I don’t want to go the 64bit Windows route, at this point in time since I am concerned about compatibility issues in terms of existing printers, and other programs.
This is completely misguided. I have had a new Dell workstation with Vista Business 64 for 4 months now and all my older hardware works as well as the software, some going back to the 90s!
I went for the quad-core because, although not many processes in Photoshop fully use it now, they will in future. I have two additional 500MB 7200rpm drives for data and PS scratch and find these quite adequate.
64 bit Vista ( x64 XP is still too buggy and gives 64bit windows a bad rep ) kicks a$$. I have been using it over a year and have had zero issues with it. With 8gb Ram installed it flies too.
I even plugged in my 1998 scanner and the drivers loaded up automatically.
If you are going to invest in a new workstation then you should consider 64bit as this is the way things are going IMO.
Go for the fastest processor ( I have found L2 cache to be quite important – you will find 12mb ( 6mb on each core ) on the latest Q chips ) and as much RAM as you can afford…..If you really want to have performance have your drives in a Raid 0 or 10 configuration.
Why dell? My flatmate bought a £3,000 Dell – Xeon 2.4mhz – 4gb ram (3gb) – XPpro – 500gb drive – expensive graphics card……the performance was not that good….well, it was OK – he was trying to manipulate a A3 design and it was Slooooowwwwww. I think the problem with dell’s is that they use generic components and you will have no idea what you are getting inside the box until it arrives.
I’d choose a manufacturer that allows you to select everything, inc motherboard / Ram type / Hard drive make etc as all things are not equal.
I usually spend around a month researching before a buy a system.
I think the problem with dell’s is that they use generic components and you will have no idea what you are getting inside the box until it arrives.
That may be true for some consumer computers but is certainly totally wrong for Dell workstations.
Typical hearsay!
Unfortunately not hearsay as I said my flatmate bought one and there was no indication to the make / type / spec of the motherboard – harddrive – or RAM. The only way to find to find out was to open the box and have a look.
He didn’t care much because it was a ‘DELL’ – personally, I would like to know exactly what I’m buying before I shell out my cash.
Then Chris, your best bet is to ‘roll your own’. Self building a PC will allow you to have a pick of motherboard, CPU, memory (amount and type), hard disk, graphic card, case and so on.
Ian
Then Chris, your best bet is to ‘roll your own’.
BINGO! But Dell most certainly doesn’t use generic components. They may not tell you what you’re getting but they are major manufacturers.
And let me add that Vista 64 is most definitely the way to go especially since Photoshop CS4 will be available in a 64 bit version.
Bob
He didn’t care much because it was a ‘DELL’ – personally, I would like to know exactly what I’m buying before I shell out my cash.
Fortunately, I work for a regional computer retailer and am on good terms with our tech and new builds staff. If I have questions about what works well with and what doesn’t, all I have to do is ask… and I do.
Any purchase over $200 is a major one. Any 4-digit purchase should be viewed as a car and it should last almost as long (and should be researched as thoroughly). While I’ve upgraded it a few times (added a hard drive, more RAM, faster DVD burner and swapped video cards), the last computer I had built here is 4 and a half years old and still runs pretty good.
Something else to think about – noise. I built a machine for home and have a Dell T3400 workstation at the office. Both have similar hardware but the Dell is almost silent and my home rig roars. I only saved a couple hundred bucks building it myself, in hindsight I wished I had spent the extra money for the Dell box.
Overlooked by many but it pays to research it. I built my own machine and it’s dead silent. Antec case and case fans.
Bob
I’ve got a Lin-li case and the fans that came with it were dreadful. I replaced them with Antec but it’s still noisy
Ian, my system rocks and is very fast – I have just finished a 100 x 550cm @300dpi digital drawing without any lag etc – It was a custom build by chillblast and it still flies even after a year…..My response wasn’t about me or my need for a new system.
But…..eerrrrr……yeah,.. the ‘generic’ thing…Sorry my fault.I was referring to the Dell website where it only say 500gb 7500rpm harddrive( I want to know the Make/ model number etc – as performance does vary ) the goes same with the RAM…with no mention of the motherboard. As a consumer I would like to know these things.
Sorry about the confusion guys….
I built my own machine and it’s dead silent. Antec case and case fans.
ditto
Thank you all for the suggestions. You have talked me in to Vista 64. As far as building my own machine, I am certainly not going to put it together myself.
I wouldn’t mind being able to specify all of the components, but if I didn’t go with Dell I wouldn’t know what vendor to go with.
Also Raid 0 or Raid 10 was suggested; I am not familar with Raid 10.
For raid 0 that would mean twice as many hard drives; Would it be cheapere/better to forego Raid 0, and just get a 15k hardrive?
Thanks again.
In your situation I would not bother with RAID. It has been known to cause problems in some configurations.
Make sure the video card has 512MB although PS doesn’t need that much right now, future versions will make more use of VRAM.
