

http://www.avadirect.com/product_details_configurator.asp?PRID=14884

AVA probably offers more options than any other boutique-computer company. This rig starts out at $700 and you can add on anything you want. They built my computer earlier this year and it is a powerhouse, to say the least.
http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/image/116244768/original

Nicholas
www.copperhillimages.com

I went to their web site (AVADirect) and put the following system together.

What do you think?

CUSTOM DESKTOP COMPUTER, Core™ i7 2-way SLI® DDR3 24GB Performance Series System $2342.62

* CHIEFTEC, Mesh CG-01 Silver Mid-Tower Case, ATX, No PSU, Steel
* CORSAIR, CMPSU-850TX TX Series Power Supply, 850W, 80 PLUS®, 24-pin ATX12V EPS12V, SLI Ready
* ASUS, P6T Deluxe V2, LGA1366, Intel® X58, 6400 MT/s QPI, DDR3-2000 (O.C.) 24GB /6, PCIe x16 SLI CF /3, SATA 3 Gb/s RAID 5 /6, HDA, GbLAN /2, FW /2, ATX, Retail
* INTEL, Core™ i7-920 Quad-Core 2.66GHz, LGA1366, 4.8 GT/s QPI, 8MB L3 Cache, 45nm, 130W, EM64T EIST VT XD, Retail
* ZALMAN, CNPS10X Quiet CPU Cooler, Socket 1366/1156/775/AM3/AM2/940/939/754, Copper/Aluminum, Retail
* CRUCIAL, 12GB (6 x 2GB) Ballistix PC3-12800 DDR3 1600MHz CL8 (8-8-8-24) 1.65V SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC
* EVGA, GeForce® GTS 250 Superclocked 771MHz, 1GB GDDR3 2246MHz, PCIe 2.0 x16 SLI, DVI /2, HDTV-Out, Retail
* WESTERN DIGITAL, 150GB (WD1500HLFS) WD VelociRaptor™, SATA 3 Gb/s, 10000 RPM, 16MB cache
* WESTERN DIGITAL, 750GB WD Caviar® Black™ (WD7501AALS), SATA 3 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 32MB Cache
* WESTERN DIGITAL, 750GB WD Caviar® Black™ (WD7501AALS), SATA 3 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 32MB Cache
* RAID, No RAID, Independent HDD Drives
* LITE-ON, iHOS104 Black 4x/8x/32x BD/DVD/CD Blu-ray Disc™ BD-ROM Drive, SATA, Retail
* LITE-ON, DH-4B1S Black 4x/12x/40x BD/DVD/CD Blu-ray Disc™ DVD Burner, SATA, Retail
* LIAN LI, CR-25A Silver 20-in-1 Card Reader, 3.5" Bay, USB 2.0
* MICROSOFT, Windows 7 Professional 64-bit Edition, OEM
* WARRANTY, Silver Warranty Package (3 Year Limited Parts, 3 Year Labor Warranty)

Nov 03, 2009 at 06:06 PM

Nickle S.
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p.1 #11 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Tom,
I think you've got a smokin' system there.

Great - power supply, RAM, OS, warranty, motherboard, CPU, GTS250 OC'd.

I haven't looked at the Chieftec case, will do in a while. If you're needing a quiet system, I strongly recommend the Noctua NH-U12P heatsink with LED Coolermaster fan(s). My rig runs at 3.75 GHz and all I hear is a quiet hum with CPU temps at around 40 degrees.
All-in-all, very impressive setup.

Nicholas
www.copperhillimages.com

Nov 03, 2009 at 06:29 PM

Tom K.
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p.1 #12 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Nickle S. wrote:
Tom,
I think you've got a smokin' system there.

Great - power supply, RAM, OS, warranty, motherboard, CPU, GTS250 OC'd.

I haven't looked at the Chieftec case, will do in a while. If you're needing a quiet system, I strongly recommend the Noctua NH-U12P heatsink with LED Coolermaster fan(s). My rig runs at 3.75 GHz and all I hear is a quiet hum with CPU temps at around 40 degrees.
All-in-all, very impressive setup.

Nicholas
www.copperhillimages.com

They offer alot of choices on cases. I'm not 100% sure which one I should choose.

On your other point.....a quiet PC is important to me. I'll take a look at the heatsink you recommended.

Nov 03, 2009 at 06:43 PM

Mister Bean
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p.1 #13 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

This is going to vary based on your usage, but with my usage on my core i7 based system, HDD speed is the biggest bottleneck. You might consider a RAID-5 setup for your HDDs. This will give you extra speed and parity, at the cost of the storage capacity of one drive.

Nov 03, 2009 at 06:56 PM

Tom K.
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p.1 #14 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

I just upgraded the case and dumped blu-ray giving me this config:

CUSTOM DESKTOP COMPUTER, Core™ i7 2-way SLI® DDR3 24GB Performance Series System $2382.74

* SILVERSTONE, Temjin TJ10 Silver Tower Case, EATX, No PSU
* CORSAIR, CMPSU-850TX TX Series Power Supply, 850W, 80 PLUS®, 24-pin ATX12V EPS12V, SLI Ready
* ASUS, P6T Deluxe V2, LGA1366, Intel® X58, 6400 MT/s QPI, DDR3-2000 (O.C.) 24GB /6, PCIe x16 SLI CF /3, SATA 3 Gb/s RAID 5 /6, HDA, GbLAN /2, FW /2, ATX, Retail
* INTEL, Core™ i7-920 Quad-Core 2.66GHz, LGA1366, 4.8 GT/s QPI, 8MB L3 Cache, 45nm, 130W, EM64T EIST VT XD, Retail
* ZALMAN, CNPS10X Quiet CPU Cooler, Socket 1366/1156/775/AM3/AM2/940/939/754, Copper/Aluminum, Retail
* CRUCIAL, 12GB (6 x 2GB) Ballistix PC3-12800 DDR3 1600MHz CL8 (8-8-8-24) 1.65V SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC
* EVGA, GeForce® GTS 250 Superclocked 771MHz, 1GB GDDR3 2246MHz, PCIe 2.0 x16 SLI, DVI /2, HDTV-Out, Retail
* WESTERN DIGITAL, 150GB (WD1500HLFS) WD VelociRaptor™, SATA 3 Gb/s, 10000 RPM, 16MB cache
* WESTERN DIGITAL, 750GB WD Caviar® Black™ (WD7501AALS), SATA 3 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 32MB Cache
* WESTERN DIGITAL, 750GB WD Caviar® Black™ (WD7501AALS), SATA 3 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 32MB Cache
* RAID, No RAID, Independent HDD Drives
* LITE-ON, iHDS118 Black 18x48x DVD-ROM Drive, SATA, OEM
* LITE-ON, iHAS424 Black 24x DVD±RW Dual-Layer Burner w/ Smart Erase & LightScribe, SATA, Retail
* LIAN LI, CR-25A Silver 20-in-1 Card Reader, 3.5" Bay, USB 2.0
* MICROSOFT, Windows 7 Professional 64-bit Edition, OEM
* WARRANTY, Silver Warranty Package (3 Year Limited Parts, 3 Year Labor Warranty)

Nov 03, 2009 at 07:10 PM

amalgam
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p.1 #15 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

change the main drive to an intel ssd or ocz vertex ssd. it's faster than even the faster mechanical hard drives. and if you have budget, add a second one to use as your scratch disk for photoshop.

Edited on Nov 03, 2009 at 07:20 PM · View previous versions

Nov 03, 2009 at 07:18 PM

plubbry
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p.1 #16 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Looks like a killer rig. I have been planning to build my own system here in the near future and have a similar looking build. I may need to look more into avadirect and perhaps consider them doing it for me. Having a 3 yr warranty on parts seems pretty nice (depending on how 'limited' it is of course). If you are curious about the reliability of each component you may find it helpful to visit newegg.com and look up each component you have specified. This may provide some useful info with regards to other's experience the the same component (reliability and performance). Also visiting a site like anandtech.com may provide some useful reviews/benchmarks comparing different components such as video cards and how your options compare.

A couple of thoughts:
-An Nvidia 250 video card is sufficient but you may be able to get better value for money (more performance for only a small price increase) by checking out the new Ati 5xxx series cards. Anandtech.com recently did some reviews/benchmarks that may be worth checking out.

-For you primary hard drive I would also consider the option of an intel SSD. The 80GB Intel SSD drive is a bit pricier than the 10K Raptor but would make the computer feel snappier since it has much much higher random read/write speeds. It would also be quieter as well. The downside is that it is more expensive and you wouldn't want to use more than 60GB of the 80GB space to prevent it from slowing down. (the more expensive 80GB Intel Drive is likely the second gen which supports TRIM).

-Not knowing your usage, I am unsure if the Blu-ray burner is a good value. For me personally it seems a bit pricey and I would be more likely to just get a DVD/CD burner and not miss the ability to burn blu-rays.

EDIT: just saw you updated the build w/o blu-ray burner.

Nov 03, 2009 at 07:19 PM

plubbry
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p.1 #17 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

@amalgam:

Are you using an SSD or Photoshop CS4 64bit? I am also looking at a new rig and am wondering how often a scratch disk would be needed by CS4 64bit if one also has 12GB of ram installed. I was under the impression that CS4 64bit could use more memory than the 32bit version and as such may not use a scratch disk all too often if enough ram was installed. Any thoughts or experience would be appreciated. Thanks.

Nov 03, 2009 at 07:26 PM

Tom K.
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p.1 #18 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

I considered the SSD but it's such a new technology that I feel more comfortable with the conventional HD.

I'm sure in a few short years SSD will replace conventional.....and the prices will drop dramatically.

Nov 03, 2009 at 08:01 PM

sjms
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p.1 #19 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Tom K. wrote:
sjms wrote:
if you built it yourself once you can do it again and most likely just the way you need it. each component
will carry its own particular warranty and will be usually longer then most of these "custom" builders

I have no desire to build again. Thank you for the suggestion though.

that may turn out to be your biggest mistake

while you're at it dump the built in card reader as they are all pretty much junk. invest in a simple good USB 2 reader that supports UDMA if your cards do.

get two burners instead of a reader and burner. i can burn to two burners at the same time. i just picked up 2 replacement lite on sata ones for $22each

Nov 03, 2009 at 08:06 PM

Nickle S.
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p.1 #20 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

plubbry wrote:
@amalgam:

Are you using an SSD or Photoshop CS4 64bit? I am also looking at a new rig and am wondering how often a scratch disk would be needed by CS4 64bit if one also has 12GB of ram installed. I was under the impression that CS4 64bit could use more memory than the 32bit version and as such may not use a scratch disk all too often if enough ram was installed. Any thoughts or experience would be appreciated. Thanks.

Plubbry,

When I'm working on a huge file, I will bring it into PS4-64bit and I'll have 10926 MBs out of 12 Gs of RAM at my disposal. If I'm satified with the finished edit, I'll save it and get it ready for print. The only problem at the present time are most plug-ins which work in PS4 32 but not in PS4 64. I use a lot of "actions" too and they do work with 64bit. Honestly all of my photo-editing programs are blazing fast, so go for as much power and resources as you can afford.

Nicholas
www.copperhillimages.com

Nov 03, 2009 at 08:57 PM

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