I think I need something big and powerful but that's as far as it goes.

I need the machine for desktop publishing and graphics work using Photoshop CS2 and Illustrator.

There could be multiple copies of both open, each with multiple files open. Files could be hundreds of mb, multiple photshop layers with full undo history.

Reliabilty and speed come before price, and I want it to have decent future proofing, but don't want to pay mad money if I can help it. :)

I could get my local pc shop to build something but I would be afraid they would bung loads of high spec components into a box with no real testing. I went this way for some low-spec office machines before and boy did they suck, so I'm thinking of a brand name for this specialised machine maybe?

Or if I could get a list of stuff that anyone has had experience of and knows will work well together I'd go for that...

So,

Board =
CPU =
Memory =
Storage =
Graphics =
TFT =
Case etc =
Anything else I've missed?

You're not gonna find something to handle those tasks without paying for it. A dual core CPU with lots of RAM would probably be the way to go. High end equipment isn't my specialty, so I'll leave this to one of my more capable comrades.

ASUS A7N8X-X
Athlon XP 1800+
8.5 x 200MHz
1024MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7
Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB
WinME/WinXP Pro SP2

Most folks with that profession run a MAC !!!!

My sig is on sabbatical.

Yeah, was waiting for somebody to say that!! But it's got to be a windows machine. Unfortunately :)

Fortunately time is money for anyone in heavy video editing or 3D rendering, grab an Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 840, with it Intel 955X Express chipset you should have almost no downtime.

BTW do you have preference for Intel or AMD ?

My sig is on sabbatical.

Always did have a soft spot for AMD (over intel) but would go for Intel in this case if it would be better.

What do you think of this?

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b=&c=ie&cs=iebsdt1&l=en&oc=W11672&rbc=W11672&s=bsd&sbc=iebsdrsprecn_670_2

... and how would you customise it? The price with the default spec is equlivant to $3130.

Just thinking, I'm in Europe.. might not be able to access that page from the States. hmmm

It's a Dell Precision 670

Precision 670 ADVANCED (W11672) Qty 1
Single Intel® Xeon™ Processor 3.20GHz (800MHz FSB / 2MB L2 cache), Genuine Windows® XP Professional, SP2 (NTFS)(+ Media) Unit Price Excl. VAT € 2,189.00

Base Single Intel® Xeon™ Processor 3.20GHz (800MHz FSB / 2MB L2 cache)
Microsoft Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Professional, SP2 (NTFS)(+ Media)
Memory 2.0GB (4x512MB DIMM) 400MHz DDR2 ECC SDRAM Memory
Keyboard Dell Quietkey™ USB Midnight Grey Kybd (UK/Ire)
Monitor Dell 19" UltraSharp™ Flat Panel with Height Adj Stand (1905FP)
Video Card 128MB PCI-E NVIDIA FX1400 (MRGA)
Hard Drive 80GB (7,200rpm) SATA Hard Drive
Floppy Drives 3.5in 1.44MB Floppy Drive
Mouse Dell 2 Button Scroll USB Midnight Grey Mouse
CD/DVD Drives 48x DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo Drive

2nd Hard Drive Additional 80GB (7,200rpm) SATA Hard Drive

Standard Warranty 3Y NBD (Next Business Day On-site )
Business Support Business Support 3yr (incl. e-Learning Pack)
Hyper - Threading Hyper-Threading Processor

If you have multiple big jobs open it is going to be iffy. There will be a lot of swapping. Get multiple drives. I vote for multiple machines. My friend who is the graphic arts business has a G5.

You certainly do NOT want a Dell or any other off the shelf machine. You need a competent local system builder who will work with you. If that is not available then get on the phone with a company like Alienware or other specialized high end builder.

While true the Mac's used to easily outperform PC in such areas, it is no longer an easily made case, especially with machines like you need. And with the way they swap O/S's every 6 months, even some die hard Mac's people at work are getting tired of them. There are few applications anymore that are industry standard that are not available on both platforms.

Also true is that the processor(s) or drive array alone will not be your bottleneck. High end graphics cards can cost thousands all by themselves. And it is not uncommon to run matching cards in a single machine for CAD work or molecular modeling.

What you seek is possible but be prepared for a healthy bill. You could easily get into the 10K plus range for such a machine. An off the shelf quad processor Xeon server can go for twice that.

Jimi_l

Much thanks for the replies...

Anyone have a go at a spec for me? I'm not gonna go off and buy someone else's spec but if I got a list of components I'd have a better idea of the sort of stuff were talking about here.

I have to get this machine, but to be honest I just don't know what to get. I'm afraid of getting something that's not up to the job or spending way to much on overkill. That Dell can be customised anywhere from 2k to 10k!!

The machine is actually for my brother who has recently started up working for himself. He's already got an off the shelf machine that is not up to the job and he cannot afford to make a second mistake.

Thanks.

The only question is how much you are willing to spend...

the only limitation is money

At this stage I need to buy something, so money no option!!

if you mean money is not a problem then i'd recommend

P4 EE 3.73GHZ (about a 1000$)
A nvidia quadro card
2GB RAM of DDR2 667GHZ CL3
500W PSU
with hard disks you can get Raptors which are 10K rpm but are only 74GB MAX
or up to 400GB 7200RPM SATA2 hard disks
depends on what you want, of course raptors are very expensive
and a motherboard to support all this

or you can go with the server approach and get a quad xeon, tons of rams, SCSI hard drives, 2 graphic cards

either options will damage your wallet setting you back a few grands

You should go out and buy some specialist graphic design magazines and there will be ads from computer companies who specialise in this area.