david said:
I was wondering what processor you experienced builders would recommend
for a pc that's main purpose will be digital photo manipulation.No video
or gaming or anything like that.This would be my first pc build,but not
first electronic experience(spent years with CNC machine tools).I'm
getting a flood of conflicting advice by just searching willy-nilly.The
other question is should I stick to crt for monitor?Again I see alot
about color management being more consistent with crt.(have I been
reading bull**?)Hope to keep the whole package at $1200 or less.Any
advice is appreciated.
Dave
While I don't really trust Tomshardware to run the Photoshop test, here
is a chart of results. The Intel E6600 and the AMD Athlon64 X2 dual core
6000+ are in the same ballpark, performance wise, and cost around the
$230 mark. Both of those processors have dual cores. For Photoshop, there
are some (not all) filters that use both cores at the same time. A
well run Photoshop test, will separate the filters into those that use
a single core and those that use two cores, and run a batch of tests
with each. In the case of Tomshardware, I'm assuming they've selected
dual core filters for this test.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html?modelx=33&model1=694&model2=432&chart=186
Since I have to make a choice at this point, the rest of this
post assumes an E6600 purchase choice. That doesn't affect the
DDR2 memory though.
There are a couple basic params you are paying for, on the memory.
The speed is one - DDR2-800 has higher bandwidth than DDR2-533. But
in dual channel mode, anything over DDR2-533 is more bandwidth than
the FSB can handle well (at 533, 533*2sticks*8bytes has the
same bandwidth as FSB1066*8bytes). So the benefit gained is in the couple
percent range, in application performance. (The faster memory comes
in handy for overclocking, and leaves a bit more room to optimize
if you raise the FSB a bit.)
Another parameter is the latency from request until the data phase,
and that is CAS. CAS4 is less delay than CAS5. And the units are
clock cycles, so CAS4 at DDR2-800 is less delay than waiting
CAS4 at DDR2-533.
RAM is pretty cheap these days. A 2x1GB dual channel config should work
OK for Photoshop, and allow pretty large pictures to be processed.
(Using the 5X rule, I'd guess around a 350MB image or so.) The tough
part, is selecting something that doesn't have a lot of DOA's listed
in the customer reviews. You can cheap out, and find 2x1GB for $90,
say some DDR2-533 CAS4, while the following stuff is $153. The customer
review link shows decent results (almost as if Kingston owns
a memory tester
)
Kingston HyperX 2GB (2x1GB) CAS4 DDR2-800 (PC2-6400) Dual Channel Kit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134066
You can use just about anything for a motherboard. This one has
six SATA ports, suitable for setting up two RAID arrays if you
want, but it also allows simple single disk usage. With a simple
single disk, you don't need a driver for that (with WinXP SP1 or
later). The board has USB and Firewire. And probably a lot of junk you
don't need. Only has one IDE ribbon cable connector, but you
can blame that on Intel's rush to remove IDE from the
Southbridge. The IDE is actually supported by a Jmicron JMB363.
http://www.asus.com.tw/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=1295&l1=3&l2=11&l3=307&l4=0
ASUS P5B Deluxe $189 (read the reviews - there are 277 reviews)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131045
So far, we are at $570 or so, and haven't been shaving dollars
at all.
In terms of power consumption, the E6600 doesn't use a lot of
power. In terms of selecting a power supply, the video card or
cards can make a big difference. But since you are editing photos,
a lot of video card is not needed. (Two of the most powerful video
cards that are for sale today, would use 2 x 145 watts.)
For the time being, you could try a 7300GS. It is not a gamer
card, and the main advantage, is the power consumption is
pretty low (16.1 watts). Note that the EVGA reviews for the
card mention a noisy cooling fan, and this is one of the problems
with so many video cards - cutting corners on the fan. You can
find after-market replacement coolers for video cards, but I don't
want to go there right now.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/power-noise_7.html
EVGA 256-P2-N436-LX GeForce 7300GS 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 $65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16814130270
That card is also TurboCache, but as long as you aren't using the
3D functions, there is no reason for TurboCache to be active.
With TurboCache, there is some video memory on the card, but if
more memory is needed, the video card driver uses some system
memory to hold 3D textures. But if you are doing 2D work, I
don't see a reason why multiple frame buffers cannot fit within
the video card's own memory.
With that choice of video card, a pretty small power supply could
be used. Even one suited to running a P4, with a 12V @ 15A rating.
But I wouldn't waste the money on a super cheap supply. This one
has a good collection of connectors, for all occasions (like the
two PCI Express 2x3 connectors). You might be able to reuse this
supply on another project.
ENERMAX EG465P-VE FMA 2.2 ATX12V 460W $80
+3.3V@30A, +5V@30A, +12V1@22A, +12V2@20A,
[email protected], +5VSB@3A
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194011
You can see in the reviews for this one, that a lot less supply
would work. People are using more powerful video cards, with
a lesser rated supply, and yet it still works. This one uses
a single 12V rail to power everything. (Note - if you decide on
a list of components, I can work out an estimate of the power
in more detail. Just so you can see how much margin you have.
But at this point, it is too early to be slinging around a lot
of useless numbers.)
Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC ATX 430W ($26 after rebate)
+3.3V@20A, +5V@30A, +12V@18A,
[email protected],
[email protected], +5VSB@2A
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16817153023
There are thousands of products out there, and plenty of room
for different choices. I think there is enough cash left in the
budget for a HDD, ODD, and a case. So you should be able to
make it under $1200, without really trying. It would be
a different story, if you'd said you were a gamer, as then
the video cards and power supply would eat more of the budget.
Paul
