Photographer in need of some advice

Hello

I am a pro photographer and I am ready to build a new image editing machine.
I have decided to go with a Dual Core system and chose to purchase the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester. My question is what motherboard do you guys recommend? I usually like and use the DFI boards but I cant find one that works well with the X2 but also takes AGP video cards because I will be using a matrox PH-A8X256 Parhelia 256MB.

Also I plan on overclocking this machine, so can you guys give me tips on a good power supply for a reasonable price, also looking for a simple and clean case for this system and also some fan cooling advise

I have not ordered this machine yet, I have about $1600 to spend on the whole system (no monitor). If you guys have any other suggestions or routes to go for building a photo editing machine please let me know, I would really appreciate the advise

thanks for your time

-Mark

DFI LANPARTY UT nF3 ULTRA-D is the best AGP OCing board. But it's been having a lot of problems with some broken resistor, so unless your an expert, don't go for DFI.

The MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum Motherboard has had pretty good reviews in terms of video editing and such. But I think the EPoX EP-9NDA3+ Motherboard has better OCing capabilities.

MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum Motherboard $116.97
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Dual Core Processor $539.00
OCZ PowerStream 520W $109.99
OCZ 2GB PC3200 DDR DIMM Dual Channel Platinum Memory $262.00
Maxtor MaxLine III w/16mb cache 250GB Hard Drive $141.19
Antec P180 ATX Mid Tower $111.30

Total: $1279

Still more then enough leftover for heatsink or extra fans. Heck, toss in an extra $100 and you can do some great watercooling, lol.

I highly recommend against getting the X2 4200+. There is only 3 good cores for the X2, in terms of price/performance at least. They are the X2 3800+, X2 4400+, and if you have enough, the X2 4800+

You actually might just have enough for an X2 4800+ even...

Thanks alot darksparkz, this is exactly the info I was searching for
Very much appreciated

Do you think spending the extra money for the X2 4400+ over the X2 3800+ really going to be a noticeable difference, such as in Photoshop?

the difference probably won't be anything to write home about, though in long sessions a few seconds here and a few seconds there could add up to something big. it really depends on how fast you need it to be. as the price increases of the cpu's, the performance difference diminishes. sure they'll be faster, but the difference won't be huge.

IMO the 4400+ or anything else above it is not worth it. The 4400+ costs an extra $100 over the 4200+ just for some extra cache, which does not always help performance. I would just look at the 4200+ and 3800+.

BrutalDrew said:

IMO the 4400+ or anything else above it is not worth it. The 4400+ costs an extra $100 over the 4200+ just for some extra cache, which does not always help performance. I would just look at the 4200+ and 3800+.

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very reasonable if you want to save some bills and since you plan on oc'ing it doesnt matter too much. I would probly spend 800 tops for a X2 tops : 384.80(monarch) for the X2, $133.39 for a MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum mobo, $99.08 for 1gb of ram, and get an ok average looking case w/psu for 75, so thats $692.37(tax, shipping included) total for something that would satisfy me but for its probly different. Huzzah for me - mr cheap

Another photographer in the ranks!

BLcK said:

very reasonable if you want to save some bills and since you plan on oc'ing it doesnt matter too much. I would probly spend 800 tops for a X2 tops : 384.80(monarch) for the X2, $133.39 for a MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum mobo, $99.08 for 1gb of ram, and get an ok average looking case w/psu for 75, so thats $692.37(tax, shipping included) total for something that would satisfy me but for its probly different. Huzzah for me - mr cheap

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Remember he is doing professional photography and there are a lot of files than can be very large doing photo editing. So I would suggest 2GB of ram without a doubt.

and recommending a cheap case & psu . I wouldn't want to be editing photos and have my computer crash because of some cheap psu not cutting it.

I second darksparkz's recommendation.

Yes, the 4400+ would still be a better choice. Since your doing professional photographing, something like the extra cache and speed is pretty necessary. Most people here would recommend the X2 3800+, mainly because it can OC to speeds of the 4400+, but the extra cache and performance isn't gained in the X2 3800+.

Since this is your job and profession, getting a better CPU would affect a few things.

And yeah, 2GB is more or less required for something like that. If you do heavy, like real heavy, photo editing, 4GB might even be needed if you move pictures large enough.

Don't skim out on the PSU. Photo editing might require your computer to be on at least 50% load all the time, so something like a PSU would keep all your componenets stable.

This is more or less a computer he's using for his job right? So why not get the best parts you can get. If it's for people like us, OCing and random web browsing, then we'll have to considering on certain parts. But it's his job, he'll need a pretty good computer.

Thank you everyone for the info and opinions, this the help I needed

Well I decided to follow pretty much of darksparkz advice and here are the specs I ordered today.

- 4400+ X2
- MB K8N NEO2 PLATINUM MSI Motherboard
- OCZ ATX 520W Power Supply
- OCZ 2GB PC3200 DDR DIMM Dual Channel Platinum Memory
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 400GB 3.5" Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
- I also have a 400GB Seagate external hardrive to add with this system
- Matrox PH-A8X256 Parhelia 256MB DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card
- ENERMAX CS-800TA-S Silver SECC 0.8mm ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Thanks again, and if anyone needs help with digital/film photography or editing feel free to shoot me a email at [email protected]

-Mark

I hate to speak blasphemy, but...

I really see overclocking and extreme cooling measures as a bit of a waste in a production environment. The perfomance gains are not very significant and if you have to pay for this youself, why eat into your profits?

I work as graphic artist and digital printer. The photo retouch department houses about 30 Macs and 20 PC's. We retouch literally thousands of orders and not a single machine is overclocked or has fancy cooling.

I say buy the best stock equipment you can afford, get plenty of ram, a large cache and 2 fast hard drives, and start making profit that much sooner.

Of course, if someone else is paying for it.....