Should I

[Milner]

Should I try to build my own computer? (remember I am a computard )
My laptop just is not cutting it for the photo shop stuff I am trying to do. Long actions in batches of 50-100 photos takes FOREVER!!
So here's my long list of questions, keep in mind I do not care about gaming etc, strictly looking for speed with photoshop.
Can I build one? Is it rocket science? Is it worth it?
Is dual core enough? Would AMD or intel be better?
What about dual duals ?
Should I wait a few months and see what happens with quad cores and wait for vista??
Should I just order a Dell? (where's the fun/learning in that?)

Here is what one of the guys on a photo forum built, What do you think?
- ASUS P5B-DELUXE motherboard
- Coolmaster enclosure with 600 Watt PS
- Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor overclocked
- 4 Gig DDR2- 800 main memory
- 2 GeForce 7900 Display Adaptors
- 2 twenty-one inch Dell LCD displays
- Internal 500G RAID 1 (2 x 500G) SATA II for application software (Photoshop etc)
- Internal 500G 10,000 RPM RAID 0 (2 x250) SATA II for high speed cache (Photoshop cache). No software.
- 2 Terabytes of RAID 1 SATA disk storage boxes for image storage and retrieval (this was transferred from the previous Dell)

With my much smaller volume, I could go with smaller drives, but....
I just hate waiting!!!!
If I am going to do this and spend the $$, I want it to be good for a few years....

Anybody here build them? Want to build me one? How$$?
Educate me please!!
Thanks
Marc

 

[spencurai]

That is a pretty flame throwing bad ass computer they have built right there. For your photo editing you are going to want intel...I am an AMD fan but Intel is bringin it to the plate right now.

Get at least 2 gigs of ram and at least one 10k rpm drive. The seek time on the 10k drives is great for your photo editing.

Most motherboard/processor combos are going to be ready for Vista so don't worry too much about that.

There is not that much to building a PC. It is pretty plug and play and you cant really screw things up if you do a little studying on the internet and take your time. I think from bag of parts to full running PC my novice ass can have a running computer loaded with XP in about 3 hours...I did have a funky case that took a little customizing so yeah. People can do it faster but I believe in taking my time and doing it right...you really cant screw it up as long as you dont force things.

 

[Spork]

If you can operate a screwdriver and read you can build one.

 

[bobmed]

As for the becoming obsolete every time I've built one
by the time I turned it on it was starting to become obsolete.
After a month it's hopelessly out of date.

 

[JoeT]

Nice parts list! Have you looked into SCSI hard drives? Way overkill but serious speed and performance benefits. Yes you can build it yourself, I'd suggest having someone there to help you along.

 

[Caleb]

Nice parts list! Have you looked into SCSI hard drives? Way overkill but serious speed and performance benefits. Yes you can build it yourself, I'd suggest having someone there to help you along.

SCSI is 100% waste of money for anything other than a server. Check the specs of SATA vs. SCSI and then check prices, SCSI won't even be considered an option.

As for building it Marc, I 100% guarantee you could do it just fine. Go for it, and if you have questions I'd be more than happy to help ya. Like the others have mentioned, it's 99% plug n' play, most everything will only fit in one slot and if it fits then that's where it goes, then I have enough confidence in your ability to handle a screw driver

As for if it's worth it or not? IMO, the only it's worth it to build a computer anymore is if you're building a high(er) end computer with a specific use (like photo editing ). For general home use it's not worth it unless you already have a bunch of the parts. I recently priced a basic box without any OS and it would cost more than just buying a Dell that already had Windows included. Then I found some deals like this and then buying all the stuff and building it yourself were really not worth it. So, if you know exactly what you'd like and can't find it in a prebuilt computer then yes it's worth it usually.

 

[Meat_]

They are easy to build if you can follow directions, I've seen people fry sh!t time and again when building thier own computers.

The intel core 2 duo's are spanking AMD right now

Just because a power supply says it's 600W and says it's compliant doesn't mean it's not a piece of shite

If you want the ultimate in photoshop speed you'll want to pick out a Ram Drive (that's just the first one google found) and put your swap file on that.

ATI vid cards have FAR better (quality) colors than Nvidia.

If you aren't gaming or doing CAD work I don't really see then need for two vid cards, each card has dual heads so you can use two monitors with one card.

The P5B has an older chipset, nothing wrong with it, just older. Here are the mobo's with the newer intel chipset.

I'm a fan of the Nforce chipsets though, if I were to build today it would be P5N32-SLI mobo, but I'm trying to hold out for the new Nforce chipsets

 

[Meat_]

SCSI is 100% waste of money for anything other than a server. Check the specs of SATA vs. SCSI and then check prices, SCSI won't even be considered an option.

Raptors are very comparable with SCSI, but SCSI II spanks all.... still not worth the money though.

As for if it's worth it or not? IMO, the only it's worth it to build a computer anymore is if you're building a high(er) end computer with a specific use (like photo editing ). For general home use it's not worth it unless you already have a bunch of the parts. I recently priced a basic box without any OS and it would cost more than just buying a Dell that already had Windows included. Then I found some deals like this and then buying all the stuff and building it yourself were really not worth it. So, if you know exactly what you'd like and can't find it in a prebuilt computer then yes it's worth it usually.

yup, if you don't need high end you'll get it cheaper from Dell with a FAR better warranty.

 

[Jay5.9L]

I've built my last fwe computers and its cake like everyone else says. Just becareful to follow the directions. I had a friend who was building his and was having the strangest problem with it booting. After about a dozen people looked at it, after 2 MB and countless other parts he found out that he installed a MB stand off in the wrong spot. It was grounding out the memory.
Get a parts total on your system and compair it to some of the pre built ones. The cost may be closer than you think.

 

[Rusted]

Build it. I have been looking at putting a computer together, and you have selected almost exactly what I have been looking for. I can tell that you have done your homework. You can get the faster RAM than you have speced out, but that is not critical.

 

[JoeT]

Raptors are very comparable with SCSI, but SCSI II spanks all.... still not worth the money though.

Nice specs on those Raptors! Yup SCSI II wouldn't be worth it for this type of puter. A pair of those Raptors would be awesome in a box like this. FYI I scan in every day 24x36 color renderings in at about 222mb each. I need the reliablility/speed of SCSI drives. I've trashed too many IDE's drives in the past but these newer SATA's and Raptor's are making me change my mind.

 

[Caleb]

my company does TONS of fine art reproductions, POS for Coors, car dealerships, banks, and almost all of OC Tanner's recognition stuff, among tons of other things (a 22mb file is tiny for our stuff) and only for our high end servers that have all the bank info do we use SCSI (and thats only because thats a requirement from the bank, along with several other things...their setup would blow your mind ). SATA is just about as reliable as SCSI but for the price you can buy two or three SATA drive with 5-10 times the storage (per drive) for the same price as you can SCSI. I could setup a RAID 6 setup for about the cost of one or two SCSI drives. Like I said, SCSI is not worth it for most people.

 

[JoeT]

my company does TONS of fine art reproductions, POS for Coors, car dealerships, banks, and almost all of OC Tanner's recognition stuff, among tons of other things (a 22mb file is tiny for our stuff) and only for our high end servers that have all the bank info do we use SCSI (and thats only because thats a requirement from the bank, along with several other things...their setup would blow your mind ). SATA is just about as reliable as SCSI but for the price you can buy two or three SATA drive with 5-10 times the storage (per drive) for the same price as you can SCSI. I could setup a RAID 6 setup for about the cost of one or two SCSI drives. Like I said, SCSI is not worth it for most people.

AMEN to that!

 

[Meat_]

The Raptors are fast (love mine), and on par with SCSI for reliability.