New desktop computer....any advice?

[Mr Tees!!]

...hey Gang! I have always just used whatever laptop I had for graphic work and such, mainly because I could carry it home every night. We feel our new location is a bit more secure, and I am thinking of getting a tower for this. I havent had to shop for a computer in a long while, so what should I even be looking for? Mainly for the standard Corel and Adobe suites, and web of course. I know they will need to be wireless, but I think thats pretty much standard nowadays. NO MACS ()...

....anyone got any advice, or know of a good one that I can get at Staples or Best Buy or somethin'? I KNOW some of you compu-geeks on here follow this stuff......

...Thanks All!!!!

[Denis Kolar]

You took my advice away from me

[mk162]

Talk to Pierre, he tipped me off to the greatest computer in the world...well, nearly.

[blue moon]

...hey Gang! I have always just used whatever laptop I had for graphic work and such, mainly because I could carry it home every night. We feel our new location is a bit more secure, and I am thinking of getting a tower for this. I havent had to shop for a computer in a long while, so what should I even be looking for? Mainly for the standard Corel and Adobe suites, and web of course. I know they will need to be wireless, but I think thats pretty much standard nowadays. NO MACS ()...

....anyone got any advice, or know of a good one that I can get at Staples or Best Buy or somethin'? I KNOW some of you compu-geeks on here follow this stuff......

...Thanks All!!!!

I don't know how to stress this enough and make you a believer. . .  Go to itxchange.com and find a Thinkstation.  something like this:
https://shop.itxchange.com/OA_HTML/xxtgeibeCCtdItemDetail.jsp?section=10886&item=263407&sitex=10020:22372:US
get some more RAM and buy a copy of windows 7 pro. All together about $500.

they seem to be out of grade A or open box right now, but keep looking. For about $750 you can have and open box system that is probably close to $3k new.

pierre

[Socalfmf]

personally we are switching to MACs...the PC world just cannot keep up...

sam

[myseps]

I have always been a mac guy (and still am)..  but i picked up a PC for gaming from this website:

http://www.ibuypower.com/

You can customize the PC to fit your needs, and the performance of it will blow away anything you can get from Staples or Best Buy.

Highly Recommended.

[blue moon]

Talk to Pierre, he tipped me off to the greatest computer in the world...well, nearly.

that's right Brad bought one! Ask him, ask him!

They are heavy duty workstations with wider bus and more stable chipset. I normally run at least 20 windows open at the same time and it just does not care. Some of the photoshop files I work with are over 500MB in size and with cashing it will go over 2GB. Everything still moves instantaneously, no waiting. The one in above link is almost identical to what I have.

bang for the buck it just does not get any better (I've sold hundreds of IBM's workstations when I was their business partner in my previous life). I would say a high end Mac might have a slight, very slight edge, but considering you'd have to pay 10x as much, there is no comparison.

pierre

[GraphicDisorder]

Just build yourself one.  Very easy to do.   just built a BAD ASS RIG.

i7 2600k (3.4ghz)
32gb (yes 32 GIGS) of DDR3
240gb SSD Sata III
1.5TB Western Digital Black Sata III
GTX 560
Corsair Power Supply
DVD Drive
Cooler Master Case. 

Sucker is a rocket. 

If you are into designing and are serious about it you need 3 things.... LOTS of ram.  FAST hard drives.  Good graphics card.

[blue moon]

Just build yourself one.  Very easy to do.   just built a BAD ASS RIG.

i7 2600k (3.4ghz)
32gb (yes 32 GIGS) of DDR3
240gb SSD Sata III
1.5TB Western Digital Black Sata III
GTX 560
Corsair Power Supply
DVD Drive
Cooler Master Case. 

Sucker is a rocket. 

If you are into designing and are serious about it you need 3 things.... LOTS of ram.  FAST hard drives.  Good graphics card.

If you do build yourself, look into workstation motherboards. Intel used to make good stuff. As mentioned, they run faster, are more reliable and use ECC (error correction and checking) memory.

pierre

[mk162]

Sam, the PC world can keep up, but a $800 Best Buy computer can't compete against a $5,000 MAC.  It just isn't going to happen.  The thinkstation is the only system in the shop that actually works like a computer should.  There is ZERO lag on that thing.

It's impossible to compare a cheap out of the box system to a Thinkstation.  It's all I will buy anymore...period.

[GraphicDisorder]

Just build yourself one.  Very easy to do.   just built a BAD ASS RIG.

i7 2600k (3.4ghz)
32gb (yes 32 GIGS) of DDR3
240gb SSD Sata III
1.5TB Western Digital Black Sata III
GTX 560
Corsair Power Supply
DVD Drive
Cooler Master Case. 

Sucker is a rocket. 

If you are into designing and are serious about it you need 3 things.... LOTS of ram.  FAST hard drives.  Good graphics card.

If you do build yourself, look into workstation motherboards. Intel used to make good stuff. As mentioned, they run faster, are more reliable and use ECC (error correction and checking) memory.

pierre

Ive built my own computers for years, had some workstation stuff, used to be a much larger gap in performance, not so much anymore.  Just my opinion.

[mk162]

That system is similar to mine, and I can tell you that the Thinkstation is better.  Part of what makes it better is the video card.  Ours has an $800 video card in it....it's just plain better than the $250 I have in mine.

[Parker 1]

Question? What specs do you guys look for? I've had 2 computers built in the past 4 years.  Told the guy it will be used for graphics ect.... and I get a SLOW @SS P.O.S. computer.  I do not know anything about computers other than mine is slow as hell and p*sses me off when trying to work on it.  So if I buy another computer what do I need under the hood? 

[blue moon]

Just build yourself one.  Very easy to do.   just built a BAD ASS RIG.

i7 2600k (3.4ghz)
32gb (yes 32 GIGS) of DDR3
240gb SSD Sata III
1.5TB Western Digital Black Sata III
GTX 560
Corsair Power Supply
DVD Drive
Cooler Master Case. 

Sucker is a rocket. 

If you are into designing and are serious about it you need 3 things.... LOTS of ram.  FAST hard drives.  Good graphics card.

If you do build yourself, look into workstation motherboards. Intel used to make good stuff. As mentioned, they run faster, are more reliable and use ECC (error correction and checking) memory.

pierre

Ive built my own computers for years, had some workstation stuff, used to be a much larger gap in performance, not so much anymore.  Just my opinion.

quite possible! I've closed the computer business few years back and have not kept up with the specs of the hadware. It would not surprise me if desktops caught up with some things. If the newer chipsets are running wider buses, they could be just as fast and possibly even faster. Workstations also have to compute the error checking which would slow them down. But even if they are slower, workstation boards are tested longer and built to higher standards. Same goes with the certified video drivers. They use similar components as the gaming cards, but the amount of testing, higher quality control and optimized drives drive the cost up significantly.

In the end, I think the Thinkstation will cost you less and give you more. Don't think you'll get anything close to it for $500 if you build it yourself . . .

pierre

[Gabe]

check out this site www.maingear.com
they got the best custom builts machines
for every budget
i bought mine and is very stable
run ILLY. PS. COREL  NO PROBLEMO
EVEN GAMING