Desktops forum: Best PC for graphic Design?

consider building a machine yourself (if your able to set-up something like that)

I would suggest an Intel Pentium D 820 as an upgrade from the Intel Celeron you have now, it will allow lots of multi-tasking

i'd also consider 1GB-2GB of RAM in dual channel
and a decent graphics card with support for at least two monitors and high quality 2D output (my personal pick would be the Matrox Parhelia 256MB, that's over $500 though, so i'd suggest something of the affordable variety such as the Matrox Millenium P750, or an nVidia such as a card from the Quadro4 or a lower priced Quadro FX)


honeslty if it were me i'd take an Asus PC-DL (after thinking about LGA 775 and AGP 8x boards, and realizing hardly any (if any) exist) with a pair of 2.4GHZ or 2.66GHZ Xeon's, 2GB of DDR
a nice EPS12V PSU
and a Matrox Parhelia 256MB

along with 3 monitors (whatever your comfortable with in terms of size) and good storage

but please consider most of my suggestions are in excess of $2500 for the system


but some of the best photoshop work i've ever seen has come from machines of MUCH less ability than described above
I would suggest searching for spyware/malware and keeping your system clean, maybe upgrading to 1GB of RAM and a PCI graphics card

Vectorworks is the best, but photo shop is used by graphical designers. he said that he works at bevans in sydney, and that they use vector works, photoshop elements, and some other ones i can't remember. MACS ARE USELESS, AND HAVE NO POINT OF SIGNIFICANCE ON THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD. IF IT BREAKS, U HAV TO SEND IT TO APPLE TO FIX, WHICH COULD COST ALOT. IF U HAV A PC, U CAN BUY THE PART FROM EBAY, AND INSTALL IT YOUR SELF. THINK ABOUT IT, U SAVE IN THE LONG RUN.

A Mac is not the solution. I am a graphic design student just finishing my last year and my Mac has been nothing but hell the past 3.5 years I have had it. The hard drive died on me within monthes and it is impossible to fix without paying a sh*tload of money. With all the heavy duty work that i have been doing using Adobe CS4 this piece of junk couldnt handle it. Ive been comparing the 13 inch Macbook Pro to the HP dv7-1426nr and you are getting more with the PC then the mac for half the price. Now you can even make your pc run exactly like a mac with simple downloads in no time. So i dont have the apple symbol on the back of my computer..."oohhh noo"
An up to date graphic design Mac user switching to PC....yes believe it!

Yeah and they did replace it for free, still charged me a "50 dollar service fee" and i still have had complications ever since. Often times i heard they replace it with a hard drive that is not so good, a bunch from the dime a dozen.

A) Dell does not sell or vend AMD processors
B) the X850XT and 7800GTX are:

A) worlds apart in performance (7800GTX is about 30% faster)
B) 3D gaming cards, which means their not geared for what your doing + they don't even affect graphics work like she's doing
C) amazingly worthless for this application

C) if your using a 250 Mega-Byte hard drive you couldn't even get Windows onto it, however using a 200 Giga-Byte hard drive (GB) you could have a fair deal of space to store windows and around 180~ GB of data

I would suggest reviewing your post, realizing your not talking about periphreals at all, and that your basically talking out your _____ on this



Canopus is designed for commerical grade video editing
ATi is gaming graphics, and low level (entry level only) CAD graphics
and Matrox is professional imaging and multi-display (video wall) stuff

Matrox is what you would want if you could have your pick of any card, your basically suggesting use of a Ferrari with a trailer to move a couch

when you can get a truck for about 1/20th of the price

your suggesting too much power and in the wrong areas


also he is right, getting a mac is the best idea if you want a "no brainer" solution (honestly it is, because that's one of the few things mac's do without question)

also, do not suggest getting the most expensive one they offer
that's around $20,000 for a computer
you can use a $500 Mac Mini with Superdrive and be entirely capable of this task


to the original poster i would suggest avoiding jakem14's advice here...as he is seemingly misinformed on the requirements of what your doing

if your computer buyer is ok with purchasing Apple, I would suggest a Power Mac, mainly because it's upgradeable (more readily) than an eMac or iMac

and please realize it's total overkill

but i'd suggest:

Apple Power Mac G5 Tower
Dual 2GHZ
Base Configuration (512MB DDR, 160GB hard drive, Apple OS X installed, Radeon 9600)
Throw the base LCD on, which is a 20"

total cost is
$2800~
that's rather high
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/73001/wo/HW7UX5dziUC03Fu8JNBFc7VM5jo/4.0.11.1.0.6.3
should link to it


so if you wanted something cheaper (like much cheaper)
consider something from Dell


Dell Precision 380
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=380trec&s=bsd

I would select the following hardware configuration on that machine:


CPU
Intel Pentium 4 630

OS:
Windows XP Pro with Media

File System:
NTFS

Hyper-Threading:
Hyperthreading can be set to ON (you can do this yourself, but why spend the 5 minutes when they can do it for you for free?)

Hardware Support Services:
this all depends on your company's IT and their choice

Memory:
go with default 1GB DDR2 533MHZ 4 DIMM's


Tower:
pick the configuration you'd like (this is case configuration)

Keyboard:
USB with Hotkeys

Mouse:
optical with scroll

Ethernet controller:
talk to the PC buyer about this, it depends on your work places network and it's requirements

Hard drive Configuration:
choose option C5, RAID 1 2 drive configuration (this is a back-up method, you will only see 1 drive inside Windows, but everything is mirrored to another drive to ensure back-up in the event of a drive failing (given what your saying your going to be doing, I highly advise doing this))

Boot Hard Drive:
250GB SATA, 7200 RPM Hard Drive with DataBurst Cache for RAID

Second Hard Drive:
250GB SATA, 7200 RPM Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst Cache

3rd Hard Drive:
none

4th Hard Drive:
none

Hard Drive Internal Controller Option:
none

External Storage Options:
none

CD, DVD, Read-Write Devices:
16XDVD and 16XDVD+/-RW w/ Sonic DM, Cyberlink PowerDVD


Floppy Drive and Media Card Reader Options:
I suggest getting a floppy drive, but if you need a media card reader to take images off of a digital camera I would suggest getting that instead (unless you have you can re-use)

USB Memory Key:
none

Storage Devices and media:
none


Multi Media Options
________________________


Graphics Card:
64MB PCIe x16 nVidia Quadro NVS 285, Dual DVI or Dual VGA Capable

Monitors:
Dell 20 inch UltraSharp 2001FP Flat Panel, adjustable stand, VGA/DVI (yes I realize it's expensive but the quality is amazing)

Second Monitor:
none

Sound and 1394a:
nothing selected

Speaker options:
select something basic if you like

Printer Promotions:
none

Modem:
none

Networking/Firewall options:
discuss with computer buyer

Productivity Software:
none selected, but if you need one of the listed choose it

Resource CD:
get the resource CD

Security Software:
discuss with computer buyer

Software Management:
discuss with computer buyer (these are all things you have to discuss with them about, to asertain if your network offers security/if they have the software you'll need or if Dell does...in terms of protection)

Energy Star:
doesn't matter either way

Quick Reference Guide:
I would suggest ordering this (while you may never use it, it cannot hurt to have it + it's free)

Digital Content Creation SW - Shipped Seperatly:
if you need one of those listed add it

3D Motion Controllers:
none

Mouse pad:
personal preference, the optical mouse will not require a mouse pad

Adapters:
do you need one?

Wireless broadband router:
i'm guessing no


total cost is $2582
if you need to shave money off that, drop the 20" flat panel monitor
price will deflate to around $1600


if you have any other questions i'd be happy to answer them

24,000,000 colors...not familiar with that display mode
and I don't feel like doing the math to find out what __-bit the thing is...

someone who knows what he's talking about.
ozos is totally on the mark here. If there is one thing a mac is great at it't graphics and media manipultion. I don't need to say any more, ozos said it all. I'm a big PC guy, but for easy get it done right now witout any hastle or fuss a mac is the only way to go. Don't believe me walk into most any architectural, enginiering or graphics firm and spy what's on the desk of any one except the resptionist. You'll find a lot of Mac G-5s. Overkill maybe, but going this route, you won't be sorry. Your out of the box ready to rock.

A new thread, this thread is nearly 3 years old...

I'd be willing to answer your questions (as would other c|net members) in a new thread.

Since I don't know how open your company is to purchasing a non-Windows system for you to use, I'll answer with two options. My qualifications are these: I've been using computers since 1983, pre-Windows days... and I currently keep my feet in both Mac and Windows platforms, am a graphics professional, currently self-employed.

Your system is completely inadequate for your needs. While Adobe will point out the MINIMUM required for running their software, if that is what you have, operations are sluggish at best, and "blue screen of death" at worst. They do also state what the "preferred configuration is", which is about twice that. I sympathize with the problem of trying to run multiple applications with what you have.

First suggestion, is, as one other suggested, get a Mac! However, you do NOT need the top end Mac to get the job done. Not even a dual processor. But the mini is simply not designed for a work environment and is a poor choice for your job. Macs WILL network beautifully with Windows systems, no problem there. I run a Mac/Windows XP system (wireless) with no problems.

HOWEVER, two other factors come into play here, when proposing a platform change to your boss: 1) Apple has just entered into an agreement with Intel for their next series of computers, so there will be "changes made". The good news about that is that Macs will stay on working for a LOT longer than a Windows computer, and you can go ahead and buy one of the current models without worrying that you will need a replacement in 12-18 months. 2) If you already have the Adobe Creative Suite for the Windows platform, and you switch to a Mac, you will be forced to buy the whole thing again, because Adobe won't let you "trade in or trade up". That's the BAD news.

Second suggestion: If you must stay with Windows, but on a budget... I'd want to know what sort of monitor you are currently using, and if you have and use a Wacom or other graphics tablet? Are you happy with the monitor you have? Get the best monitor you can, as large as you can. In a work environment where space isn't as much of an issue as it is in a small home office, I'd go for a high quality 23" CRT over an LCD monitor. An LCD monitor is good, if you can afford to get the best quality out there... otherwise, stay with a quality CRT.

I'd go for a system with the AMD Athlon 64 processor, and make sure I had 1 GB Ram, minimum, more if they'll allow it, like 2 GB. Windows is a ram hog, and Adobe programs always have been. Throw in MS Office, and your ram is gone... The Athlon 64's are speedy buggers, and if you pop in a good video card (you don't need a gamer's card, but a Video Card with own ram is worth it's weight in gold!), have sufficient RAM on the motherboard, and two HD's, you should be set. The reason for AMD Athlon 64 processor, over a Pentium 4 (don't even THINK of Centrino for graphics, you poor thing!), is that the AMD's are set for the next iteration of MS's OS to appear, whenever that is. It's already got the 64 bit architecture. P4's run hot, and the fans can be noisy.

Sony has come up with a new, cool way to keep the P4's cool, and they've put them into new systems called their Vaio Digital Studios. These systems also come with the Pentium D Processors, which are the newer ones. I've been looking at one. They run very quietly, have already got a video card in them, usually 1 GB already installed, a 250 GB HD, Double Layer DVD burners, USB 2.0 and Firewire, and both VGA and DVI ports on the back for your monitor. If you want an LCD monitor, then go for DVI, not the old VGA analog... you'll have better quality.

Do you have a lot of plug-ins for Photoshop, and fonts, loaded into your system? If you run Photoshop a LOT, and have a big plug-ins folder loaded up, it will cause significant slowdows too. Best to keep your plug-ins in another folder (NOT inside Photoshop's subfolders), and then tell PS where to find them. I keep my plugins and graphics, etc. on a completely separate external hard drive. If you don't have a Wacom tablet, I suggest you try one. I can't imagine working without one.

It's very late here, and I've probably forgotten a lot of things, but hope I've given you some things to think about, and for sure, make a list of "MUST HAVES" along with some "really wants", see how far you can go.

Best wishes to you... Firefly

could you elaborate on the driver availability for x64? thinking of building something i don't need, based on intel 840 (dual processor w/ hyperthreading) and 64 bit technology.

at home i have amd for gaming, but for office type stuff i find that a fast p4 works smoother when i'm running multiple apps, probably due to the hyper-treading and the extra clock speed

i wouldn't say that clock speed means nothing, i'm more agreeable to the idea that clock speed is not the single most important determining factor in computing performance.
when i play games the amd's floating point performance can't be beat.
when i'm rendering video the p4 seems faster to me and that could be due to a bunch of things, like maybe clock speed, fsb speed, cpu optimizations, whatever.
some of the stuff i do isn't cpu intensive, the computer's just waiting for me most of the time, like opening Microsoft Office apps, or just plain web browsing, or heavy downloading that's more disk intensive than cpu intensive. somehow this stuff seems snappier on the p4, maybe it's the hyperthreading, or maybe it's the amd throttling down in cool n quiet mode.
in the past some amd's ran hotter and some of the motherboards/chipsets showed signs of instability or lack maturity, where intels were genally more reliable. it can be debated that things are different now but i'll keep the radical ideas to myself and stay a bit conservative in my advice
and, i don't have a beef with any particular cpu company, it's not like i dictate policy

the Pentium 4 has a QDR type interface to the machine, while the K7 uses a DDR type interface, and the Athlon64 uses HTT...which smashes QDR to pieces


the Pentium 4 benefits in a few tasks by overall design and SSE3 extensions aid it in some things (i'm doubting he has a brand spanking new AMD with SSE3)


also, he hasn't said what he's comparing to what...

if he's comparing something like an AthlonXP 2400+ to a 3.2E, no duh the 3.2E is going to be faster

Hello,i am student at South Africa,Johannesburg ,studying PC support technician and have been given an assignement on looking best PC for graphic designers.So i have doing my research and came to note that Mac seems to the best for this kind of work,so please help me with my assignement.

(Assignement)You are a computer technician working for a Graphical Design company. The Managing Director has tasked you with installing computers for the new Designing department being opened. Do research about the type of computer that you would install for the graphic designers and motivate why you choose this specific system. You need to install ten of these PC's and connect them to a network.

List all the components in the PCs and motivate why you use this component. Be specific when you list the components. IE if you talk about the CPU list the CPU (Intel Pention 4 - 3.0 Ghz with HT) and add comments like the Intel CPU is the best choice because Graphic Designers will need a CPU with HT. All of the following components must be listed:

Motherboard
CPU
RAM
PCI Express Screen Card
Network card
SATA Hard Drive
DVD-Writer
Monitor
Keyboard
Mouse

May you please send me a quote from as a motivation for buying this computer. by listing both the individual components and the total price of the computer and the shipping price to South Africa if it's not available here.

Also the computers must be installed in a network,so my quote should include the price of the ethernet,hub or anything that would be used to make the network

Thanks a lot for having this forum ,it seems to be very helpful,keep up the good work