What PC/Win for CS2?

[enigma]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I came up short using the search function...

Before spending serious $$$ on CS2 and a new PC, I would appreciate some feedback from you guys to set a "base line".

What kind of PC would be good for CS2?

I would like to be able to work "effortlessly" on 8MP 16-bit images with multiple layers.

I hear good things about dual core AMDs. Would that be a good choice?

What is the minimum recommended amount of RAM for what I intend to do?

Is it reasonable to aim for about $1,000 (computer only)? Whould that buy me what I want?

Also, I see some PCs come with Win Media Center, rather than Win XP. Is this good or bad? :-)

Should I go for one of the big names, like Dell or HP (or perhaps Sony), or what?

What are your experiences?

Thanks for your input! I really appreciate it!

[Billginthekeys]

AMD dual core or the pentium D would be great since CS2 actually does support dual core processors to increase performance. as for ram, NO LESS than a gig. As for who to buy it from, ive always had great experiences with dell, and have owned many. lately theyve really done a good job making their pcs more expandable for future upgrades (my gripe with my current older dell desktop). as for the operating system, i would go with XP pro. media center edition is built on the XP Home core, with added features for tv tuners and stuff if u wanted that sort of stuff, pro has better performance though. as for other stuff, i dont know if you care about games at all lol, but in that case you would want a decent video card, and you will want a decent video card if you are getting a fairly large display (the dell 20.1 ultrasharp is great and is only $400 or so now). also, you are going to want a fair bit of storage, cause images fill up your hard drive fast. $1000 might be a bit low, but you can get a comp that can run CS2 just fine for about that.

heres a dell dimension system for $1500 (the way i speced it) with 20.1in wide ultrasharp monitor (because you have to get one and theres a deal on it right now)

Dimension 5150
Processor: Pentium® D Processor 930 (3.0GHz, 800FSB)
Operating System:Genuine Windows® XP Professional
Memory: 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz (2x512M)
Internal Hard Drives: 250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/ 8MB cache
Optical Drive: Single Drive: 16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability
Moitor: SAVE $200! 20 inch UltraSharp™ 2007FPW Widescreen Digital Flat Panel
Graphics Card: 256MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon X600 SE HyperMemory
Sound: Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Network Card:Integrated Intel® PRO 10/100 Ethernet

Link to model: http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/dimen_5150?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd

[prime80]

I would really consider 2GB Ram the minimum for a "good" PSCS2 machine. Since I upgraded mine to 2GB, there's no way I could ever go back to 1GB. Also, you want LOTS of harddrive space (think 300-400GB minimum). A strong, dual-core CPU is very helpful. If you don't use Dell, I'd suggest an AMD Athlon X2. They are better "bang for the buck" processors than the Intel Dual Cores. However, Intel is set to release their Core 2 Duo (Conroe) processors in August, and from pre-release hype, they could be the better choice when they arrive. If you can wait another month, it would probably be worth it. Then spec out a Dell with the new Intel cpu in it. Without a monitor, $1000 might just get you by, although it'll be tough.

Win Media Center is basically WinXP with some media-centric software built in. If you do not intend to use it for viewing TV, recording shows, etc. WinMC is not necessary.

[enigma]

Thanks for very good replies!

[Billginthekeys]

I would really consider 2GB Ram the minimum for a "good" PSCS2 machine. Since I upgraded mine to 2GB, there's no way I could ever go back to 1GB. Also, you want LOTS of harddrive space (think 300-400GB minimum). A strong, dual-core CPU is very helpful. If you don't use Dell, I'd suggest an AMD Athlon X2. They are better "bang for the buck" processors than the Intel Dual Cores. However, Intel is set to release their Core 2 Duo (Conroe) processors in August, and from pre-release hype, they could be the better choice when they arrive. If you can wait another month, it would probably be worth it. Then spec out a Dell with the new Intel cpu in it. Without a monitor, $1000 might just get you by, although it'll be tough.

Win Media Center is basically WinXP with some media-centric software built in. If you do not intend to use it for viewing TV, recording shows, etc. WinMC is not necessary.

You are correct. 2 gigs would be great, and 400gigs of hard drive would be better (they didnt offer it in the model i speced), and waiting for the cornrows (why does intel have to make it so easy to make fun of them) to come out would be great (benchmarks show them as competing with even the FX-62 AMD X2 AM2 chip). I just would be hard pressed to see all that for $1000 from a manufacturer. Of course if it were me id probably just buy the parts off newegg and build it myself.......

[prime80]

Without a monitor, I think the OP can come pretty close when Dell comes out with a good round of coupon codes once the new processors are released. Even a lower-end Conroe should do everything the OP needs it to do, and should be faster than any current Pentium D PC. The speculated pricing I've seen on the new chips should lead to some pretty attractive system prices. Only time will tell...

PS...I would Newegg as well, but from the OP's original question, that doesn't look like an option.

[claudermilk]

I recently went through the upgrade process. First looked at Dell since my last PC came from them & did well for quite a while (it was the imaging that finally bogged it down); but I got so very much more bang for the buck going to Newegg & building it myself. The main specs are: MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum (not SLI), AMD X2 4200+, 2GB Corsair Valueram, 1x 40GB & 4x 160GB Samsung SATA II drives (the 4 are in a RAID0+1), cheap case, floppy/card reader combo, and XFX 6800XT video. All came shipped for about $1300--should be cheaper now since prices always drop. It's handled everything I've thrown at it in stride; downloading a card while simultaneously running a Bibble batch, PS batch, and culling photos in BreezeBrowser for example.

[rmerikle]

I agree with the last poster. You will get more bang for you buck building yourself. Newegg is a great site. Next best is follow one of the bargain sites for coupons you can use at dell. A simple Goggle search should provide great results, but I recommend fatwallet.com as the best.

Please don't get me wrong, you do need a fast computer, but with today's computers being so fast I actually end up spending almost as much on monitors. I really like having dual monitors when I am doing a lot of post processing in Photoshop. Even better is having a monitor that you can see eiter horizontal or vertical. I shoot a lot in Vertical and it really makes a difference to have a monitor that sits Vertical and I can use a lot more of the realestate.

I agree with the specks people have been posting. The more memory and the faster the CPU the better. I have a dual core and it is amazing how much of a difference it makes in multi-tasking activities. Just remember since you are working in 2D you don't need to drop a fortune on the best 3d gamer's graphic card out there. This is another advantage of building yourself.

[Titus213]

My cheap little Acer ($589) runs just great. AMD 64 x2, 1.5 gig (would like more) and a couple three hundred gig of HD. I need a video card now. It came with a 17 inch monitor which I sold, and a little Epson printer, which I kept because I don't print pictures any more. Circuit City sale - lots of rebates.