Budget PhotoEditing Rig

[DefinitelyTech]

 

1. Budget & Location

$450 USD not including sketch tablet.

Kentucky, USA

2. Aim

Wife runs a craft business (mostly handwritten calligraphy on woods, glass, street signs) and wants to switch over to digital design to help grow and expand her income.

She likes the white theme and wants SSF. I already have the Power Supply and 4x4GB DDR3 RAM (but can be upgraded to DDR4 if 100% recommended).

3. Peripherals

Max 1 Monitor, with normal mouse and keyboard. Any suggestions on a digital sketchpad? THE INITIAL THOUGHT WAS THIS

Wife does not like the idea of drawing on board and having to look up at monitor. Is there a budget option for a tablet linked to Photoshop output on the computer and not solely an input device?

5. First Draft PCPartPicker?

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/9QHFZR
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/9QHFZR/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($80.00) 
CPU Cooler: Deepcool - GAMMAXX 400 White 74.3 CFM CPU Cooler  ($37.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI - H97M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($105.00) 
Memory: SK hynix - 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  ($40.00) 
Memory: SK hynix - 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory 
Memory: SK hynix - 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory 
Memory: SK hynix - 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory 
Storage: ADATA - XPG SX6000 128GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($42.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 750 2GB SuperClocked Video Card  ($60.00) 
Case: VIVO - CASE-V06W MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($43.99 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
Power Supply: EVGA - BT 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($19.99) 
Total: $429.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-06-25 13:56 EDT-0400

 

 

P.S. She has been given suggestions on just drawing on iPad or small 2 in 1 budget notebooks, but I am worried her output quality is going to drop with low-end applications ran through iPads or low end notebooks. I welcome all thoughts and suggestions.

[TVwazhere]

7 minutes ago, Marenoc said:

 

1. Budget & Location

$450 USD not including sketch tablet.

Kentucky, USA

2. Aim

Wife runs a craft business (mostly handwritten calligraphy on woods, glass, street signs) and wants to switch over to digital design to help grow and expand her income.

She likes the white theme and wants SSF. I already have the Power Supply and 4x4GB DDR3 RAM (but can be upgraded to DDR4 if 100% recommended).

3. Peripherals

Max 1 Monitor, with normal mouse and keyboard. Any suggestions on a digital sketchpad? THE INITIAL THOUGHT WAS THIS

Wife does not like the idea of drawing on board and having to look up at monitor. Is there a budget option for a tablet linked to Photoshop output on the computer and not solely an input device?

5. First Draft PCPartPicker?

 

P.S. She has been given suggestions on just drawing on iPad or small 2 in 1 budget notebooks, but I am worried her output quality is going to drop with low-end applications ran through iPads or low end notebooks. I welcome all thoughts and suggestions.

If you do get new RAM, you could go for something like this

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2400G 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($158.90 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($49.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill - NT Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($80.98 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Crucial - MX500 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($69.99 @ Adorama) 
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($43.90 @ OutletPC) 
Case: Fractal Design - Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($34.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($22.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $461.73
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-06-25 14:13 EDT-0400

 

Right now B350 boards might need a BIOS update to work with the 2400g (which an iGPU built in) so if you cant wait until a month from now (end of july) the B450 boards will rleease with the BIOS already installed for the G series of chips. 

[rukspuks]

This should work! IMHO you don't need a GPU for photo editing. Remove that and if you can increase to an i7. It will last you longer.

15 minutes ago, Marenoc said:

 

1. Budget & Location

$450 USD not including sketch tablet.

Kentucky, USA

2. Aim

Wife runs a craft business (mostly handwritten calligraphy on woods, glass, street signs) and wants to switch over to digital design to help grow and expand her income.

She likes the white theme and wants SSF. I already have the Power Supply and 4x4GB DDR3 RAM (but can be upgraded to DDR4 if 100% recommended).

3. Peripherals

Max 1 Monitor, with normal mouse and keyboard. Any suggestions on a digital sketchpad? THE INITIAL THOUGHT WAS THIS

Wife does not like the idea of drawing on board and having to look up at monitor. Is there a budget option for a tablet linked to Photoshop output on the computer and not solely an input device?

5. First Draft PCPartPicker?

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/9QHFZR
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/9QHFZR/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($80.00) 
CPU Cooler: Deepcool - GAMMAXX 400 White 74.3 CFM CPU Cooler  ($37.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI - H97M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($105.00) 
Memory: SK hynix - 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  ($40.00) 
Memory: SK hynix - 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory 
Memory: SK hynix - 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory 
Memory: SK hynix - 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory 
Storage: ADATA - XPG SX6000 128GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($42.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 750 2GB SuperClocked Video Card  ($60.00) 
Case: VIVO - CASE-V06W MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($43.99 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
Power Supply: EVGA - BT 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($19.99) 
Total: $429.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-06-25 13:56 EDT-0400

 

 

P.S. She has been given suggestions on just drawing on iPad or small 2 in 1 budget notebooks, but I am worried her output quality is going to drop with low-end applications ran through iPads or low end notebooks. I welcome all thoughts and suggestions.

 

[zerosquared]

I have a bit of experience in digital drawing (Surface Book and also a girlfriend who is into calligraphy and stuff); as much as she loves her Surface Book sometimes she is pissed that all of "the good Apps" only exist for the iPad (Pro).
So, before buying anything for a PC for her let her try drawing on an iPad; I understand that you think the output quality could be crap, but trust me, it is not. And I'm a 100% PC guy who does not like Apple at all.