[xXTOKERXx]

Okay, so my dad works in this company, and they were looking to pay some one a decent amount of cash if they can build a really decent system for graphics design, my dad has mentioned it to me, and spoke to his work mates, and there willing to pay me a some of money to build this computer for them.

they do a lot of printing work, graphical design, 3d modelling things like that.

Personally i know nothing about this, but i know a lot of you guys do.

I dont know what is needed, intel? amd? single proc? dual? 64 bit.

there is just too much to know what the best system will be.

Could some one piece up a decent system? or give me an idea on what to go for.

Thanks!

[nerdfiles]

well for 3k (without vat i assume) you should be able to get dual 3.2 xeons, 2gb ECC ram, a tyan tiger mobo (or simillar), a quadro 1100/1300 gfx card and a couple of raptors in a raid array.

(if not far better)

I've chosen all 'pro' parts because people like certification and and drivers are optimised for doing 'pro' tasks. some consumer products may out perform them, but you may as well go the whole hog and get a really solid workstation.

if you want to see pro systems to get an idea of spec check out BoxxTech they sell excellent (if not expensive machines)

I would recomend a very good power supply to keep this setup happy.

Hope this helps a little

Or BUY A MAC!!!

[blik]

Or BUY A MAC!!!

585256869[/snapback]

(Y)

With graphics MAC's are best.

[xXTOKERXx]

they strictly said please no mac's i dunno why..

something to do with many users been used to the windows platform and not mac - i thought they were really similar..

[blik]

they strictly said please no mac's i dunno why..

something to do with many users been used to the windows platform and not mac  -  i thought they were really similar..

585256959[/snapback]

If they're willing to spend that much on a machine, they can spend a few hundred on a basic MAC course. you do not need to have much knowlege of the platform, the application will be the same, i.e. Photoshop, Freehand, Quark Express. They are almost identical on either platform. All you have to learn is to press the Apple Key instead of control.

[anthony]

Dual Xeons? :no:

Dual Opterons? :yes: :yes:

[NeoXY]

If they're willing to spend that much on a machine, they can spend a few hundred on a basic MAC course. you do not need to have much knowlege of the platform, the application will be the same, i.e. Photoshop, Freehand, Quark Express. They are almost identical on either platform. All you have to learn is to press the Apple Key instead of control.

585256982[/snapback]

I agree....get a Dual G5.....fit a couple fo Gigs of Ram in there, a dual 160GB HD and get a 23ich Display...and you got your self a hell of a computer...

[boocher]

Qty Product Item #

Unit Price

Qty x Price

ANTEC Black Performance Series II SOHO File Server Tower ATX Case with 400W Power Supply, Model "SX1040BII"

Specifications:

Case Type: SOHO File Server

Color: Black

Material: 1mm SECC Steel

Drive Bays: 5.25" x 4/0, 3.5" x 2/4 (external/internal)

Expansion Slots: 7

Front Ports: 2xUSB & 1xIEEE1394

Power Supply: 400W

Cooling System: 2 x 80mm Fans

Mainboard Compatibility: Fits up to Extended ATX

Dimensions: 20.6"x8.1"x18.6" more info-> N82E16811129120

$100.50

$100.50

Vantec "Stealth" 80mm Case fan, Model "SF8025L"

Specification:

Compatibility: Case

Dimensions: 80 x 80 x 25 mm

Bearing Type: Double Ball Bearing

Nominal Speed(RPM): 2050

Max Air Flow:(CFM): 27

Max Pressure: Not Specified

Heat Sink Material: N/A

Rated Voltage: 12V DC

Connector: 4 Pin and 3 Pin

Noise(dBA): 21

Special Features: 80% Quieter than standard case fan;Smart fan with Speed Detection. more info-> N82E16811999602

$8.69

$34.76

MSI "K8T Master2-FAR" VIA K8T800 Chipset Motherboard for Dual/Single AMD Socket 940 CPU -RETAIL

Specifications:

Supported CPU: Socket 940 for Dual AMD Opteron 200 or Single Athlon-64 FX51/Opteron 100/200 Processors

Chipset: VIA K8T800 + VT8237

RAM: 4x DIMM for DDR400/333/266 Max 8GB(See Details)

IDE: 2x ATA 133 up to 4 Devices

Slots: 1x AGP Pro 8X, 4x PCI

Ports: 2xPS/2,1xLPT,2xCOM,1xLAN,6xUSB2.0(Rear 2),Audio header

Onboard Audio: Avance Logic ALC201A CODEC

Onboard LAN: Broadcom BCM5705 GbE

Onboard SATA/RAID: 2x Serial ATA, RAID 0/1

Form Factor: ATX more info-> N82E16813130436

$212.00

$212.00

GIGABYTE nVIDIA GeForce FX5200 Video Card, 128MB DDR, 64-bit, DVI/TV Out, 8X AGP, Model "GV-N52128DE" -RETAIL

Specifications:

Chipset/Core Speed: nVIDIA GeForce FX5200/Not Specified

Memory/Effective Speed: 128MB DDR/Not Specified

BUS: AGP 4x/8x

Ports: VGA Out(15 Pin D-Sub)+TV-Out(S-Video)+DVI connector

Support 3D API: DirectX?9, OpenGL?1.4

Cable/Accessories: 1 Cable, 1 CD, Manual

Max Resolution@32bit Color: 2048X1536@60Hz

Retail Box (See pics for details) more info-> N82E16814125131

$54.00

$54.00

AMD Opteron Model 244, 1MB L2 Cache 64-bit Processor - OEM

Supports Dual Processor Opteron Motherboards

Specifications:

Model: AMD Opteron Model 244

Core: Hammer

Operating Frequency: 1.8GHz

FSB: Integrated into Chip

Cache: L2/ 1MB

Voltage: 1.5V

Process: 0.13Micron

Socket: Socket 940

Multimedia Instruction: MMX, SSE, SSE2, 3DNOW!, 3DNOW!+

Packaging: OEM(Processor Only) more info-> N82E16819103422

$307.00

$614.00

Corsair XMS Extreme Memory Speed Platinum Series, Low Latency (Twin Pack) 184 Pin 1GB(512MBx2) ECC Registered DDR PC-3200 - Retail

The TwinX1024RE-3200LL is a 1 GByte matched memory pair specifically designed for motherboards supporting dual channels of registered PC3200, such as AMD Athlon TM 64 FX based platforms.

Specifications:

Manufacturer: Corsair

Speed: DDR400(PC3200)

Type: 184 Pin DDR SDRAM

Error Checking: ECC

Registered/Unbuffered: Registered

Cas Latency: 2-3-2-6

Support Voltage: 2.6V

Bandwidth: 3.2GB/s

Organization: two 64M x 72 -Bit

Special Features: Plug-n-Frag Auto-Configuration

Warranty: Lifetime more info-> N82E16820145476

$381.75

$763.50

Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10,000RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model WD740GD, OEM Drive Only

Specifications:

Capacity: 74GB

Average Seek Time: 4.5 ms

Buffer: 8MB

Rotational Speed: 10000 RPM

Interface: Serial ATA

Features: High Performance SATA Interface

Packaging: OEM Drive Only

more info-> N82E16822144160

$181.00

$362.00

This would be about $2150 but you'll need to get a Quattro Graphics card or something of that nature.

_--boocher

[NeoXY]

^.....pay that guy....:laugh:

[abrooks]

they strictly said please no mac's i dunno why..

something to do with many users been used to the windows platform and not mac  -  i thought they were really similar..

585256959[/snapback]

This is shocking if they are a company that's into what you say they are they should know that Mac's are almost industry standard for this kind of stuff, and they certainly won't encounter many problems with platform differences.

Top of the line G5 will out pace almost anything and looks amazing at the same time.

[Vice]

yer except the G5 is way more expensive... dual 2.5 with the basic config already reaches ?1,999.00

(?1,701.28 ex VAT) and that is not even with any type of screen.

G5's best for the job? Yes

Do they want them? No

Would it go over there budget? Yes

(Also there programs have already been bought with windows licenses adobe suit alone is unbelievably expensive)

Build them a Windows PC like they want

[MagicMan]

LOL to the guy who said get a *PUKE* Mac *PUKE*

Hows this :

Asus A8N-SLI

AMD Athlon FX 55 (939-Pin)

2Ghz OCZ Platinum DDR400 (2x1Gb, 2x 512MB - 6 Banks @ DDR400)

2x nVidia 6800GT PCI-E (SLI - winner)

2x 74GB Western Digital Raptor SATA (RAID 0)

2x 160GB Seagate Barracuda (with NCQ - RAID 1)

Thats quite possibly around the $3000 mark as it is (roughly ?1600-1800) but would form the basis of a very solid system to do almost anything with :-p

[sanctified Veteran]

I dont get it. 4 or 5 years ago I could've agreed that a Mac was better. But now... I just dont see why they are so better than a well built PC with the proper design software.

[SMeK Veteran]

check if the programs they are going to be using benefit from dual processor or 64-bit processor

you could just put a p4 extreme edition in for the hell of it ;)

[mikmo]

Adobe can take advantage of dual processors for sure

[MagicMan]

check if the programs they are going to be using benefit from dual processor or 64-bit processor

you could just put a p4 extreme edition in for the hell of it ;)

585257209[/snapback]

64-bit CPU's still execute 32-bit code quicker than 32-bit CPU's do and I would think that a single FX55 is quicker than 2 low end Opteron chips

[mikmo]

Can you get a mobo to run dual P4 Extreme? That'd be nice.

[boocher]

LOL to the guy who said get a *PUKE* Mac *PUKE*

Hows this :

Asus A8N-SLI

AMD Athlon FX 55 (939-Pin)

2Ghz OCZ Platinum DDR400 (2x1Gb, 2x 512MB - 6 Banks @ DDR400)

2x nVidia 6800GT PCI-E (SLI - winner)

2x 74GB Western Digital Raptor SATA (RAID 0)

2x 160GB Seagate Barracuda (with NCQ - RAID 1)

Thats quite possibly around the $3000 mark as it is (roughly ?1600-1800) but would form the basis of a very solid system to do almost anything with :-p

585257189[/snapback]

These are not the correct types of components for a graphic designs system. That's good for a hardcore Gamer. The graphics cards in SLI wouldn't do the job for a graphics design system. Only a professional workstation card would.

Sorry that my price was in US Dollars. Essentially:

MSI Master2-FAR Motherboard

Dual AMD Opteron Model 244

Corsair Dual Channel PC400 DDR 2GB (1GBx2 or 512MBx4)

Dual WD Raptor 74GB 10,000RPM Drives

Quattro or FireGL workstation card

Extra Storage if needed

DVD Burner or CD-RW

_--boocher

[boocher]

64-bit CPU's still execute 32-bit code quicker than 32-bit CPU's do and I would think that a single FX55 is quicker than 2 low end Opteron chips

585257233[/snapback]

Opterons are 64-bit Socket 940. Those chips run with less heat and with comperable speed. The products for graphics design are made to run with dual processor capabilities. Plus a gaming / overclocking chip is overkill.

_--boocher

[kitchenutensils]

guys he clearly said no macs, personally i'd go for the best athlon 64 on a nice mobo... i'm not that much in the knowing on what you need for graphics. i do know that currently athlon 64's beat everything-intel.

[mikmo]

i dont know if thats true for graphics and office type applications.

[blik]

I dont get it. 4 or 5 years ago I could've agreed that a Mac was better. But now... I just dont see why they are so better than a well built PC with the proper design software.

585257204[/snapback]

Work with a 400MB PSD and come back to me.

[nerdfiles]

personal eperience says macs are better for this type of work (and with maya on mac, there is now no excuse for 3d artists)

Dual processors are a definate plus for a system like this, i would recommend them highly, i chose xeons because of the hyperthreading and the cache.

Graphics card should be a good pro one (one word, drivers!), i would recommend a quadro over a firgl, seeing as i was not impressed with the firegl i recently got to use with maya, compared to the quadro 1300

3k ex vat is a lot of spend, and you can get a really top machin for the money, but if they need a screen as well, i would recommend an lcd, the new apple ones are fantastic for the money 600 quid ex vat!!!!!

Ram = lots, 2gb or more

go with amd if you want 64 bit compatibilty in the long term, but photoshop is becoming 64bit on not with version 9 (cs2.0) but version 10! so thats quite a way off!! This goes for the rest of the creative suite.

Again, i hope this helps

Bliksem: - your right, large psd files (half a gig to a gig) and large indesign files (2-3 gig) are actually workable on a mac with little slow down, this is not the case on pc!

[MagicMan]

Opterons are 64-bit Socket 940. Those chips run with less heat and with comperable speed. The products for graphics design are made to run with dual processor capabilities. Plus a gaming / overclocking chip is overkill.

_--boocher

585257259[/snapback]

LOL - I completely understand what an Opteron CPU is and yes, they are designed with Server/Professional Workstation use. So long as the software supports dual CPU systems then Opteron would be the way to go (that is until dual core 939 chips are launched!)

[MagicMan]

These are not the correct types of components for a graphic designs system. That's good for a hardcore Gamer. The graphics cards in SLI wouldn't do the job for a graphics design system. Only a professional workstation card would.

Sorry that my price was in US Dollars. Essentially:

MSI Master2-FAR Motherboard

Dual AMD Opteron Model 244

Corsair Dual Channel PC400 DDR 2GB (1GBx2 or 512MBx4)

Dual WD Raptor 74GB 10,000RPM Drives

Quattro or FireGL workstation card

Extra Storage if needed

DVD Burner or CD-RW

_--boocher

585257248[/snapback]

I know they might not be "correct" for a design system but it sure would be a nice system :laugh: - why can nobody let me have my fuin :-p. Anyway, a FireGL card would be preferable I think but as for the RAM that you specified -PC400 (you mean DDR400 right?????) and I think you would want ECC . You might also find thart the mainboard is limited to 6 banks @ DDR400 so your 4x512MB suggestion may not work as chances are the modules would be double banked.