Photoshop / Image processing system for CAD 1000

jeepescu · Post by **jeepescu** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:00 am

Component list:
Case - Antec P182 - 147.85
PS - Corsair HX 520 - 109.18 (-10 MIR)
MB - Gigabyte P35 DS3R - 141.35
CPU - Q6600 - 288.88
Heat Sink - Scythe ninja - 35.72
RAM - Corsair DDR2-800 2Gb - 124.99 (-30 MIR)
DVD - Pioneer Sata - 33.38
GPU - Asus 6200LE - 32.67
Total - 914.02
GST - 54.84
MIR - (40.00)
TOTAL - 928.86

A few notes.
1. The purpose of this machine will be Photoshop/Raw image processing. No games will be played on this. Ever.
1a. I will try to overclock the Q6600. Nothing extreme, but it will not be left at the original speed. I am using an AMD4600 and my 12Mp raw images (NEF) are quite slow to process, I am hungry for CPU power.
2. I don't need any disks, I will recover 1 250gb and two 320gb from an existing machine.
3. Budget is limited to CAD 1000. This includes shipping, taxes, everything.
4. Quotes above are from www.directcanada.com, shipping is free.

Any comments or questions ?

Oh and also, I have ~CAD70 left, what should I use it for ?

bonestonne · Post by **bonestonne** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 11:36 am

any CAD design program is really graphically intensive, i run K-3D in linux and windows when i feel like playing around [or actually designing an acoustic chamber], and i have an ATi 9200 AGP, and it burns up, i'd suggest if you have the extra $70, look for a more powerful GPU [not necessarily a quattro, but something in the 7xxx line would give you more room for CAD design.

other than that it looks great.

jeepescu · Post by **jeepescu** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:57 pm

Bonestonne: Thanks for the comments.
I do not intend to do any CAD an this box, just Photoshop and RAW to JPG conversions in Nikon Capture. Whenever I boot in Linux, everything I'll do will be so overkill that its not even worth talking about.

Coming back to my RAW pictures, I tried various setups on the AMD I have right now. I could not see any difference between running an ATI X300 (low end) and a 6800Ultra, therefore I decided to get the most inexpensive card with a DVI output.

I'd rather get another couple G of RAM for close to that price.

chrispycrunch · Post by **chrispycrunch** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 6:04 pm

Do you think you will benefit running on 4GB ram instead of 2, even though XP will use 3.5 of the 4?

I presume you already have a good monitor.

jeepescu · Post by **jeepescu** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 2:24 pm

I'm not sure about the 4Gb. I heard conflicting reports, some that say I will, other that say I won't.
That's why I asked on this forum.