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Topic : "Which PC Components ?" |
HevyDevy
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 Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 7:47 am |
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Ok, so I bought a hum-dingin' laptop last year that was suped to the 9's and it still didn't deliver the kind of power needed to work on a decent sized image over 300 dpi in PS, and especially not in Painter...
I found the laptop, albeit my first, to be a pain in the hole when working with graphics, especially those 'X-Glass' screens, which make no difference whatsoever...only to screw with your eyes at a thousand different angles watching the colours change like a kaleidoscope...
So basically I'm gonna get me a new home PC purely for graphics work. My question is, what is it gonna take for me to have in this damn machine so that I don't get lag on my strokes and general chugging all over when I paint large works or use fancy brushes...what would Mullins do? 
Much Appreciated, Cheers Guys!
All The Finest
HD 
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B0b
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| Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 4:36 pm |
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bang for buck atm is Core�2 Duo - and RAM is amazingly cheap atm, so 4GB+ RAM
depending on your budget the 63,64,6600 CPU overclocks very well on stock cooling (my 6600 is running @ 3.12GHz stable) - does overclocking damage your CPU/system? as long as you don't try and push the system too far without the correct protection (big ass cooling for uber overclocking) you won't do any damage to the system (i have a 200MHz Pentium PRO overclocked to 233MHz from 1996 and its on 24/7 and i've had no trouble with it  )
depending on your graphics needs (you might do 3D work or want to play some 3D games) you can either spend very little money to blowing a whole tonne of cash on a Graphics Card even a $80.00 will run 1600x1200/1920x1200 @ 24bit without breaking a sweat
you want to stay clear of TN panel TFT/LCD displays - Formac make a stunning display called the Raven 2010 (20" TFT with true 24bit display and pantone approved) www.formac.com
you want to be spending as much dolla as you can on your display
you also want a decent case (most come without a Power Supply, so its upto you to buy one) good airflow in the system is vital to help keep the temp inside the case to a minimum..
Power Supply, don't skimp on this either - a cheap power supply isn't going to help keep your system stable, alot of problems with systems can be solved by buying a decent power supply! depending on how many hard disks you have and the size of the graphics card you're looking at a 450W+ PSU..
Hard Disks - depending on your needs they come in all sizes, all motherboards now support SATA the newer boards supporting SATAII, if your data is important to you buy, say a couple of 300GB drives and run them in RAID1 - that way if one of your drives fails you can pull it and put a new one in its place and keep working.. but remember if both drives fail your still stuffed, so make sure you backup often on an external drive/DVD/CD..
hope this is helpfull |
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HevyDevy
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| Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 12:21 am |
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Cheers very much for you time there BOb!....Much appreciated!
Can anyone else add anything to BOb's huge and helpful list?
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P-Rik
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| Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 12:25 am |
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Wow ! Very helpfull !
Thanks a lot Bob ! I'm on the way too to buy a new PC
RAID-1 seems to be a very good solution for backup !
The Formac Display seems to be an excelent choice. I never have heard something about them.
About the Ram, 4GB+ seems to be excellent but useless if you run XP 32bits
How GB can XP support physically ... somebody tried ?
About the case : Lian-Li seems to have some very good stuff
http://www.lian-li.com/product/product06.php?pr_index=112&cl_index=1&sc_index=2&ss_index=8&type=a
if your are interrested by a silent system (and have some money), i recommand you a watercooling kit. I have buy the reserartor 2 (Zalman)
Passiv Watercooling. (before (case close) : CPU >> 65�C !! / after : CPU >> 35�C without any fan)
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HevyDevy
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| Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 2:24 am |
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Cool...Also, I know that generally Mac is the weapon of choice for this kind of thing, but would I be able to get just as high end performance out of a PC?
My laptop is Core�2 Duo inc/Raid and 4GB+ RAM ...still didn't seem to do anything unbelieveable thou :/ ...
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B0b
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| Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 2:47 am |
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| HevyDevy wrote: |
| Cool...Also, I know that generally Mac is the weapon of choice for this kind of thing, but would I be able to get just as high end performance out of a PC? |
Mac users would love you to still believe that, but this isn't the 90's - you know theres a reason why Apple changed to Intel CPU's 
| HevyDevy wrote: |
My laptop is Core�2 Duo inc/Raid and 4GB+ RAM ...still didn't seem to do anything unbelieveable thou :/ ... |
your laptop has RAID? is it an Alienware or a Sager?
the Mobile Core2 isn't anywhere as near powerfull as the Desktop version - and you have the abiltiy to overclock as i've mentioned, so if you're not happy with the speed of the CPU, just crank it up (Asus are very good for OC, my bios just lets me select the percentage that i want to overclock by, or if you know what you're doing you can input the voltages etc manually)
P-Rik
XP will with a boot.ini hack see over 2GB of RAM, CS2/3 will use upto 3GB with this hack, but if you put 3GB of RAM in your PC, 512MB will be used to help control all the PCI/AGP/PCI-E components (and onboard controllers) so with 3GB, you'll have 2.5GB, with 4GB you'll have 3.5GB (if you really want to take advantage of the extra RAM, XP64 or Vista64 will support it) also some motherboards will let you regain that lost 512MB of RAM
check out this post for display info |
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iandredd
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| Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 4:27 am |
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A word of warning regarding RAID, beware the JMicron JMB363 chip which is very widely used on Intel 965-based motherboards and caused me a lot of headaches before I just decided to abandon using raid which actually suited my needs better anyway. Basically just make sure you have a decent HD controller if using raid.
Also I strongly recommend using XP64, i have had very few problems with it. Check for drivers for peripherals like printers and scanners though. I got a OEM copy for around 100 quid and a free upgrade to vista business edition which was i think around 15 quid postage or something. |
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HevyDevy
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| Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 6:36 am |
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My laptop is a 'Rock' from www.RockDirect.com
This is great help everyone...I gotta be honest thou, I'm not very literate when it comes to computer talk, so alot of this is going over my head lol...
But if anyone has any links to machines that'd be grand...
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B0b
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| Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 1:00 pm |
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| whats ur budget? |
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HevyDevy
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| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 1:00 am |
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Well...I don't really know...but not 'silly' money...lol
My laptop cost 2k +...and thats alot...too much infact
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B0b
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| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 4:55 am |
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indeed!! wow my Dell Latitude D820 was only 1400 with all the bells and wistles!!
i'm guessing by the make of the Laptop you're in the UK?
i can bulid you this Rig for �1,100 + Delivery - i haven't included speakers or keyboard/mouse as i believe these are down to personal preferance
Intel E6600 (2.4GHz - can OC to 3.1GHz easy on stock cooler)
Asus P5N-E motherboard (has everything but wireless)
4GB PC6400 RAM in 2x 2GB sticks
2x 320GB Western Digital SATA300 HDD (giving either 640GB RAID0 or 320GB RAID1)
18x speed Dual Layer DVD/RW
Nvidia Geforce 7600
Silverstone TJ05B case
Silverstone 560W PSU
Formac 2010 Extreme Raven 20" TFT (1600x1200)
no skimping on cheap parts with this.. |
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HevyDevy
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| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 5:37 am |
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Wow, that is cheap...I'm gonna have to give it some financial thought there BOb, but I'll certainly look to take you up on the offer! Thankyou...
And yes, I'm in South London, for my sins....
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B0b
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| Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 3:42 am |
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updated spec
Intel E6600 (2.4GHz - can OC to 3.1GHz easy on stock cooler)
Asus P5N-E motherboard
4GB PC6400 RAM in 2x 2GB sticks
2x 320GB Western Digital SATA300 HDD (giving either 640GB RAID0 or 320GB RAID1)
18x speed Dual Layer DVD/RW
Nvidia Geforce 8600 (512MB)
Silverstone TJ05B case
Silverstone 560W PSU
Formac 2010 Extreme Raven 20" TFT (1600x1200) |
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B0b
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| Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 2:00 pm |
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Mark, bet your itching to get that system going!  i'm going to call the guys i got the formac from on monday and see what they're ETA is and let u know |
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HevyDevy
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| Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 2:46 am |
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Damn straight man...I've been used to a small screen for so long that the formac might just be the bit I'm looking most forward to lol
I'm home today, so I'm hoping it turns up!
Any more news at all?
HD
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B0b
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| Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 1:36 pm |
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| Formac Screen shipped today |
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HevyDevy
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 4:32 am |
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wooohoo \o/ Bring it on!
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