New PC...Custom or Stock

[GraphicDisorder]

It's been my understanding that the video card has little to do with what we do, IE Illustrator
and Photoshop type stuff.

AMD (only bad chip I ever got was an Intel), SSD's, and as much memory as you can afford.

You will see far more performance increases from lots of ram and fast hard drives. 

If you were doing 3D Rendering, high end video editing, Auto Cad, Solid works and so on I would suggest the video card was important as the other items. 

[inkman996]

It's been my understanding that the video card has little to do with what we do, IE Illustrator
and Photoshop type stuff.

AMD (only bad chip I ever got was an Intel), SSD's, and as much memory as you can afford.

You will see far more performance increases from lots of ram and fast hard drives. 

If you were doing 3D Rendering, high end video editing, Auto Cad, Solid works and so on I would suggest the video card was important as the other items.

\Don't forget gaming!

[mk162]

it will help with photoshop as well...especially running actions on large files.

[GraphicDisorder]

it will help with photoshop as well...especially running actions on large files.

Sure.  But what would be the largest increase in time saved?  Faster read/write and faster/more ram will be a bigger performance jump than the 2+ year old card will be that comes in most of those refurb Think Stations. 

Have you looked at the benchmarks on the graphics cards that come in some of them?  Its on par with $100-$200 cards today.  Food for thought.

[royster13]

I have been buying parts 1 or 2 at a time as I see them in the NewEgg daily deals.......This "monkey" built my 1st 2 systems without a hitch......And I am not a computer geek of any sort.....So I think anyone can do it....

[inkman996]

I have been buying parts 1 or 2 at a time as I see them in the NewEgg daily deals.......This "monkey" built my 1st 2 systems without a hitch......And I am not a computer geek of any sort.....So I think anyone can do it....

Its not hard at all, the area monkeys get in trouble is purchasing non compatible parts. See it and hear it all the time, why doesnt my AMD2 Processor fit in my AMD3+ mother board. You get the point.

[GraphicDisorder]

I have been buying parts 1 or 2 at a time as I see them in the NewEgg daily deals.......This "monkey" built my 1st 2 systems without a hitch......And I am not a computer geek of any sort.....So I think anyone can do it....

Its not hard at all, the area monkeys get in trouble is purchasing non compatible parts. See it and hear it all the time, why doesnt my AMD2 Processor fit in my AMD3+ mother board. You get the point.

Exactly.  Nothing hard about it, just ask a few questions of people that know and then you will never have to ask again. 

[ebscreen]

We have Fry's out here. Basically like a Newegg or whatever, just skeezier.

The thought of even a casual conversation with the folks that work there is making my skin crawl.

[GraphicDisorder]

We have Fry's out here. Basically like a Newegg or whatever, just skeezier.

The thought of even a casual conversation with the folks that work there is making my skin crawl.

Fry's is pretty good though.  Micro Center is pretty awesome as well.  Both of those have some items cheaper than newegg at times.

[vicb]

So AMD quad core or which intel? 3, 5, or 7 and would 16 gigs of ram or should I go 32?

[mk162]

if I was building one, I would go i7 with an asus MB, and 16gb

[GraphicDisorder]

So AMD quad core or which intel? 3, 5, or 7 and would 16 gigs of ram or should I go 32?

i7, 32gb for the cost of ram there really isn't a reason to limit yourself these days.

[ebscreen]

Yeah, Fry's a necessary evil. I have to brace myself before going in.
Pretty certain that their best clients get most of their nutrition from the
impulse buys at the checkout line, you know, Mt. Dew in 37 flavors plus
beef jerky. Ugh.

As for what box to build, it depends on what you are doing with it. If it's
your main rig, go for the best, even though tomorrow it won't be.

I've built several workstations for ~$400 each, but I don't need them to
do anything special.

[GraphicDisorder]

As for what box to build, it depends on what you are doing with it. If it's
your main rig, go for the best, even though tomorrow it won't be.

I've built several workstations for ~$400 each, but I don't need them to
do anything special.

I agree with this.  We have a couple off the shelf computers just for basic stuff like vinyl machine or simple stuff.  Then we have a few high dollar rigs that when they were built were high dollar that are used for design/seps/digitizing/etc

[inkman996]

Best we have in CT is a couple computer trade shows a year, tho you can get deals that blows New Egg or Tiger out of the water if you get their early enough. It was the best way to get parts back in the dinosaur ages when Best Buys or Office Max didnt exist. Actually Radio Shack was the go to at one time.