Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

P4 & M2

 

Task 6a P4

 

 

Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Master Collection

Design and deliver professional work for print, web, and video using the ultimate creative toolset. Get a full complement of premium creative tools — yours for one price and one install. Use the industry’s finest image-editing and vector software, and create new reading experiences with Adobe InDesign CS 5.5. Your designs flow easily to the web and interactive worlds with cross-platform support in Flash Professional CS5.5 and HTML5 in Dreamweaver CS5.5. Take your creativity to the big screen with powerful video editing, effects, and audio tools that handle HD smoothly and with precision performance. Push your creative edge and reach audiences in new ways with one value-packed offering.

 

Full from

£2,763.60

£2,303.00 ex VAT 

 

Upgrade from

£571.20

£476.00 ex VAT 

 

System requirements

 

Windows

Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD Athlon® 64 processor (Intel Core™ i3, i5, or i7 or or AMD Phenom® II recommended); Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Phenom II required for Adobe Premiere Pro; Processor with 64-bit support required for Adobe Premiere® Pro and After Effects®

Microsoft® Windows® XP with Service Pack 3; Windows Vista® Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 2; or Windows 7; 64-bit edition of Windows Vista or Windows 7 required for Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, and the Subscription Edition of Master Collection

2GB of RAM (4GB or more recommended)

24.3GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on removable flash storage devices)

1280x900 display (1280x1024 recommended) with qualified hardware-accelerated OpenGL graphics card, 16-bit color, and 256MB of VRAM

Adobe-certified GPU card for GPU-accelerated performance in Adobe Premiere Pro; visit www.adobe.com/go/premiere_systemreqs for the latest list of supported cards

Some GPU-accelerated features in Adobe Photoshop® require graphics support for Shader Model 3.0 and OpenGL 2.0

Some features in Adobe Bridge rely on a DirectX 9–capable graphics card with at least 64MB of VRAM

7200 RPM hard drive for editing compressed video formats; RAID 0 for uncompressed

Adobe-certified card for capture and export to tape for SD/HD workflows

OHCI-compatible IEEE 1394 port for DV and HDV capture, export to tape, and transmit to DV device

Sound card compatible with ASIO protocol or Microsoft Windows Driver Model

DVD-ROM drive compatible with dual-layer DVDs (DVD+-R burner for burning DVDs; Blu-ray burner for creating Blu-ray Disc media)

Java™ Runtime Environment 1.6 (included)

Eclipse™ 3.6.1 required for plug-in installation

QuickTime 9 software required for QuickTime and multimedia features

Adobe Flash® Player 10 software required to export SWF files and to play back DVD projects exported as SWF files

Broadband Internet connection required for online services and to validate Subscription Edition (if applicable) on an ongoing basis*

 

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Intel 10400i Configurator - Ultimate Workstation & Gaming System £1243.90 inc VAT (£1036.58 ex VAT)

 

Case £319.99

Lian Li PC-P80N Full Tower Case – Black

 

I chose this case because it was proved to be strong and its design was unique including colour preferences.

 

Processor £799.99 inc VAT - £666.66 ex VAT

Intel Core i7-3960X 3.30GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor

 

I chose this processor because I found that it was the best that I could find. It contains the following technologies: Intel Turbo Boost Technology and Intel Hyper-Threading Technology. This allows the processor to enable the computer to run at amazing speeds and the feedback of the product is also good. It doesn’t come with a cooler so I had to get one of those too. The features are below.

 

- Core Size: 32nm

- Socket: LGA2011

- Six Core

- Frequency: 3.30GHz (3.90GHz TURBO)

- Multiplier: 33x (Unlocked Multiplier)

- L2 Cache: 6x 256KB

- L3 Cache: 15MB

- TDP: 130W

- DOES NOT INCLUDE COOLER

- 3yr Warranty

 

With high capabilities, a high-speed computer can run graphics programs like Adobe Photoshop smoothly without having any problems.

 

 

CPU Cooler £72.98 inc VAT - £60.82 ex VAT

Intel Liquid Cooling Solution CPU Cooler

 

I chose this piece of kit because it was one of the pieces I had to get separately in order to keep the whole system cool from overheating and possibly melting components. It is one of the best on the market being a self contained water cooler. The features are below.

 

- Socket LGA1155/LGA1156//LGA1366/LGA2011

- Fan Speed: 800-2200 RPM (4 wire PWM)

- Fan Dimensions: 120 mm x 120 mm x 25 mm

- Fan Airflow: 74CFM

- Unit Noise Level: 21dBA@800 RPM / 35dBA @ 2200 RPM

- Radiator Dimensions: 150mm x 118mm x 37mm

- Pump Z-Height: 33mm

- Total Thermal Solution Weight: 820 grams

- Cooling Liquid: Propylene Glycol

- Thermal Interface Material: TC-1996

 

This would cool down the processor along with the rest of the system to enable maximum performance. If the processor wasn’t cooled down, this would have a knock on effect with a literal system meltdown.

 

Motherboard £289.98 inc VAT - £241.65 ex VAT

Asus P9X79 DELUXE Intel X79 Motherboard (DDR3 Motherboard)

 

I chose the Asus P9X79 because it was recommended by the overclockers website and is described as being ‘at the very top end of motherboard performance’. It also supports many formats and new ‘Turbo boost’ technology. E.g. 2.0 

This motherboard would increase performance on the ends of storage and many of the features below are self explanatory.

 

The features are below.

 

ASUS Dual Intelligent Processors 3 with New DIGI+ Power Control:

CPU Power: Industry leading Digital 16+4 Phase Power Design and CPU Power Utility

DRAM Power: Industry leading Digital 2+2 Phase Power Design and DRAM Power Utility

ASUS EPU and EPU switch: Automatically provides the most appropriate power usage to save power and money.

ASUS TPU with Auto Tuning and TurboV with Switch: Providing simple steps to easy overclocking.

ASUS BT GO!: Bluetooth on-board for easy Folder Sync, BT Transfer, Shot & Send, BT to Net, Music Player, Personal Manager, BT Turbo Remote

ASUS EFI BIOS(EZ Mode):The most flexible and easy to use Bios. 

ASUS SSD Caching: 3x Faster storage performance with one click

USB 3.0 Boost: Make USB 3.0 speeds faster than ever (UASP Mode)

Front Panel USB 3.0 Support: Support for cases with front USB 3.0

MemOK!: Quickly ensures memory boot compatibility with failsafe settings.

AI Suite II: One stop access to all Asus features.

Ai Charger: Faster USB charging speed.

Fanless Design: Silent Heat-sink solution

Fan Xpert+: Smart thermal control via fan speed detection. 

ASUS Q-Code: Allows easy fault diagnosis

ASUS Q-Shield: Extra Secure I/O Shield

ASUS Q-Slot: Easy access expansion slots.

ASUS Q-DIMM: Easy access dimm slots.

ASUS Q-LED (CPU, DRAM, VGA, Boot Device LED):

ASUS Q-Connector: Easy access front panel connector

USB BIOS Flashback: Flash your Bios in 1 easy step, no CPU or RAM required.

ASUS O.C. Profile: Easily store multiple overclock profiles.

CrashFree BIOS 3: Restore corrupted BIOS data from a USB flash disk

EZ Flash 2: Easily update your systems bios firmware. 

MyLogo 2: Update your own windows boot screen.

Percision Tweaker 2: Advanced overclocking tools.

Multi-language BIOS: easily change Bios to your language.

 

Precision Tweaker 2:

- vCore: Adjustable CPU voltage at 0.005V increment

- vTTCPU: Adjustable I/O voltage at 0.00625V increment

- vCCSA: 255-step system agent voltage control

- vDRAM Bus: 160-step Memory voltage control

- vPCH: 96-step Chipset voltage control

- vCPU_PLL: 48-step CPU & PCH PLL voltage control

SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection)

- BCLK/PEG frequency tuning from 80MHz up to 300MHz at 0.1MHz increment

Overclocking Protection:

- ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall)

 

Key specification:

Form Factor: ATX, 12”x 9.6” (30.5cm x 24.4cm)

CPU: Intel® Socket 2011 for 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processor Extreme Edition, Supports Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0

Chipset: Intel® X79 Express Chipset

Memory: 8 x DIMM, Max. 64GB, DDR3 2400(O.C.)/2133(O.C.)/1866/1600/1333/1066 MHz, ECC, Non-ECC, un-buffered Quad channel Memory

Expansion Slots: 3 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (dual@x16/x16; triple@x16/x8/x8), 1 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slot (PCIe x16_3@x8 speed), 2 x PCIe 2.0 x1 slots

Multi-GPU: Supports NVIDIA® 3-Way SLI™ and AMD® Quad-GPU CrossFireX™ Technology

Storage 1: Intel® X79 Express Chipset: 2 x SATA 6Gb/s ports with RAID 0,1,5 and 10 support, 4 x SATA 3Gb/s ports with RAID 0,1,5 and 10 support

Storage 2: Marvell® 9128 SATA controller: 2 x SATA 6Gb/s ports

Storage 3: ASMedia® 1061 SATA controller: 2 x Power eSATA 6Gb/s ports

LAN: Dual Gigabit LAN controllers- 802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) appliance, Realtek® 8111E Gigabit LAN controller and Intel® 82579V Gigabit LAN controller.

Audio: Realtek® ALC 898 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC Supports 192kHz/ 24bit BD Lossless Sound

USB: 3 x ASMedia USB 3.0 controllers: 2 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports at mid-board for front panel support: 6 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports at back panel with 1 additional VIA SuperSpeed USB

USB: Intel®X79 Express Chipset: 12 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports (8 ports at mid-board, 4 ports at back panel)

IEEE 1394: None

BT & WiFi: Bluetooth v3.0 + HS (Bluetooth v2.1+EDR & Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n) with ASUS BT GO! Utility

Bios Features: 64 Mb Flash ROM, UEFI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.6, ACPI 2.0a, Multi-language BIOS, ASUS EZ Flash 2, ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3

Manageability: WfM 2.0, DMI 2.0, WOL by PME, WOR by PME, PXE

 

*This motherboard is ready to support PCIe 3.0 SPEC

 

Back Panel I/O Ports:

1 x Bluetooth module

1 x Wi-Fi antenna port

1 x Optical S/PDIF Output port

2 x LAN (RJ45) ports (1 x Intel® LAN)

2 x Power eSATA 6Gb/s ports (green)

6 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports (blue)

4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports (white port can be switched to USB BIOS Flashback)

1 x USB BIOS Flashback Button

8-channel Audio I/O

 

Internal I/O Connectors:

1 x USB 3.0/2.0 connector support additional 2 USB ports (19-pin)

4 x USB 2.0/1/1 connectors support additional 8 USB ports

4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors

4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors

1 x CPU Fan connector (4-pin)

1 x CPU Opt Fan connectors (4-pin)

4 x Chassis Fan connectors (4-pin)

1 x Front panel audio connector(AAFP)

1 x S/PDIF Out header

1 x Clear CMOS button

1 x 24-pin EATX Power connector

1 x 8-pin EATX 12V Power connector

1 x System Panel (Q-Connector)

1 x MemOK! Button

1 x EPU switch

1 x TPU switch

1 x Power-on switch

1 x Reset switch

1 x Bluetooth v3.0 + HS header

 

In The Box:

1 x Bluetooth v3.0 + HS module

4 x Serial ATA 6Gb/s cables

2 x Serial ATA 6Gb/s cables

4 x Serial ATA 3Gb/s cables

2 x Serial ATA 3Gb/s cables

1 x ASUS 3-Way SLI bridge connector

1 x ASUS SLI bridge connector

1 x Wi-Fi Ring Moving Antenna

1 x 2 in 1 Q-connector

I/O Shield

User's manual

Drivers

ASUS Utilities

ASUS Update

Anti-virus software (OEM version)

 

(Referenced from http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-487-AS).

 

This motherboard has a large number of different connective slots of which different kinds of BUS drives can be inserted. These can be inserted to act as an external hard drive/disc for moving information, files, archives, etc… about.

 

Memory £299.99 inc VAT - £249.99 ex VAT

Team Xtreem 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 2600MHz C10 Dual/Quad Channel Kit

 

I chose this part because it was one of the top end pieces of kit and because the space it provides allows there to be less jumping around on the screen and more room for processes that allow more on-screen activity. This would be very useful for running graphics programs because sometimes when the computer processes take up too much space, a brush can jump and a design can be ruined or sometimes too many processes can take up so much space that a program may crash and shut down resulting in lost data.

 

- Fully compatible with Intel P67, Z68, X58, x79-based DDR3 motherboards

- XMP Ready

- High frequency and Low latency

- RoHS Compliant

- Larger capacity:4 GB Kit (2GBx2), 8 GB Kit (4GBx2), 16 GB Kit (4GBx4)

- Equipped super thermal conduction heat spreader

- 100% Tested and Verified

- Lifetime Warranty

- Data transfer bandwidth 20,800 MB/Sec (PC3 20,800)

- CL-value: 10-12-12-31 1T

- Working voltage: 1.55-1.65V

- PCB: 8 layer PCB

 

 

Graphics Card 1 + 2 £419.99 each

OcUK Value GeForce GTX 590 3072MB GDDR5 x2

 

I chose this graphics card because it is capable of giving a smoother and wider range of graphics properties. It also allows for different graphic types like 3D graphics. 2 graphics cards will further improve the performance of the output of graphics. This would benefit a graphics designer that uses all kinds of designs be it CGI, 3D, 2D or anything else.

 

Hard Drive 1 + 2 £249.98 inc VAT - £208.32 ex VAT each

Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive x2

 

The extra Hard Drives are for extra fast performance being 256 Giga Bytes each, they would store large design packages and programs, applications, files, etc… By having the extra drive, a graphic designer could easily have more than one package installed on the computer say for creating effects that another can’t.

 

RAID Option £10.00

RAID 1 Setup

 

Optical £159.98 inc - VAT £133.32 ex VAT

Pioneer BDR-206MBK 12x BDXL BluRay RW / 16x DVD±RW Drive - Black (OEM)

 

I chose this piece of kit because not only does it allow the reading of large storage space disk types but it also brings out the capabilities of storing more onto large disc storage. This could be anything from starting designs to pictures of finished designs so the option of storing the design digitally or physically is accessible. 

(can write onto BluRay)

 

Sound Card £144.98 inc VAT - £120.82 ex VAT 

Asus Xonar DG 5.1 PCI Sound Card with built in Headphone AMP

 

I chose this sound card just simply because it is vital to hear if there are errors on a computer and to hear the noises at a notable sound so that they are clear.

 

Power Supply £229.99 inc VAT - £191.66 ex VAT

Antec High Current Pro 1200W Modular PSU 

 

I chose this power supply because it exerts the most wattage which is like more oxygen for the computer effectively. The more power it is supplied with, the more work it will be able to do and again, this all helps the computer to run very smoothly.

 

Operating System £149.99 - £124.99 ex VAT

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit

 

I chose windows because it is a system that you can get easily familiarised with, it is applicable with a wide range of different applications and software that can be used for this field of work. Windows 7 Ultimate has easier access to the system tools and management.

 

Networking £12.98

TP Link 300Mbps Wireless-N USB Adapter 

 

I chose this adapter because I didn’t need a high-tech gaming adapter to connect to the internet wirelessly. It was also very cost efficient.

 

Monitor £293.99 inc VAT - £244.99 ex VAT

Benq XL2420T 24" TRUE 120Hz 3D Vision 2.0 Widescreen LED Monitor - Black/Red

 

I chose this monitor because it supports many types of graphics for on-screen activity. I also chose it over a larger monitor because there are settings of balancing the colours and shades on-screen that other one did not have for personal preference.

 

Total - £3,826.28

£4,359.83 inc VAT

 

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Task 6b M2

Mac Pro 12-Core  

Two 2.66GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon “Westmere” processors

 

6GB (six 1GB) memory

1TB hard drive

18x double-layer SuperDrive

ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB GDDR5

 

Processor 

2.93GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon “Westmere” (12 cores)

 

 

 

Memory 

64GB (8x8GB)

 

 

 

 

RAID Card

Mac Pro RAID Card

 

 

 

Hard Drive - Bay 1

512GB solid-state drive

 

 

 

Hard Drive - Bay 2

512GB solid-state drive

 

 

 

Hard Drive - Bay 3

2TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive

 

 

 

Hard Drive - Bay 4

2TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive

 

 

 

Graphics

ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB x2

 

 

 

Optical Drive

One 18x SuperDrive

 

 

 

Apple Display

Apple LED Cinema Display (27" flat panel)

 

 

 

Mouse and Magic Trackpad

Apple Magic Mouse 

 

 

 

Apple Keyboard and Documentation

Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) & User's Guide

 

 

 

Fibre Channel Card

Quad-channel 4Gb Fibre Channel PCI Express card

 

 

 

 

Total: $15,968

 

Evaluation - Intel 10400i Configurator - Ultimate Workstation & Gaming System & Mac Pro 12 Core

The good thing about the Mac system is that you can insert up to 4 hard drives into it up to 2TB(Terra Bytes each) – 8TB(Terra Bytes in total). In this case, the Mac dominates the Intel 10400 system in memory capabilities seeing at this is 12 Core and the Processor for the windows PC is only 6 Core.  This means that the Mac system will initially run faster and smoother than the Intel Configurator.

 

The internal memory is 64GB (8x8) for the Mac which also proves to dominate the Intel system which is 16GB (4x4). This shows that the Mac would run much faster than the Windows PC and store much more.

 

Judging that this is a computer for graphics design, the Mac is let down by its dual 1GB graphics cards whereas the PC has dual 3072MB graphics cards. The point of the graphics card is to enhance the rate of frames at which the computer monitor can handle and the graphics that can be output e.g. 3D graphics. The PC has better cards so using the Mac as an alternate system would downgrade the graphics a touch. The lower graphics in the Mac may result in bad display or relatively poor quality in some graphics.

 

As a whole – The Mac system is a whole lot more expensive than the Windows system – the windows system can be upgraded further still and be more cost efficient than the Mac system. The Mac system has a lot of new technology but the cost varies from the American website to the UK website by a few thousand pounds. 

 

The Mac monitor is a 27 inch LED screen which allows everything to be seen across the screen clearly covering a wider area and meaning that there’s no need to sit so close to the monitor in order to see small text or need to change the text size or zoom. The Pc’s screen is a smaller 24 inch LED screen which is much cheaper than the Mac monitor that supports the output of many different kinds of graphics. The Mac supports all kinds of graphics too but it is very dear and with a 3 inch difference to the Pc monitor, the Pc monitor is definitely the better of the two.

 

Overall, the Pc is much cheaper than the Mac and doesn’t fall far behind it in performance, the memory is another thing but in total, the Pc is what I would recommend. The reason for this is because it has plenty of the capabilities of working as a graphics design computer and is cheaper than the Mac machine. It also provides everything that the Mac does and still runs very well.

 

If anything, the Mac could be used as the main machine because of its differences in performance, memory, etc… and the Pc is used as the alternative. I think this because the Mac has a higher price and would be worth it as it has a high standard performance, it can display various kinds of graphics, it can run almost any program that the Pc can and if not, a program better or close to the on that it can’t to make up for. The Mac also has an easy system to get around and is very simple. I believe that the Pc should be used as a backup as it is cheaper/has a lower budget and wouldn’t cost as much to replace. So to use the backup machine until it breaks down or something goes wrong and then using the main machine when necessary because of its expenses. The Pc is also very good in its graphics and can be repaired manually when it breaks down, the apple Mac needs to be repaired by someone who works at apple, an apple store or knows how to fix things in a Mac machine.