I’m intending to change to a new PC and I would like to hear many opinions before purchasing anything. I want to use Photoshop a lot, and I want to use 3D softwares as well. What is the best recommendation for a graphics card then? Also which monitor I should get for professional work? I don’t want to ruin my eyes. I’m also planning to compose music and use sound samples. What is the best recommendation for a sound card? I currently use Creative Audigy which is already very good imo. And finally which CPU and motherboard are recommended for good performances? Thanks!

I'd suggest you to buy a dual or quad core CPU, like Intel's Core2Duo or Core2Quad. However, do not buy the most expensive model, since these are usually hopelessly overpriced compared to their performance and compared to the insignificantly slower models. However, spending the money saved for a full-featured system board is generally a good idea. For what chipset to choose, I would recommend you to read some benchmarks and motherboard tests. However, I believe that the Intel and NVidia chipsets are currently performing very well!

If you are going to use Photoshop a lot, I would also suggest you to get a lot of memory. 1 Gb is the minimum today, 2 Gb are standard.

For the gfx card I can't give you much advice, so you should better wait for someone else's opinion on this point: I'm currently using a NVidia GeForce 7600 GT, but if you are going to buy a new PC anyway, I would suggest to buy one of the newer DX10 GPUs, especially If you want to try the new shader model.

I'm currently using a dual screen setup of two Dell 20.1" Widescreen displays. They have a native resolution of 1680x1050 which is okay for me. Both screens do have S-IPS panels, which feature fast response times and fairly good colors. You shouldn't buy one of those TN panels if you are serious about your Photoshop thing, because those panels can not display the full 24 bit color range. However, they have extremely fast response times, which make them usually a good choice for gamers. The best panel available is the (P)VA. The colors are usually extremely good but response times are slow. However, some manufacturers like Eizo or Benq use a technique called 'overdrive' which drastically increases response times on (P)VA panels by controlling the pixels with a slightly overpowered current, only for a short moment in time.
If you want to go for a single screen setup I would suggest you to buy a 24.0" widescreen display. For a dual setup, the 20.1" widescreen solution or a setup of two 19" 4:3 displays should do fairly well, however, the personally I don't like the resolution on 19" displays. I think it looks like you can see each pixel, but that's just my personal impression.

On the sound card point I have to admit I don't have enough knowledge again: I'm currently using a Creative Audigy card. However, I believe those are more of consumer cards and if you want to compose music professionally you would better choose an accordingly professional product. M-Audio offers some good solutions here, I believe. You should also be warned, that Creative is really having some problems with their cards working on Windows Vista. EAX for example does only work with a small number of their cards, and "only" through a OpenAL abstraction layer...

That's what I can suggest you. I hope it helps...

thanks for your very detailed message ZMaster! Yes it helps a lot!

Of course I'm going to hear other people suggestions.

Shelling out for a Core2 Quad will get you nothing but bragging rights these days, and by that I mean bragging that you have 4 CPUs in your computer, not that it's 2x faster than a Core2 Duo. When you look at the differences that Intel made in their Core2 Duo over the original Core Duo, waiting for a genuine quad chip (and not one that just has two Core2 Duos welded together, like the original Core Duo just had 2 separate Intel cores welded together) is best. It's an architecture thing, trust me. Go with a low-end Core2 Duo like the E6600 and overclock it as neccessary

Is there any website that help to understand PC hardware and make best choices before buying?

Thanks

Quote: Original post by Alpha Brain
Is there any website that help to understand PC hardware and make best choices before buying?

Thanks

http://www.tomshardware.com/
See the reviews.

Knowing PC hardware is easy:

Get a Core 2 Duo 6600 CPU.
Get a GeForce 8800 GTS OC graphics card.
Get a motherboard based on the Intel chipset for your CPU.
Get at least 2 GB of RAM (preferrably 4), to enable dual-channel mode.
Get a 10,000 rpm hard drive (Raptor) -- ideally two, in RAID 1, for safety and seek performance.
Get a 600W or more power supply. PC Power and Cooling looks good.

You might want to wait a month until the E6650 is available, and newer chip set. The current generation is about to be eclipsed very soon.