fredmiranda.com

Moderated by: Fred Miranda

New fredmiranda.com Mobile Site

New Feature: SMS Notification alert

New Feature: Buy & Sell Watchlist

FM Forums | General Gear-talk | Join Upload & Sell

1 2

4 … 13 14 end

Archive 2009 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Tom K.
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.3 #1 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Primo advice. Many thanks.

I just want to make sure that the Intel SSD is the 2nd generation version and not the 1st gen version. Then I'll get the SSD.

A quiet PC means a lot to me. I'll ask about the fans.

I noticed when configuring on-line at AVA I can't choose to have two burners. I'll have to call them about that on Monday because I would rather have two burners them a DVD ROM and a DVD RW.

I changed the RAM to Crucial after doing some research. I also went with the NOCTUA, NH-U12P Copper CPU Cooler after doing some more research.

Changed from two extra internal HD's to one bigger second internal HD.

I'm getting very close to closing this deal. The SSD question should be answered by Monday. Then it's likely go time.

Nov 07, 2009 at 04:03 PM

Nickle S.
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.3 #2 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

I have a Blu-Ray burner and a DVD burner, so I'm sure you'll be able to have 2.

Nicholas

Nov 07, 2009 at 04:05 PM

eplastiq
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.3 #3 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Yes, i7 920 can be easily overclocked.

my current specs are:
i7 920 2.66ghz @ 3.6ghz (running faster than the i7 975)
noctua cooler and 2 fans (push-pull system)
3x 2gb corsair memory DDR3
P6T WS asus motherboard (because of SAS option, will explain later)
gforce 8800 GTS 640 Ram (will be upgraded to the new ATI 5870 shortly)
2x raptor 75gb in stripping mode for OS and software
1x sata 160disk for photoshop scratch disk and lightroom catalogues
2x standard 500gb SATA disks for data
power supply is a corsair 650W which i found it enough.

that asus motherboard has an integrated SAS controller. SAS are faster than the SATA ones and raids work very well. they are not "really" expensive and i think i would prefer those than SSD right now.

photoshop CS4 opens i less than 5 seconds

Nov 08, 2009 at 07:13 AM

mjb30
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: Off

p.3 #4 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

eplastiq wrote:
photoshop CS4 opens i less than 5 seconds

This thread is making me drool! And to think I was going to get new glass....

Nov 08, 2009 at 10:10 AM

hfillmore
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.3 #5 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Bookmarked

Nov 08, 2009 at 02:43 PM

Nickle S.
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.3 #6 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Here's a snippet of SpeedFan utility I just took:
http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/image/119179244/original
You can see there's two readings for GPU temps, indicating the GTX295 is actually 2 GTX260 cards sandwiched to make one. System and CPU temps usually don't go over 45 degrees unless I'm benchmarking

. This is a real testament to the air-cooled design that AVA came up with. The AI Suite utility that comes with the P6T V.2 motherboard will not run in Windows7, that's why I'm using SpeedFan and WebTemp. ASUS needs to update the driver.

Photoshop opens in about 4 or 5 seconds for me, too, and I have a ton of plug-ins. The software at our disposal keeps getting better and better and the files we work with keep getting bigger and bigger, thus the need for more and more power in our PCs.

Nicholas
www.copperhillimages.com

Nov 08, 2009 at 03:40 PM

UCSB
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.3 #7 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

I just ordered one of these HP units (i7 975, 12 GB, ... etc.) last week.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=desktops&a1=Category&v1=High+performance&series_name=e9280t_series&jumpid=in_R329_prodexp/hhoslp/psg/desktops/High_performance/e9280t_series

It will be coming along in a week or so. My daughter is a top student and a member of the Golden Key International Honor Society ... so I got special pricing on the unit. Worth looking into if you are a member.

Nov 08, 2009 at 11:25 PM

Tom K.
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.3 #8 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Joe Mundy from AVADirect sent me an email and stated, " I would recommend going with the velociraptors, than the SSD's, any day".

More for me to think about.

Nov 11, 2009 at 12:17 AM

Tom K.
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.3 #9 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Possible final configuration. Without SSD.

$2209.38

* ANTEC, Performance One P183 Black Mid-Tower Computer Case, ATX, No PSU
* PC POWER & COOLING, Silencer� 750W Quad (Black) Power Supply, 24-pin ATX12V EPS12V, Single +12V Rail, Quad 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
* NOCTUA, NH-U12P Copper CPU Cooler, Socket 1366
* CORSAIR, 12GB (6 x 2GB) XMS3 PC3-12800 DDR3 1600MHz CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.65V SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC
* GIGABYTE, GV-N96TSL-1GI, GeForce� 9600 GT 650MHz, 1GB GDDR3 1800MHz, PCIe x16 SLI, VGA+DVI, HDMI, Retail
* WESTERN DIGITAL, 150GB (WD1500HLFS) WD VelociRaptor�, SATA 3 Gb/s, 10000 RPM, 16MB cache
* WESTERN DIGITAL, 500GB WD Caviar� Black� (WD5001AALS), SATA 3 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 32MB Cache
* WESTERN DIGITAL, 1TB WD Caviar� Black� (WD1001FALS), SATA 3 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 32MB Cache
* RAID, No RAID, Independent HDD Drives
* LITE-ON, iHDS118 Black 18x48x DVD-ROM Drive, SATA, OEM
* PLEXTOR, PX-880SA Black 24x DVD�R/RW Dual-Layer Burner w/ Lightscribe, SATA, Retail
* MICROSOFT, Windows 7 Professional 64-bit Edition, OEM
* WARRANTY, Silver Warranty Package (3 Year Limited Parts, 3 Year Labor Warranty)

Nov 11, 2009 at 12:41 AM

senna4ever
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.3 #10 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

I'm surprised no one has mentioned (unless I've missed something) that you would also need a good monitor.

Nov 11, 2009 at 04:19 AM

Mike Farren
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.3 #11 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Never really fancied the 'Raptor drives. By all accounts 2 "normal" drives of similar size each, in Raid 0, work out to be faster, bigger and cheaper.

Nov 11, 2009 at 04:25 AM

Nickle S.
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.3 #12 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Mike Farren wrote:
Never really fancied the 'Raptor drives. By all accounts 2 "normal" drives of similar size each, in Raid 0, work out to be faster, bigger and cheaper.

Michael makes some interesting points about the VelociRaptors, power supplies and overclocking:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1004&message=33660024

Check out his next post to see how he overclocked his i7/920 w/P6T, he got it up to 3.6MHz, just below my 3.75.

I have found the Raptors to be incredibly fast, efficient, and extremely quiet, don't know why anyone would have a problem with them, especially with their fantastic track record. I'd let Intel work out their W7 SSD driver problems before buying one, and there's also the shorter life span/failure rate to consider as mentioned in that dpreview post and the MaximumPC article.

Tom,
That is a boomin' setup, a "dream" Photoshop computer.

Nicholas
www.copperhillimages.com

Nov 11, 2009 at 07:49 AM

Tom K.
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.3 #13 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Nickle S. wrote:
Michael makes some interesting points about the VelociRaptors, power supplies and overclocking:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1004&message=33660024

Nicholas
www.copperhillimages.com

Terrific thread you pinted out there Nicholas. Very informative.

Nov 11, 2009 at 11:36 AM

plubbry
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.3 #14 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Nickle, do you happen to have a link to the MaximumPC article regarding lifespan & failure rate. I looked at the dpreview.com posts and didn't see anything other than a mention of a MaximumPC test/article. I am curious to do some more reading. From what I have read (http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3403&p=4) the lifespan of an Intel SSD should not be much of an issue. The MLC NAND flash used in the Intel SSDs have a lifespan of 10,000 write/erase cycles (100,000 for Intel SLC NAND flash). With the wear leveling algorithms used by these drives, this means that you would have to write/erase 100GB/day for 5 years. (It is theorized that in actual usage the life will be much longer). When the drives fail the leveling algorithms will ensure that all of the NAND flash is very near its end of life, i.e. all the flash fails at nearly the same time. With the Intel drives the controllers try to ensure that the flash fails on an erase or the next write. In theory this means that you don't lose your data, you are just unable to erase it or write new data.

I am hoping Intel gets their TRIM firmware sorted out since I fully intend to get one of their SSDs for my new PC this winter.

BTW, Anandtech.com has some excellent SSD articles that really get to the bottom of the technology. I found them to be very informative. Listed from earliest to latest:

"Intel X25-M SSD: Intel Delivers One of the World's Fastest Drives"
"The SSD Anthology: Understanding SSDs and New Drives from OCZ"
"The SSD Update: Vertex Gets Faster, New Indilinx Drives and Intel/MacBook Problems Resolved"
"Intel X25-M G2: Dissected and Performance Preview"
"The SSD Relapse: Understanding and Choosing the Best SSD"

Nov 11, 2009 at 11:56 AM

Nickle S.
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.3 #15 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

plubbry,

Sorry I was vague about that, I assumed Michael got that info from the hard copy MaximumPC rather from their website. They are some great articles about SSDs you posted, and I am with you about Intel's TRIM firmware, I'll wait a while for the fix and then I might wait a while longer for the price to come down a little more before pulling the trigger. But as far as Tom's new rig, he can't go wrong with the Raptors, he can always add a SSD later on.

Here's a head to head with Kingston SSD versus VelociRaptor, 9/30/09:
http://www.overclockers.com.au/article.php?id=815652

Nicholas
www.copperhillimages.com

Nov 11, 2009 at 12:34 PM

Tom K.
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.3 #16 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Does anyone have any experience with a company called CyberPower? http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/

I priced out a serious PC similar (but not exactly like) the one I put together in my last AVADirect configuration and CyberPower comes in at $300 less. Plus they throw in a few pretty impressive freebies.

For some reason CyberPower feels like a bigger, slicker company where I might be just another "let's slap this PC together quickly and ship it out" customer. AVADirect appears more "down to earth" and responsive regarding customer service and such.

I don't know.....CyberPower might be a great company. Anyone have any knowledge about them and their reputation?

**note** I can't get the exact same components from Cyber as I can AVA. Better RAM at Cyber for cheap. Better Power supply at AVA. Better case at AVA. Better Vid card at Cyber for cheap.

I'm 99% sure I'm going with AVA......but am wondering about CyberPower.

Nov 12, 2009 at 01:46 AM

sav1977
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.3 #17 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Jump on NewEgg an create a wishlist with the parts you need to build up a new computer. Easy and fun.

I built the second desktop that I am using right now two years ago when I bought CS3. Still rockin', but 64-bit and more RAM would help with the videos I'm doing now...stuck with 3.4GB RAM with 32-bit XP (installed 4GB). I have CS2 on the slower computers and laptops.

Nov 12, 2009 at 01:58 AM

Tom K.
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.3 #18 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

sav1977 wrote:
Jump on NewEgg an create a wishlist with the parts you need to build up a new computer. Easy and fun.

I priced my configuration at newegg as if I would build it myself. You know what? The price was the same from AVADirect to the dollar. Plus they build it and give me a 3 year warranty on parts and labor.

I kid you not.

Nov 12, 2009 at 02:14 AM

Nickle S.
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.3 #19 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

I priced my configuration at newegg as if I would build it myself. You know what? The price was the same from AVADirect to the dollar. Plus they build it and give me a 3 year warranty on parts and labor.
I kid you not.

http://www.resellerratings.com/store/AVA_Direct Lifetime rating - 9.54, 6 mos. - 9.82
versus
http://www.resellerratings.com/store/CyberPower Lifetime rating - 7.62, 6 mos. - 8.26

I looked at CyberPower too, Tom, but try getting a little help over the phone for advice. All I was told was go to the configurator and order the darn computer and be done with it. The difference between these 2 companies in this regard was day and night. On the other hand, Puget Computers were just as fantastic with pre-sales help as was AVA, just leave a message or e-mail them your questions, and they would call back very quickly with comprehensive answers. Their prices were slightly higher than AVA and they have nowhere near the vast options for components as AVA.
So although it looks like CyberPower has been doing a little better recently, I didn't like reading that their communications with customers was shoddy at times and getting replacement parts in a timely manner seemed to be a real challenge for them.

So in the end, I boiled it down to AVA and Puget, both are rated A+ with BBB while CyberPower is a C+.

Nicholas
www.copperhillimages.com

Edited on Nov 12, 2009 at 08:28 AM · View previous versions

Nov 12, 2009 at 07:57 AM

Dave R.
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.3 #20 · Best Computer for Photoshop?

Here is one I'm seriously considering since my current 6 year old is showing signs of giving it up.
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11500733&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|84|56671&N=4017755&Mo=40&pos=2&No=0&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=56671&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&ec=BC-EC5-Cat84&topnav=

Nov 12, 2009 at 08:28 AM

1 2 3 4 … 13 14 end
FM Forums \| General Gear-talk \| Join Upload & Sell 1 2 3 4 … 13 14 end