DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

Hello,

Just building a PC and looking for opinions on the products chosen below. In particular the choice of graphics card. Is it any good ? Needs to be used for PhotoShop (professionally) and also for gaming. The board is SLi capable, so would it be better running 2 lower spec cards ? How about the HDD's ? They will be run in a raid config, better off going for SATA2 16Mb cache drives ?

1 x AMD Athlon 64 (ADA4400CDBOX) X2 4400+ socket 939 2.2Ghz 1Mb and 1Mb Cache 91327 £312.45

1 x Asus A8N SLI S939 Nvnf4sli Atx - Snd Gln 1394 U2 Fsb2000 Satar 82819 £68.09 £68.09

2 x Western Digital WD1600SD Caviar "RAID Edition" 160GB 7200RPM SATA/150 8MB Cache - OEM 65927 £72.93 £145.86

1 x PNY GEFORCE 7800GT 256MB DDR3 PCI-E DUAL DVI/HDTV-out 96312 £194.90 £194.90

2 x Corsair (TWINX1024-3200C2PT) 1024MB (2 x 512MB Matched Pair), DDR400 / PC3200, non-ECC, Unbuffered, CL2, Lifetime Warranty, Silver Heat Spreader 52471 £76.50 £153.00

Any helpful thoughts or advice welcome. Would it go like the clappers or could it be improved ?

Cheers,
Dunk

DrEvil

Good choices chap, PNY are s'posed to be ok ish, OCuk use them for their OCuk branded stuff (well mostly).

CPU - very good choice, 4800 is just far too much at the moment, and 4600 isn't worth it... 5000+ X2 due Q1'06
MOBO - A8N SLI premium is the best to get, silent NF4 cooling.
MEM - Get the corsair 2Gb kit 2x1GB modules, much better timings possible..
GPU - 7800GT really is the best bang per buck card, although if you have the extra, get the GTX, I've got the XFX 7800GTX extreme

Make sure you get a floppy drive for bios updates.

DrEvil

FYI

Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS2 (MY-079-CS)
A matched pair of 1GB XMS3200C2PT memory modules - 2GB total - ideal for dual DDR motherboards. Memory timings of 2-3-3-6. Ideal for performance users who require large amounts of memory for the latest applications and games available without sacrificing performance as these Corsair modules are capable of running the aggressive timings of just 2-3-3-6 giving exellent performance for those who demand the best.

DrEvil

Forgot - HD wise take a look at WD Raptors, they are VERY quick!

InvisibleMan

yeah i've got those corsair chips. good for OCing

but what about going DDR2?

DrEvil

DDR2 isn't supported under skt 939, will be with skt M2 though for AMD.

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

Great stuff, thanks for the feedback. I'll take a look at the GTX and the 2x1Gb modules

Think I may review the HDD's and as you say, look more at the 10k rpm drives.

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

If youre doing PSP professionally, really I would budget for a highend gfx card like a X850XT or 7800Ultra etc, to give the system that extra bite. Mindu as it is, it's going to kick some fierce ***

Iain Young

In photoshop the gfx card speed isn't the limiting factor. It's the speed of your processor as that's what does all the work combined with the amount of ram you have.

Pro graphics stuff really only needs mega high-end cards when you start using stuff like openGL (i.e if you're using something like Maya, Lightwave 3D studio etc). I know CS2 runs absolutely fine on my 6800 ultra at home.

_Meridian_

iTrader: (1)

Why does this not surprise me....


M

DrEvil

LOL

You know me too well