Advise on a new PC build

[Attroll]

Looking at getting a new PC. What do I need so I don’t run into the issues mentioned below in the future. Is it the graphics card that I should invest in or what should I look for in a new computer, please advise me?

I am not sure where to post this question because it pertains to InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator.
I am a publisher and I sometimes run all these programs at the same time or have them all open.
I am getting tired of things being sluggish at times. My projects in InDesign are large and they can also be a little sluggish, but Photoshop is the main issue that I am have issues with. When I am creating or editing photos for my projects to go into InDesign, sometimes when I am doing some heavy editing of photos in Photoshop, I have had Photoshop lock up on me at times and I have not been able to get out of it without turning the power off. I can’t continue to keep doing this.

I don’t want to have a computer built and then continue to have the same issues.
Please advise me what I should be looking for when having a new PC built for me.
Please do not advise me to get a MAC, that is not an option I would even consider.

Rick

[Sulaco · Accepted solution]

I would get as much RAM as possible, especially if you want to run all three programs at the same time! 64GB minimum I would say! And 128GB could probably make an even more noticable difference in this case. How much RAM do you have in your current PC?

I don't think you should go overboard with the GPU though. Never felt that it makes a huge difference, I usually get a decent gaming card. Have an RTX 3070 right now and works fine for me. I am not really a techie, so hopefully someone else here can give you more specific advice.

Good luck!

[J E L]

Hi @Attroll, I am also in the publishing business and use InDesign, Photoshop, Photoshop Beta, Lightroom, Bridge, Illustrator, and Acrobat extensively and often simultaneously, along with other heavy software, including After Effects. My current system (now a year old), a Dell XPS 17 9710, is keeping up quite well so far. It has an 11th Generation Intel Core i7-11800H (24MB Cache, up to 4.6 GHz, 8 cores). There was a chip shortage at the time I bought it, but you should be able to get the latest i9 processor now. I prefer a laptop, but you might like a desktop model.

I agree that more RAM is vital; I have 64GB, but 128GB would be awesome. Plenty of scratch space for Photoshop is also critical. I have 2TB total and keep 1TB free at all times. Make sure you have a solid state drive. You should also use a dedicated (not an integrated) graphics card. Use the Studio, not the Gaming, driver for design work. My card is a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 6GB GDDR6 (70W). It's doing fine.

A final note is that I have not switched to Windows 11 yet. It might be difficult to get anything off-the-shelf with Windows 10 anymore. And having the fastest internet speed available is also important, just in general. In the office, I always access directly via Ethernet cable to modem instead of through WiFi. I hope this is helpful!

[Attroll]

I am looking at having a desktop built and this is what I have with the local computer place.
I can get this for under $2,500.00.
I would like to go with a laptop again, but I can’t get this in a laptop for this price.
Here is my listing below.
Is this OK or is it overkill.

Intel Core i9 (13th Gen) i9-13900KF Tetracosa-core (24 Core) 3 GHz Processor
32GB DDR4 DIMM **total of 128GB RAM**
M.2 NVMe SSD 2TB for boot/storage disk
M.2 NVMe SSD 1TB for scratch disk
nVidia GeForce 16GB Graphics Card
Windows 11 Pro

Thanks

Rick