Thank you for inviting all of us newbs to join the forum.
I need to know what kind of video card & how much RAM a serious scrapper really uses...not just what the software box says is the minimum. I use Adobe Photoshop. I don't know half of the things it can do, but I love it! When the weather is nice, you'll find me outside.
I collect interesting old chairs and plants. What do you all collect aside from scrapbooking elements?

Welcome to SBB!

Video card and ram will depend on what your computer can handle (or allow), your processor type and speed, whether you use vista or XP, and which version of PhotoShop you use.

I have CS3, which makes good use of my dual core processor so I don't seem to need as much ram as on my old computer. I still have 2GB of ram which is fine with my XP. My video card is onboard, and meant for graphic applications and not gaming. Another thing to consider is how much free hard drive space you have, as I found that was the first thing we had to increase when I started digital.

Check out the tutorials area for lessons on how to do things in photoshop, as it is a wonderful program to play with.

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Colleen in Friendly Manitoba...
Proudly selling digital designs at SBB
(Come take a peek at my Gallery or check my BLOG to see what I'm up to)

It's nice of you to respond. I use XP Professional. (Rumors of lots of bugs in Vista has discouraged me from switching) My motherboard went bad and blew my power supply. Now I am starting over from scratch and individually choosing each component. How much hard drive space do you recommend?

I'll leave the computer speak to those more knowledgeable than me and just say hello and welcome to SBB.

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Silly Would love to hear your feed back at My Gallery

Dh's power supply blew up and took everything else with it, so I kinda know what you are going through.

Do some research on ATI video cards as they are what we normally add to our systems here. One that accepts two monitors would be sweet for digi-scrapping, but not a necessity.

As for HD space... I have a total of 1230 MB hooked up to my computer at the moment, but a chunk of that is for designing, a chunk for purchased kits, a chunk for photos and a chunk for layouts. A 500 MB HD is around $100 right now, and that would be a good amount to get you started.

I also run XP Pro, and hope to do so for as long as I can. Some versions of Vista are more stable, but they are the more expensive packages.

When you think you know what you want to use to build your system, post in the area where the computer gurus pop in to help. My computer tech DH is out for the evening, or I would ask him and post his response for you. Have fun building your system!

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Colleen in Friendly Manitoba...
Proudly selling digital designs at SBB
(Come take a peek at my Gallery or check my BLOG to see what I'm up to)

Hi and welcome. Colleen's hubby is the tech expert so my recommendations are just based on what works for me Personally I think the better you get to start with the less chance you have of outgrowing your system but as always it depends largely on your budget and what you choose to spend money on affects what its worth getting for the other components.

Ideally:
Quad core processor
3GB RAM
512 Dedicated Graphics card
1 TB of hard drive space
Dual Layer DVD burner

If you need to compromise
Dual Core processor
2GB RAM
256 Dedicated Graphics Card
500MB Hard Drive space
DVD burner

HTH

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see my gallery here My Gallery!
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