EggXpert

I just finished up a mini-degree in graphic design, and I never got a straight answer to this question at school. Macs are nice and all, but I simply can't afford them (and I like CoD). So what do you guys think?

You have made your way into pc building world. lol Most of us here have either built our own pc, do it for a hobbie, or do it for a living. If you wanna build a pc get a general idea of what you want, what you wanna spend, and what you plan on doing with it.

I need something that will be able to run multiple, memory-intensive graphic design programs at once. I need a 20-22" monitor. I want to be able to play FPS's, but this is secondary to work.

Cost is my main consideration. The ability to upgrade over the next few years is another.

 

 

Off the top of my head, I'd probably say Intel quad, (for graphic design # of cores is priority over clockspeed), 8gb of ram if you can get away with it (will require 64 bit, make sure everything is compatible first).  If 64 doesn't work for you because of drivers or program compatibility, ther'es no reason to get more than 4gb since it will only recognize about 3.7 including what's on the GPU. Get a single nvidia 9800 or ati 4800 series card.The 4800s come in nice and cheap.  You might be able to get away with less though I'm not sure exactly how much graphic design relies on the GPU other than for large high res monitor support.  I just know the memory and processor emphasis.  Also, no idea how much DDR2 versus DDR3 ram impacts that type of application.

 

EDIT: The FireGL and Quaddro cards (ati and nvidia respectively), are what you might actually want to look for as those are the workstation cards.  From past experience though, I will say, while each is best at its primary purpose, gaming cards work better for workstation applications than workstation cards work for gaming applications.

I think you meant to say gaming cards are better for gaming and workstation are better for workstation applications. Um well multiple monitors doesnt work on sli so that out the question and if you run a quaddro cards games are going to suck. Unless someone here has a quaddro card and plays game????  You could consider a 9800gx2 which will run workstation nicely and also run dual monitors, we really need a number for you budget, and to be honest your looking at a possible $1000 build if you wanna be upgraable in the future. We could do it for cheaper but you would really limit you ability to upgrade in smaller increments like if they ever fix the multi monitor for sli problem. And ddr2 is generally faster than ddr3 at base price for no need to even consider ddr3.

I meant what I said, just didn't word it very well.  If you are looking for a card to do both, you are more likely to find that in a gaming card.  Gaming cards are exhorbitant for gaming, but still ok for graphics applications.  Workstation cards blow graphic design out of the water completely, but they are not really very good for gaming at all.  Essentially the gaming cards do a better job at being a "jack of all trades". 

SLI and Crossifre are really gamer luxuries anyway, you can play really every game out there at a decent FPS and resolution with 1 card. If you are concerned with costs going with 1 card of the series' I mentioned before will be fine for what you are doing.  Like I said, most of the strain will be on the processor anyway. 

Well thanks you guys, that's food for thought. I'd like to build my own computer, but I think someone with my hardware knowledge and bank account (both small) might be better off just buying a dell. It's the brand I have now, and it's still limping along after five years. I got a catalog in the mail, and on the back they advertise a computer with an Intel core 2 quad processor q6600, with Vista, 3gb Ram, and 500 gb hd for $499. Which seems tempting.

I suggest you have 4G or more memory if you will do graphic design programs in Vista. It will help much more than others in the same budget except video card and CPU.