Best PC setup for Photoshop

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I'm going to be buying a PC very soon. I'm going to make pictures in Photoshop with it. I'll be using Photoshop 6.0 initially. What am I best to focus on? Can anyone give me advice on what my priorities should be as far as the PC is concerned? I'm going to spend somewhere between 500 pounds and 1000 pounds. I know it's not a mad amount of cash nut I want to make the best of it that I can. Pointers to online resources would be welcome too.

― neil simpson (neil simpson), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 11:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Photoshop needs masses of RAM to work well.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 12:06 (twenty-two years ago)

both my work and home pc have around 512mb of ram and run pretty smoothly. Sometimes there is a slow down. You'll also need a fairly large HD seeing as photoshop takes up a ton of space.

― Chris B. Sure (Chris V), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 12:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, I'd heard that getting a second HD and only having PS on it was the way to go. Generally saves on fragmenting the image files. Not sure if I can afford one.

― neil simpson (neil simpson), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 12:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Just partition your hard drive (he said, having never done it himself)

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 12:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Does that mean it would be a good idea for me to go for a bigger hard drive rather than getting two?

― neil simpson (neil simpson), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 12:41 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd have thought that would be more economical.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 12:44 (twenty-two years ago)

sure you can get a bigger hd and save $$. It will work fine if you have a large hd. 30gb or more.

― Chris B. Sure (Chris V), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 12:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Anyone know anything abotu video cards? I see that Photoshop CS requires 16bit or greater. Will this make a difference to 6.0?

― neil simpson (neil simpson), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 12:56 (twenty-two years ago)

i have no idea what card is in this work pc, but its better than the one at home. At home I have a Nvidia 64mb.

― Chris B. Sure (Chris V), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 12:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Of course I also run 7.0 on both though.

― Chris B. Sure (Chris V), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 12:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, I'm looking at CS right now but there's a cost implication for the software and for the additional system requirements

― neil simpson (neil simpson), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 13:00 (twenty-two years ago)

i would've thought 256 - 512mb RAM, 64mb Gfx card and a standard 80gb hard drive would be more than adequate if Photoshop is the most advanced software you will be using.

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 13:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Coolio. Do you have any idea what maximum image size a setup like that would be able to handle. PSD files with, say, 7 layers.

― neil simpson (neil simpson), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 13:17 (twenty-two years ago)

AND - what kind of processor should I belooking at? iei how fast?

― neil simpson (neil simpson), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 13:22 (twenty-two years ago)

both pc's i have are pentium II and they work fine. I'm also buying a new pc next week though. 2.4g

― Chris B. Sure (Chris V), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 13:26 (twenty-two years ago)

layers are not really a problem, i've worked with files featuring up to 50 before with no real speed problems.

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 13:28 (twenty-two years ago)

(that's on a 933mhz PIII with only 384mb RAM and a 32mb Nvidia gfx card)

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 13:29 (twenty-two years ago)

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