Advice on new Photoshop PC build

[DanielStone]

hey all, I'm cross-posting this to a few forums to see what I can dig up. I'm still a film shooter(35mm-->8x10), and have decided to stick with it rather than "move" to digital capture.

So, I've come to a wall. I haven't been into PC-tech since 4 years ago when I bought my MBP, and its been able to handle some occasional Imacon 200mb-300mb files when I have them. Now that I have a drum scanner, this thing spits out 500mb files(and much larger) like nobody's business! Soooooo.... I'm looking to build a new machine.

Starting files will range from 500mb-2.5GB 16bit file size(starting, no layers). So I need a beefy machine with a good amount of "oomph" to move these files with speed and ease. Opening files, rendering/rotating, etc.. I need some speed. Budget is $1500 MAX. These are drum scans, so not your average Epson scan, big files. I'm thinking a nice fast 64gb SSD as a scratch disk, 24-32gb of ram, a 4-8core processor(Intel preferred), and lastly, my CRT diamondtron will be doing the display work.

FYI, I don't know sh!+ about PC components these days, so I'm looking for some recommendations. My buddy just put 32gb of RAM into his PC, and that thing FLYS with big files(he uses a P65+ digital back, he's a tech, but shoots his own stuff too).

Thanks

Dan

[DanielStone]

or should I up my budget and look for a used 8-core mac pro? After getting more ram from OWC(32gb ideally), I'd be looking at probably $2600, so almost double my budget for a pc. Being 23, this will take me another 4-5months to save the extra capital needed if I was to go this way...

This machine will be offline most of the time, except to run updates ever 6mo or so for windows 7.

-Dan

[Farmer]

I've just been discussing the new technology about to be released on another thread.

Personally, I wouldn't buy into a used Mac.  Ivy Bridge and associated processors from Intel are due for release around April and should offer far more grunt for a lot less than a used 8-core Mac.

If you're planning to run Win 7 and don't need OS X, I'd suggest a PC.  If you need OS X, then you'll need to wait for Apple to see what they do with Ivy Bridge.  It will cost you more, but undoubtedly it will be some nice hardware.

[ewanqbl]

I also suggest waiting for Ivy Bridge. As I heard, they will improve the instruction set, and with the new specifications regarding 3D transistors, you could probably get higher performance in a smaller package at a more friendly energy use.

Also, everyone is trying to get the integrated video chip working with the CPU at the same level in some software, so you should see faster rendering or processing time in some software.

The more important thing is the software you are planning to use: Windows 7 or Mac OSX. W7 with all the updates is pretty fast and safe, but if you are an Apple fan, waiting for the new Mac could be worth it.