Desktop for Graphic Designer / Illustrator

It's been a few years (six infact!) since I was last on here buying a PC.
My needs haven't changed much, only that this desktop is getting old now and I could do with something speedier.

I mainly use Photoshop, After Effects (nothing too heavy though), and InDesign.
I do ZERO gaming on this as it's purely for work. No 3D modelling either now.

Could anybody help with some recommendations?
Budget around £1000 - £2000

This is what I went with last time at the bottom - I've just added more RAM as the years went by.

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/foru...ing-Animation-and-Artwork&p=120102#post120102


Much appreciation from a complete clueless designer.

Hi,

Interesting to have found the old thread and seeing a 2xxx series CPU and 1333MHz RAM was a real throwback.

For your next PC do you need any new peripherals? Are the monitors still good or were you looking to work on images at higher resolutions than your old monitors can display?

I'll start at the lower end of your price range and put something together that will be plenty and leave you money to spare in case you are upgrading monitors too. In terms of case, these can be subjective in terms of looks. The one I put in the suggested build below has no bling, but it will do the job perfectly well.

Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 200R COMPACT GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X Eight Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.35GHz/20MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1050 Ti - DVI, HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3400MB/R, 2300MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 3 to 5 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,281.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-pc/wqKm!JzPy8/

I've opted for 32GB of RAM, which does add to the cost over 16GB by quite a bit and you may not need it, but having done some performance tests on editing very large images, I did find some benefit to having more than 16GB in terms of render times.

The CPU offers lots of processing capability at a great price and the higher end AMD CPUs come with a perfectly decent cooler, whereas I would always get an aftermarket cooler for an Intel chip. You could go Intel but many of their benefits are aimed at gaming rigs. i think a similarly powerful Intel build will cost £150+ more for no more capability.

I put a 2TB hard disk in for long term storage and a 500GB M.2. SATA for your OS, programs and to use as a scratch disk for files you are working on. SSD technology running on the PCIe bus (as this one is) can just use one disk for all these things perfectly well. You may want a bigger HDD, or instead perhaps get a NAS . Lots of people only have SSD storage in their PCs now and use external HDDs or a NAS to keep their files on.

Some programs you dabble with in the future may be able to utilise GPU processing capability hence picking something more than bottom of the range. The 1050ti will drive 3 monitors at 4K and offers a good balance between price, power usage and performance, including potential future uses.

I also opted for the higher quality PSU as this will be quieter and more power efficient. You could easily get away with only a 450W and save about £60 there. I'm sure it would be perfectly adequate but being well within your budget the better quality PSU makes sense.

Something to get you started.

Frank100