Help building $2000 Adobe CS6 rig w/o monitor

[jdb264c]

Hi, I would love the communities thoughts about this build:

I'm in the process of building a new computer for my girlfriends job, with the following principles:

1. She will use it for Adobe Photoshop CS6, InDesign CS6 and Illustrator CS6.

2. She will NOT use it for video rendering.

3. She will NOT use for gaming.

4. Her only knowledge about hardware is that "Macbooks look good" so I'm thinking that it has to be really silent and look rather distinguished (i.e. no flashing lights etc).

5. The budget is rather flexible would the absolute maximum would be $2000.

She's already got an Samsung 27" SyncMaster SB970D as a monitor so there's no need for a new one.

I find the absolute hardest part being deciding between AMD/Intel on the CPU part, and AMD/nVidia on the graphics part. It seems, correct me if I'm wrong, that AMD uses OpenGL/CL in a way that for the moment would be an advantage over nVidia but I'm even less certain when it comes to the CPU. Advice appreciated!

So here's my thought and suggestions:

Case:

Fractal Design Define R4 :: $135

PSU:

Seasonic x850 850W :: $290

Fans:

Something from Fractal Design or Scythe. As a CPU fan maybe the Noctua NH-U9DX for $96

System HD:

Samsung 830 Series MZ-7PC128 128GB :: $128

Scratchdisk for Adobe programs:

Samsung 830 Series MZ-7PC064 64GB :: $92 (Or maybe switch the system and the scratch disk)

General HD:

Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 64MB 2TB :: $223

CPU:

AMD FX-Series FX-8150 3,6GHz Socket AM3+ :: $230

Motherboard:

Asus Crosshair V Formula-Z :: $323

Graphics card:

Some Radeon 7970, not quite sure yet, possibly ASUS. :: Approx $540

RAM:

G.Skill TridentX DDR3 PC19200/2400MHz CL10 2x8GB

So, what should I change? Gladly anticipating the verdict from the forum!

Regards

Johan

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

you dont need an 850W PSU - something around 550-600W is fine

I'm a fan of Intel CPUs, but that AMD looks pretty badass. i'm not sure how either would compare in Adobe <whatever> though. perhaps there are benchmarks for adobe products out there?

the video card is going to be overkill considering she's not gaming. you could easily get away w/ a cheaper card - around the $200 range.

RAM looks good - i wouldnt go w/ any less than 16GB.

(edit) i just noticed that you selected 2400MHz RAM. that's definitely not necessary - stick to 1600MHz, and you'll save quite a bit of money.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Yeah, the GPU is definitely overkill. With that said, in CS6, there are features that do utilize the GPU.

Nvidia has an article about it here.

I personally recommend Nvidia myself, if for nothing else I believe there drivers are a bit better overall. Just a bit.

Another page on Nvidia, check this sentence out as well.

Want more? It?s easy - Adobe Photoshop CS5 automatically detects NVIDIA? GeForce? or NVIDIA? Quadro? GPUs to enable these accelerated features.

So I am assuming if CS5 auto detected a Nvidia GPU, CS6 will as well.

[Ruffneckting]

I would chuck another 2TB drive in there and setup the pair in a RAID 1 configuration. She will thank you one day :)

[tsupersonic]

That's a terrible setup for $2k. AMD offers great performance per value, but Intel has it in terms of performance. Plus, you have some overpriced components - like the PSU and the motherboard.

I put together something that's a lot cheaper. The motherboard comes with 8GB of RAM as a gift, but you could always get your own RAM. I left out the CPU cooler, because unless you are doing some OC'ing, you do NOT need a $96 CPU cooler. $1472 and you would get $60 back in rebates. Granted, there is still a lot of "bloat" in this build. You can do a lot better in terms of pricing.

[Kalint]

http://pcpartpicker.com/ <-- Go There.

[LeGourmand]

My girlfriend just bought a 600$ Toshiba laptop to do exactly just that, when on the move, since she already have a desktop. Just saying 2k seems too much for nothing.

[Brandon]

Sort of a dumb question... but how advanced is she in the Adobe programs? Is she a graphic designer or a weekend warrior?

If shes a GD doing this full time, okay. If not, you could have a great machine for less than half the cost.

[Manarift]

Motherboard is overkill

id suggest something like

Z77A-GD65 w/ DDR3 1600, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, 3-Way SLI / CrossFireX

Core? i5-3570 Processor, 3.40GHz w/ 6MB Cache

and the graphics card you could probably get a 660Ti

[neufuse Veteran]

System HD:

Samsung 830 Series MZ-7PC128 128GB :: $128

$128? I picked up the 128GB for $80 a few weeks ago from newegg, keep a lookout the drives go on sale a lot.... the SSD is DEFINATLY recommended for the OS / app drive, if you have some money left over get another for a scratch disk... make sure you have SATA3 6Gb/s ports it does make a difference

[Praetor]

My girlfriend just bought a 600$ Toshiba laptop to do exactly just that, when on the move, since she already have a desktop. Just saying 2k seems too much for nothing.

I have a friend who did just that: bought a professional HP laptop (for business, not for creative work) and max out the memory (8GB) hoping that CS6 would play fine; it doesn't. In her case she works as GFX designer in Illustrator and even 8GB of RAM ain't gonna be enough when you do work with files filling several GB in memory, taking Illustrator to it's knees after a while (sudden crash).

end of story: she tried to save a buck and ended with a POS laptop that now needs to be rebooted every couple of hours because if she doesn't Illustrator would crash because of low memory. And it's a know problem http://forums.adobe....message/4386264, still unresolved.

[LeGourmand]

I have a friend who did just that: bought a professional HP laptop (for business, not for creative work) and max out the memory (8GB) hoping that CS6 would play fine; it doesn't. In her case she works as GFX designer in Illustrator and even 8GB of RAM ain't gonna be enough when you do work with files filling several GB in memory, taking Illustrator to it's knees after a while (sudden crash).

end of story: she tried to save a buck and ended with a POS laptop that now needs to be rebooted every couple of hours because if she doesn't Illustrator would crash because of low memory. And it's a know problem http://forums.adobe....message/4386264, still unresolved.

As i said it's when she on the road and what not, i'm not saying to get one at 600$ just saying 2k is too much, something in between would be fine.

[Ambroos]

Get Intel with nVidia. Unless you're really on a tight budget (and you aren't) there isn't anything to keep you away from that. AMD's CPU's are okay but come nowhere near Intel's Ivy Bridge. nVidia still does loads better on the GPU department simply because of drivers. And in general just go way down, you don't need to spend that amount of money. Especially on GPU. An nVidia 660(Ti) will be perfectly fine, even lower will do perfectly fine with no impact on CS6 performance.