Buying New Dell PC for Photoshop — Need Advice on Options

EJ
Posted By
Ellen_Jones
Sep 26, 2004
Views
373
Replies
7
Status
Closed
I will deploy Photoshop CS on the new PC. I do design work on files 300,000-500,000 KB and larger, so I need a fast PC. I want a PC that I can keep for three to four years. I prefer Dells because I have had good luck with them in the past, and I don’t want to have one built or build one myself. The two options I am considering are listed below. What are the pros and cons? Am I getting the right graphics card? How much speed would the second processor add? The Precision 670 is more expensive, but got a wonderful review in Photoshop User magazine. Has anyone had experience with it? Is it worth the price? I would be grateful for any advice or feedback you can give me.

Option 1: Dimension XPS

Pentium® 4 Processor w/ HT Tech Extreme Edition (3.40GHz, 800 FSB

Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional

Memory 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz (4x1GB)

Monitor 19 in 1901FP Dell Ultrasharp™ Digital Flat Panel Display

Video Card 256MB Nvidia® GeForce 6800 GTO Graphics Card

Hard Drive 800GB RAID 0 (2 x 400GB SATA HDDs)

2nd Hard Drive 250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)

16x DVD-ROM Drive + 48x CD-RW Drive

TOTAL: $6,508.00

Option 2: Dell Precision Workstation 670

Dell Precision Workstation 670 Intel® Xeon™ Processor 3.20GHz, 1MB L2 Cache

Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional, SP1 with Media and NTFS

2nd Processor Intel® Xeon™ Processor 3.20GHz, 1MB L2 cache PR32

Memory 4GB, DDR2 SDRAM Memory, 400MHz, ECC (6 DIMMS)

Monitor Dell UltraSharp™1901FP Flat Panel (19.0 VIS), HeightAdjustableStand,

Graphic Cards 128MB PCIe x16 (DVI/VGA) ATI FireGL V3100, Dual Mon VGA or DVI/VGA Capable

First Hard Drive 146GB Ultra 320 SCSI, 1 inch (10,000 rpm)

2nd Hard Drive 146GB Ultra 320 SCSI, 1 inch (10,000 rpm)

Hard Drive Configuration C11-All SCSI drives, RAID 1, 2 drive total configuration SCR12

CD-ROM, DVD, and Read-Write Devices 48XCD AND 48X CD-RW/DVD Combo w/ CyberLink Power DVD CDCOM

Hard Drive Internal Controller Options U320 SCSI Integrated Controller – For Connecting Internal Hard Drives

TOTAL: $7,664.00
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P
p645n
Sep 27, 2004
Ellen — I’m confused about file size and that is extremely important if any further comments on the computer side are to be made.

What I would spend a good percentage of my funds on would be a really good CRT monitor and a Color Management System for it.

I’m finding that it doesn’t mater how good a job I do if it turns out that when I view the (printed) end product my colors & density are all over the place.
B
BobLevine
Sep 27, 2004
Both options are overkill, IMO. Go for a loaded 4700 and you’ll save a lot of money.

Bob
MA
mark.aitken
Nov 2, 2004
Hi Ellen.

Did you finally purchase a PC for yoru need? We have a similar need, it would good to get some feedback on your chosen path.

Thanks,

Mark.

wrote:
I will deploy Photoshop CS on the new PC. I do design work on files
300,000-500,000 KB and larger, so I need a fast PC. I want a PC that I can keep for three to four years. I prefer Dells because I have had good luck with them in the past, and I don’t want to have one built or build one myself. The two options I am considering are listed below. What are the pros and cons? Am I getting the right graphics card? How much speed would the second processor add? The Precision 670 is more expensive, but got a wonderful review in Photoshop User magazine. Has anyone had experience with it? Is it worth the price? I would be grateful for any advice or feedback you can give me.
Option 1: Dimension XPS

Pentium® 4 Processor w/ HT Tech Extreme Edition (3.40GHz, 800 FSB
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional

Memory 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz (4x1GB)

Monitor 19 in 1901FP Dell Ultrasharp™ Digital Flat Panel Display
Video Card 256MB Nvidia® GeForce 6800 GTO Graphics Card
Hard Drive 800GB RAID 0 (2 x 400GB SATA HDDs)

2nd Hard Drive 250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)

16x DVD-ROM Drive + 48x CD-RW Drive

TOTAL: $6,508.00

Option 2: Dell Precision Workstation 670

Dell Precision Workstation 670 Intel® Xeon™ Processor 3.20GHz, 1MB
L2 Cache
Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional, SP1 with
Media and NTFS
2nd Processor Intel® Xeon™ Processor 3.20GHz, 1MB L2 cache PR32
Memory 4GB, DDR2 SDRAM Memory, 400MHz, ECC (6 DIMMS)

Monitor Dell UltraSharp™1901FP Flat Panel (19.0 VIS),
HeightAdjustableStand,
Graphic Cards 128MB PCIe x16 (DVI/VGA) ATI FireGL V3100, Dual Mon VGA
or DVI/VGA Capable
First Hard Drive 146GB Ultra 320 SCSI, 1 inch (10,000 rpm)
2nd Hard Drive 146GB Ultra 320 SCSI, 1 inch (10,000 rpm)
Hard Drive Configuration C11-All SCSI drives, RAID 1, 2 drive total
configuration SCR12
CD-ROM, DVD, and Read-Write Devices 48XCD AND 48X CD-RW/DVD Combo w/
CyberLink Power DVD CDCOM
Hard Drive Internal Controller Options U320 SCSI Integrated
Controller – For Connecting Internal Hard Drives
TOTAL: $7,664.00
G
gernerttlnospam
Nov 7, 2004
Got with option two, the dual processor. The $1000 price difference will be offset by the much better performance.

The speed difference between the video cards will be small. However, using dual processors and SCSI 10,000 RPM drives in a RAID configuration along with 4GB of RAM is where the speed kick will come from. Photoshop supports dual processor.

One thing to keep in mind. Just because you have dual processors, doesn’t you mean you get double the performance. It will be considerably and noticably faster than a single processor.

Tim
wrote in message
I will deploy Photoshop CS on the new PC. I do design work on files 300,000-500,000 KB and larger, so I need a fast PC. I want a PC that I can keep for three to four years. I prefer Dells because I have had good luck with them in the past, and I don’t want to have one built or build one myself. The two options I am considering are listed below. What are the pros and cons? Am I getting the right graphics card? How much speed would the second processor add? The Precision 670 is more expensive, but got a wonderful review in Photoshop User magazine. Has anyone had experience with it? Is it worth the price? I would be grateful for any advice or feedback you can give me.

Option 1: Dimension XPS

Pentium
G
gernerttlnospam
Nov 7, 2004
Oh yeah, unless desktop space is a premium, try to get a CRT for option 2, 19" or bigger. It will save you some cash and provide better results. CRTs are still better (though not by much) to use in image editing than LCDs right now.

Tim
wrote in message
I will deploy Photoshop CS on the new PC. I do design work on files 300,000-500,000 KB and larger, so I need a fast PC. I want a PC that I can keep for three to four years. I prefer Dells because I have had good luck with them in the past, and I don’t want to have one built or build one myself. The two options I am considering are listed below. What are the pros and cons? Am I getting the right graphics card? How much speed would the second processor add? The Precision 670 is more expensive, but got a wonderful review in Photoshop User magazine. Has anyone had experience with it? Is it worth the price? I would be grateful for any advice or feedback you can give me.

Option 1: Dimension XPS

Pentium
A
AlexTheGreat
Nov 15, 2004
I just got the DELL XPS delivered to me last week with nearly identical specs to what you describe. I’m a commercial wedding and print photographer using Photoshop CS and working with 8 to 16 megapixel images (primarily). I’ve processed over 12,000 images in just over a week on the XPS using resource intensive batch processes in PS. Even with the heaviest usage actions, performance monitor indicates that processor doesn’t exceed 65%. I do get the insufficient RAM msg on occasion due to Photoshop CS only being able to recognize 2 Gig of RAM – although I have 4 Gig installed, only 2 Gig does me any good for Photoshop.

What I am surprised about is that the heavy disk access on large images causes a LOT of noise to the extent that it is unpleasant to be near the machine!

My two cents,
Christopher Hartt
www.harttphoto.com
wrote in message
Hi Ellen.

Did you finally purchase a PC for yoru need? We have a similar need, it would good to get some feedback on your chosen path.

Thanks,

Mark.

wrote:
I will deploy Photoshop CS on the new PC. I do design work on files
300,000-500,000 KB and larger, so I need a fast PC. I want a PC that I can keep for three to four years. I prefer Dells because I have had good luck with them in the past, and I don’t want to have one built or build one myself. The two options I am considering are listed below. What are the pros and cons? Am I getting the right graphics card? How much speed would the second processor add? The Precision 670 is more expensive, but got a wonderful review in Photoshop User magazine. Has anyone had experience with it? Is it worth the price? I would be grateful for any advice or feedback you can give me.
Option 1: Dimension XPS

Pentium
D
DanTwo
Dec 4, 2004
Hey Mark,
Here is my 2 cents worth… Go with the dual processor. Photoshop is built to take advantage of dual processors and does so very well. I recently had to build a new workstation and because of funds couldn’t do a dual processor machine this time around. The new workstation has faster ram, front side bus, and video card but is still slower than the dual processor machine I built almost three years ago.
wrote in message
Hi Ellen.

Did you finally purchase a PC for yoru need? We have a similar need, it would good to get some feedback on your chosen path.

Thanks,

Mark.

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