My gf has decided to get into graphic design and is going to need a new computer.

What specs would you guys recommend to run Photoshop, draw, illustrator etc etc without delays? What's the minimum $$$ for a solid setup?

RAM:
CPU:
M/Board:
V/Card:
Vista or XP:

Thanks!

i thought macs were the go for graphic design? or are graphic desingers the kind of people who turn into apple fanbois?

I have no idea :)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it is the child rapists and sodomists that are the kind of people who turn into apple fanbois?

Alot of designers are mac fanboi's but if you want to stick to pc then get a decent dual core cpu and 2gb+ of ram.

With graphics cards, you can get ones that specialise more in 2D stuff rather than games, but they're usually alot more expensive. A decent gaming card will still be able to do anything she will need.

_Get a big hard drive_

m/b, nothing special, whatever will take your cpu/ram.

Vista/xp; whichever she's more comfortable using, doesn't matter.

If you're just buying parts from umart etc look to spend about 1200-1500, should be more than capable, and alot cheaper than buying a mac etc.

seriously you dont need much.. i would just get the fastest cpu, hard drive and ram for the price...

i thought macs were the go for graphic design? or are graphic desingers the kind of people who turn into apple fanbois?

Everyone I speak to about this swears Mac is still better for design work because the software just works better when dealing with really huge images, etc. I have always found this hard to believe because you'd think a high-end PC would just smash anything else regardless of how s***ty the software is, but I've definitely heard Mac is better for design from enough people (recently included) to make me think there might be something to it.

what else is a mac better at though? seriously.

not f***ing much

They are better at charging you more.

The reason Macs use to be popular for graphics and multimedia was it could represent CMYK colour better on a CRT or something along those lines.

You want to load up on good RAM and a quick HDD. When you start loading up 600dpi poster size images you chew up the scratch disk pretty quick.

It's actually not cool to hate Macs any more - didn't you guys get the memo? Thanks to the interwebbisation of most common applications all you need on a computer is a web browser for like 95% of your life - unless you're a gamer.

(That said I reckon with the iPhone gaming stuff we're going to see some more Mac games in our near future.)

The base Mac package with iLife is actually pretty awesome; you get a bunch of really handy and fun apps to do all sorts of cool things that cover a lot of stuff people want to do with a computer.

The reason Macs use to be popular for graphics and multimedia was it could represent CMYK colour better on a CRT or something along those lines.

Also Mac's way for displaying fonts on the screen are closer what you'll get in print (as per trog's post).... but really I don't know how important that really is cause I'm not gfx monkey.

if they are going to be using any new(ish) 3d cad progs then i would recommend the phattest nvidia with the most on-board ram that you wanna afford... more power = less jerkiness in real time rendering. other than that... what everyone else sed :P

Get whatever you can afford. More ram the merrier. Won't make you any better. Buy a good screen though.

Yeah good screen + a good hardware calibrater. Pretty much any not-so-budget computer these days will handle cs3 suite easily, no real big deal (lots of ram + big scratch helps). Main thing is that your actually seeing what the final result is (whether print or dig).

I have a 24 inch Dell screen (latest model), and while its great for games/movies, for graphic design its useless. Comparatively, the 20 inch Apple cinema display is a godsend.

Or just get an imac and be done with it.

Don't waste money on a fast video card, waste money on a good monitor.

Agreed about monitor and ram

Make sure you have a nice panel because the cheaper ones don't represent how it'll print so well. Vista supports higher RAM also and the more ram the better your ability to handle large documents will be. Dual core CPU - E8400 is good bang for buck is the ticket.

When you're designing stuff to be for print that's when having a nice PC helps - dealing with the large resolution documents.

I remember talking to someone in design a while back who said CRTs are better in terms of bang for buck for design work still, because of that colour reproduction issue. Is that still true or are decent LCDs ok for it now?

I know that used to be the case, but I don't believe it's really an issue anymore. I'm no authority on the subject, but I never heard the people I know who work in the area complain about LCDs.

I have a 24 inch Dell screen (latest model), and while its great for games/movies, for graphic design its useless.

i'd be interested to know the details of what you mean here... coz I have the latest dell 24" widescreen lcd at work & while i find it's crappy colour contrast a pain in the arse i wouldn't really say it's useless. it's definitely better than my old 21" sony crt for the job. (note: i do the sort of cad where colour isn't so important... pcb layout, 3d modelling, etc..)

my samsung 22" widescreen lcd at home s***s all over the dell in colour contrast.

[edit] my work dell 24" with 19" crappy crt as 2nd monitor... getting a 2nd lcd shortly :)

http://dem0n.qgl.org/images/temp/work800.jpg

last edited by demon at 16:42:20 27/Mar/08

Some of the photography gurus on OCAU use CRT for their digital image processing.

The argument of why macs are better than pcs s***s me to tears. When asked why, most people say because someone else said so, or because they were told so. But they blatantly stick to it, facts are irrelevant, especially when faced with "why do other people use them then?"

Macs traditionally (read, traditionally, 5+ years ago) had more support (colour, processing) and more options for serious design (ie, marketted for it). Today, they are not better, just different. They use the same hardware, the same software. Macs are just trendy and dumbed down gui. A fashion item.

Buy a better pc for the same price/cheaper.

Edit: Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike macs, OSX is a damn powerful operating system. The problem is with the users.

last edited by eXemplar at 19:22:44 27/Mar/08

yeah a graphic design guy from another forum i read (he reads this too sometimes i think) swears by CRT for graphic design work. though i think the difference is marginal.

If you plan to get a job as a designer, or something, then a lot of the computers you'll have to use at work could be Macs. I did some video editing for an advertising company, the whole f***ing place was filled with Macs. The first day I was very unproductive getting used to the macOS interface - and all the software I was using is available on PC too, except the shortcut keys were different which made it annoying.

Now I work mainly with IT people using XP and loonix machines, but a lot of our clients are advertising companies running apples and so a bit of Mac knowledge, and having a Mac handy in the office, can go a long way.

most apps will run on pc or mac. its a no brainer really, sif mac.

What's with all the mac hate ?

I never have used or will use a mac. But I don't have an issue with them.
OSX is a nice ui (I'd argue better then vista).
The hardware is all intel based, and they are well balanced well performing machines.

Think of it as linux with out all the stupid driver issues and lack of support.

Today, they are not better, just different. They use the same hardware, the same software. Macs are just trendy and dumbed down gui. A fashion item.

At this point in time, I'd rather see more users buying Macs regardless of the reason, just to make Microsoft have to work that much harder

I work as an art director/designer at an advertising agency, i use pc at home and mac at work. I like the fact that i am proficient in both platforms (tech wise) but software wise its relatively the same. the adobe suite is very similar on both. i would go with whatever platform your gf is more comfortable with.

A large part of my work involves PC's that are used for graphic design. The best thing I could recommend would be a good processor, 4gb ram and make sure you get a couple of good HDD's in a striped array. When you're dealing with JPG's, EPS's or ECW's that are over a gig in size (or add up to gigs), you will find that ram fills up pretty quickly so page file becomes very important.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say to not waste money on a fancy video card. A quadro (i.e. workstation card) is going to be usefull if she's doing CAD work or other vector based graphics, but AFAIK it's not gonna help much when you're working with raster images (i.e. bitmaps). I'd recommend just getting a cheapy video card or one you can driver mod (using something like RivaTuner) on to make it function as a Quadro. Quadros often use the exact same core as a Geforce, but is software masked and uses a different driver. A good list of shared cores is on wiki.

As for the monitor, it really doesn't matter that much. No matter how much time and work you put into calibrating your drivers and monitor, the printer is going to be FAR more inaccurate at displaying the actual colour you want unless it uses Pantone matching. Having a Pantone colour swatch booklet is going to matter more than the type of monitor used. These swatches are pretty expensive, but they only stay current for a year then you're supposed to replace them (due to fading etc, since fading would mean you're no longer accurate) but one that's a couple of years old is still going to be fine for a beginner as it's still quite accurate as long as it has been taken care of. Just try to get an old Pantone swatch collection that somebody doesn't need anymore on the cheap. Just google around for a monitor that gets good reviews for colour. The CRT vs LCD debate is for noobs, since anybody who knows their s*** and has decent plotting equipment is going to be working with Pantone if colour is important.

Another thing to consider is getting a mouse that's easy to switch resolutions for on the fly (like the Logitech G5/7/9). I find this DPI switching invaluable in CAD, since it allows me to switch between moving things around quickly and ultra accuracy with my middle finger.

You could get a highly suitable box for about $1k (plus a few hundred on a monitor and some chump change on other things like speakers/mouse/kb). I wouldn't recommend spending much more than about $1500 total unless she's getting into it in a very serious way. If money is a factor, don't forget that CS3 is going to cost as much as the rig you'll need to run it.

I've got a Laptop @ work running PS CS3 with a 1.8ghz C2D with 2gig ram on XP. Runs fine. All you need is a quick CPU, Ton of RAM, Okish Vid card, not a s***ty one, 8800GT would be fine. Just go with a PC if she hasnt used Mac's before.

Thanks heaps Crizane Tribal.

I might PM you in the future to pick your brains a bit more. Thanks all!

If i had to guess it would be Core 2 duo or quad, 2gb ddr2 at least, fast large hdd and a decent monitor. vid card doesnt need to be spectacular but id at least get a mid-range 7xxx series or 6xxx series (read: 6600 or 7600) which be more than enough (for general CAD too).

6600 would be a good idea, since you can softmod those to behave as a Quadro. Don't go wasting money on anything top of the line though unless you're gonna use it for games too.

Feel free to PM me, I'm happy to help.

Ok this is where I'm at


RAM 4GIG
2GB (Single Stick) Value Select PC-5300 (667MHz) Corsair Instock $59.00 x 2 $118

INTEL CPU
Intel ATX E6550 CORE 2 DUO 2.33GHz/4MB CACHE/1333FSB/LGA775 PreorderETA $199.00

HARD DRIVE
Samsung 320G 7200RPM SATAII 16M Instock $79.00

MOUSE
Logitech G5 Laser Mouse Instock ` $69.00

KEYBOARD
Logitech Internet 350 USB Desktop Black Instock $22.00

MONITOR
Viewsonic VA2226W 22 inch 5ms 2000:1 DVI/VGA LCD Instock $285.00

CASE+POWER SUPPLY
CoolerMaster Centurion RC331 Elite Black with 420W + HD Audio(RC330KKR5) Instock $85.00

DVD/CD
Pioneer DVR-215BK 20x Dual Black OEM with software- SATA PreorderETA $37.00

VIDEO CARD
Giving her mine

MOTHERBOARD
Gigabyte EP35-DS3 P35 1333Mhz FSB DDR2 1066 SATA2 Raid GLan PreorderETA $135.00

last edited by Le Cock at 16:46:12 13/Apr/08

Going Vista64 ?
If so buy it..

if not, don't bother with 4gig just get 3. 32bit OSes won't see more then 3.1 gig or so anyway.

I like the Gigabyte P35-D range ... but that's just me.

Will be getting Vista Home Premium, not sure about 32bit or 64bit though. Anyone?

Can you still run old versions of Office on Vista 64?

last edited by Le Cock at 17:33:22 13/Apr/08