Build a cheap productive Desktop PC for graphic designers for less than USD $700.

02 April 2020

Getting a standard PC from Dell, HP or even Alienware does not give me the right value of money vs the productivity requires for a regular graphic designers. Today, I will specifically spec out the cost effective & efficienct PC build up for 2D graphic type / Non Video Rendering type; specifically for graphic students, printing, media and communication industry. 

Software usage includes Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign, Acrobat, Autocad and of course Microsoft Office such as Word, Excel, etc.

By the way, we are not building for gaming and gaming usually focuses on graphic cards, multi cores and Z motherboard for tweak processors. 

Let's start with a target price between USD $600 to below $750 (RM 2400-3000) 

Will start with a motherboard (MoBo) - a B series or even H series will do as long as it has 4 slots of ram. Asus, MSI or Asrock are well tested and compatible with quite rangeof hardware. Price about USD $100 (RM 430). 

Second most important is the processor and get the processor with the highest GHz, but limit the core cause more core more $$ and yet 2D will not render efficiently via multi cores. Will choose Intel over AMD due to more support for our application via Intel comparing to AMD (more for games). Moreover, Intel pricing has went down quite a lot due to AMD Ryzen release in these recent years. In this scenario, I will choose the i5 9400F (price USD $170). If you have more budget, an i7 will be great and you can also omit the graphic card as the in built is sufficient. Will explain why later. 

Then, will pair the cheapest available graphic card and even an older GT710 will do (about USD 75) or any card with not more than 35watt. Surely save electric bills in the long run. A external graphic card will off load some processing/memory from the system but not significant as RAM and Hardisk play a more vital role. 

Thirdly, the memory, DDR4 ram,  2333mhz or above and will need at least 16GB or in my built of 2 x 8GB ($70+). Can always upgrade additional RAM if needed. 

Next, will need 1x 256gb of m.2 SSD hardisk (price $40) at read/write 3000mbps for your OS and 1x 1TB SATA for working storage purpose, if needed. Omitting it if you are using cloud storage or external NAS. 

Others required will be a PSU (power supply) at min 300watt ot max 450watt (price $ 40). Lesser watt is better as this will save significant cost of your yearly electric bill. A nice casing with additional fan ($100), Fractal Design's mini ITX or small tower will do for me. Like it small and stylo. 

Future upgrade if needed would be of course RAM to 32GB. It will be the cheapest yet significant upgrade. Next could be a faster/bigger SSD storage. Of course can upgrade a mightly graphic card if video rendering is required. 

So far, my built is about USD$650 excluding the Windows 10 OS and a good monitor. 

Hope that you like this post. If there is any question regarding hardware compatibility, OS or merely discussion, feel free to drop me a comment. 

 * price varies from country to country. the