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Best PC specs


M

ManishMan

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Hey guys, firstly I am not sure if I am posting this in the right section of the forum, if I am not then please pardon me.

Ok so I want to get a fresh PC for doing my graphic designing work. But I am not sure as what specs to look for it what will be best for me. I use both illustrator and Photoshop a lot hardly use video editing software but I just want to cater for those as well with this new upgrade.

MAC is my secondary option.

Can you guys give me some tips and specs or even better tell me what specs are currently working for you?

Looking forward for your replies. Thanks!
 
That all depends on how much you want to spend!

My current PC is
OS: Windows 10 Pro
CPU: Intel icore7 3770K
Motherboard: Asus P8B75-M
Memory: 32 GB Cruical Ballistix Sport
Graphics Card: 2 GB Nvidia GTX660
Monitors: 2 * 22inch Dell LCD
Hard Drives: Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD for OS and Apps, WD 3TB and WD 1TB for Storage
Wacom Bamboo Graphics Tablet
This PC works extremely well and is super fast when using Photoshop :lol:

You can also take a look at this, although it's about building a PC and Photoshop CS6 there's some good advice and worth a read
http://robertoblake.com/blog/2014/01/building-photoshop-cs6-computer-2014/

Found an updated link for Photoshop CC2015
http://robertoblake.com/blog/2014/11/building-ultimate-photoshop-cc-computer-pc-version/
 
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For boot speed and better performance Get a SSD for the OS, rather than installing on a HD.

Dirt cheep nowadays. Otherwise Geds specs rock...almost what I'm using...I only have 16GB memory...no issues

I'm running CS5.5
 
Thanks for your reply guys, the links didn't really help me but thanks anyways.

I don't think it will be possible for me build a system as of right now, maybe a bit later on so I was looking to pruchase one that I can use straight from the store shelves. Any input as to what would be the key specs that I would need to look for?

Thanks
 
Don't forget that we don't have a clue as to the type of work you do, and this will greatly influence our recommendations. That's one of the reasons you're not getting very specific recommendations. Many people run PS as well as they need on a few year old laptop with 4 Gig of memory and a 32 bit OS, whereas others (many here) couldn't work on anything much less than a beast of a machine.

So, how 'bout some info about you:

How big are the images that you work with in Photoshop? Huge stitched things (ie, over 10k pixels on a side) or more in the 3-5 kpx on a side?

How many layers do u typically use, a handful or hundreds?

What are your local image storage requirements, a few thousand images or hundreds of thousands or more images?

Is portability (ie, a laptop) a serious issue, or a just a "gee, that-would-be-nice" kind of issue?

Are you working with photos in which skin and product colors are of critical importance, or does most of your work involve Pantone or other standard spot colors, so even if the image looks a little bit off on your system, you know that they will come out right when printed or viewed on a better machine.

Are you working in a low pressure home environment, or at some high pressure office where the difference between a file taking 5 seconds vs 1 minute to save would be a very big deal?

etc. etc.

Tom M
 
Here is a bit of background info..

I can't give answers to those specific questions that you asked tom because I don't use photoshop for one thing only. However I'm going into freelancing full time hence the upgrade.

I don't know if this will help but I don't really do much retouching and often or not they are all minor retouching and nothing heavy. I specialise in Tshirt designs mostly, all drafts are done in Photoshop and once client is happy then I vectorise in illustrator.

I use tons and tons of layers, I don't ever like to delete anything so I use masking for every single thing, also everything single thing that I use in Photoshop that is raster based I immediately convert them to smart objects before I start using them. This very raw file is then saved as psd so I can use it later if need be having full control over each and every single layer, so it usually adds up to big file sizes. Some even go over 1gb

I am currently using a laptop, so I want to move onto a bigger screen, so windows desktop is my primary choice at the moment.

I would like to cater for big files and different editing softwares like video editing etc. I usually have these one off projects that clients need.

I would say my would be about max $1300, I'm currently in the UK so that would be £800. I can always give and take on this.

The bottom line is that I need a PC that would cater and handle heavy work loads whenever the need be. It's like you pack for a vacation and put a bunch of clothes that you probably wouldn't wear but you out it in JUST IN CASE.

If you guys need anymore info, please don't hesitate to ask me.

Thanks for all the help.
 
I don't think £800 would be sufficient for the type of system that you require
Here's one I found it's £899 without a monitor, it's a good spec PC but if your looking for something more powerful you'll need to up the budget! I've checked around and most systems with similar spec are around the £850 and up
http://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/range/novatechblacknti157.html

Click on the Specification Tab to see the full spec!

Here's another one again without a monitor and more expensive, click on Details for full spec
http://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/cart/showcart.aspx?ref=upd
 
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Ok the budget helps a lot.

You mentioned not wanting to build it yourself, but if you reconsider that here is what I would do within your budget. It's probably far better in all respects to anything you can get pre-assembled. This system can more than handle anything you will ever need to do in Photoshop, plus it will edit video if you need it to.

The main problem with buying a pre-assembled system is that they normally contain cheap/low quality power supplies, fans, motherboards and other components. If you build yourself you can guarantee 100% high quality components without any compromises, plus it's easy and satisfying to do. If you are set on buying a pre-built system then you can use the following for reference to compare specs & prices to the pre-built options available.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant


CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($241.98 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Macho Rev.B 73.6 CFM CPU Cooler ($54.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME6 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($146.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($77.99 @ Adorama)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($77.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 950 2GB Video Card ($169.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 660W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($134.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1191.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-24 06:52 EDT-0400

Some excellent references to check regularly in order to find the best components for the money are the Tom's Hardware articles on this subject, published every month:

Best Graphics Cards For The Money

Best Gaming CPUs For The Money

Best SSDs For The Money

PCPartPicker.com is great in general as well but especially for it's easy tool to choose system parts.
 
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