Build for work..

[360bhp]

Need it to for photoshop use, dreamweaver, and general office use.

What do you think?


Ebuyer:

AMD Phenom X4 9650 2.3GHz Socket AM2+ 2MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor 148005 24 in stock £84.99

Shiny Black Mid Tower ATX Case with LCD Display and 2x 8cm Side Fans - No PSU 150290 61 in stock £21.35

Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 DHX Performace Memory CL4 2.1V 142433 2 in stock £49.64

Black/Silver Multimedia Keyboard - USB/PS2 - UK Layout 125782 785 in stock £3.98

Logitech S96 Black Optical Mouse - PS/2 Connection 129830 535 in stock £5.23

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic -SP1- Licence and media - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 32-bit - English 123059 2 in stock £64.30

Sapphire HD 3650 512MB DDR2 Dual DVI TV Out PCI-E Graphics Card 140617 21 in stock £34.95

LiteOn 52x32x52x16x CDRW & DVD-Rom Combo Drive IDE Bare Black - OEM 127411 50 in stock £9.99

Gigabyte GA-M52L-S3P nForce 520LE Socket AM2+ 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard 161639 64 in stock £38.91

Coolermaster 460W eXtreme Power Plus PSU - 20+4pin 4+4 ATX12v 4x SATA 6pin PCI-E 150596 37 in stock £38.99

Scan:

320 GB Samsung HD322HJ Spinpoint F1, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ £33.89

20" Acer V203HAb Black, Widescreen TFT Monitor 1600x900 300cd/m2 10000:1 (dynamic) 5ms £91.41


Total:

£500ish inc del

[Vimeous]

What CPU? - I see you've updated

Look at a Dell Vostro 420.
If it's for critical work then include improved warranty.

Apart from a stack of RAM most standard machine like this will do you well as they include gfx cards capable of decent 2D performance (3650's in this case).
The monitor will be the most important aspect for Photoshop use.
In fact I'd recommend you modify your spec to have a dual-port gfx card and two monitors. This would be especially useful for Dreamweaver where you can code on one screen while testing your pages on the other.

[staffsMike]

Might as well make it uATX and if you're going to use that PSU get this
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Coole...60W-PSU-Fitted

The CPU is a bit old now, I would get a phenom II, tri or quad core I think. The 720 X3 Black edition is fantastic in terms of bangs for bucks.

I'd get either a 780G, 785G or Nvidia 8200 based mobo, you might find the onboard graphics more than enough for your needs, then add a graphics card later.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-M4A785TD-M-EVO

[Salazaar]

I'd go for the 64bit version of Vista (I presume time is against you and you can't wait for 7) and get support for the full 4Gb of memory, after all, when photoshopping, memory is king.

[UseItNow]

You would also be better off getting a DVD Writer for a few quid more rather than a DVD/CDRW Combo.

[circuitmonkey]

I'd go for the 64bit version of Vista (I presume time is against you and you can't wait for 7) and get support for the full 4Gb of memory, after all, when photoshopping, memory is king.

I Agree, infact doubling to 8GB wouldn't be the worst idea ever

Also it was my impression that if you where to go down the Nvidia CUDA route you would see some speed improvements in photoshop. so you'd probably be looking at a 8600, 9500 or anything above that

One final pointer, I don't know how you feel on this subject, but when i'm working the last thing I want to hear is fan noise, for this reason I normally go with a case that supports 12cm or bigger fans all the way round. Doesn't have to cost the earth but worth it IMHO

[Pob255]

Yes I agree there, get a case with 120mm fans not 80mm
You don't need a lots of fans or air flow, but some low speed, under 1000rpm 120mm fans will give you some air flow without any noise.

Also stick with onboard graphics, if you're using photoshop CS2 or higher then consider an nvidia card for the CUDA support.
I'd also look at ether cheaper memory or AM3 motherboard and DDR3

[Terbinator]

Go for the newer Phenom 2's the original Phenoms are well, bad, to say the least.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Might as well make it uATX and if you're going to use that PSU get this
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Coole...60W-PSU-Fitted

The CPU is a bit old now, I would get a phenom II, tri or quad core I think. The 720 X3 Black edition is fantastic in terms of bangs for bucks.

I'd get either a 780G, 785G or Nvidia 8200 based mobo, you might find the onboard graphics more than enough for your needs, then add a graphics card later.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-M4A785TD-M-EVO

I agree with most of what staffsMike has suggested.

I would look at either of these motherboards:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-...-RAID-uATX-VGA

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/171803

Both ATI and Nvidia graphics cards can accelerate Photoshop although CUDA can be used for specific plugins IIRC.

This Nvidia graphics card will do the job:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168749