Nifty1Pound50
04-03-2009, 12:39
Right, I've got a situation developing and I need some help. I'm fairly technically minded, so I'll be as concise as possible whilst not missing out any details.
There are two people who need two desktop computers. Both want them to be top-spec machines, with price theoretically irrelevant.
My initial plan is to get quad-core processing power, with a suitably large amount of RAM in both cases as a base, to provide the necessary grunt to run the programs required with minimal fuss.
One user is predominantly working with a resource-heavy CAD program, the other will mainly be using Photoshop and Illustrator, working to a professional printing standard (this is very important).
I think I can safely say that, given that the power will be there in both machines, it becomes a case of finding the appropriate graphics card. This is where my knowledge isn't too good - what do the different graphics cards over, as far as harnessing the full power of the machine goes? Are there certain cards that would handle the CAD programs requirement for rendering large-scale landscapes in a high-resolution on-the-fly, whilst another that would better suit the graphic user's need to have lots of layers and high-resolution colours on screen at once?
How much do the graphics cards come into play? Is it mainly down to the RAM and processing cores?
The additional requirement is that both users want to play top-end games on their machines. Are there specific set-ups that really harness the full power of a top-of-the-range machine, whilst doing the job of rendering graphics for games?
Is the answer as simple as "get every top-spec component and put them together to form a super-computer" or is there more to consider?
Any advice appreciated. If anyone requires more detailed input, let me know.
Cheers.
There are two people who need two desktop computers. Both want them to be top-spec machines, with price theoretically irrelevant.
My initial plan is to get quad-core processing power, with a suitably large amount of RAM in both cases as a base, to provide the necessary grunt to run the programs required with minimal fuss.
One user is predominantly working with a resource-heavy CAD program, the other will mainly be using Photoshop and Illustrator, working to a professional printing standard (this is very important).
I think I can safely say that, given that the power will be there in both machines, it becomes a case of finding the appropriate graphics card. This is where my knowledge isn't too good - what do the different graphics cards over, as far as harnessing the full power of the machine goes? Are there certain cards that would handle the CAD programs requirement for rendering large-scale landscapes in a high-resolution on-the-fly, whilst another that would better suit the graphic user's need to have lots of layers and high-resolution colours on screen at once?
How much do the graphics cards come into play? Is it mainly down to the RAM and processing cores?
The additional requirement is that both users want to play top-end games on their machines. Are there specific set-ups that really harness the full power of a top-of-the-range machine, whilst doing the job of rendering graphics for games?
Is the answer as simple as "get every top-spec component and put them together to form a super-computer" or is there more to consider?
Any advice appreciated. If anyone requires more detailed input, let me know.
Cheers.