Advice on a workstation please

Hell on earth

Hell on earth

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Name
Helen
Edit My Images
No
Been looking around for a new system for lightroom and elements nothing extreme on workload

Budget about £600
I've come up with something around this but not sure can you please give advice what I could swap out, need and don't need


Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4430 (3.0GHz) 6MB Cache

Motherboard
ASUS® Z87M-PLUS: m-ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6.0, XFIRE

Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)

Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 650 - DVI, mHDMI, VGA - 3D Vision Ready

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM


Power Supply
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan

Thanks
H
 
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Hi Helen

That looks okay, you might also want to add a ssd so that all the apps and OS is on the ssd, and your data is on the 1tb drive.

Have you also factored in the cost of the OS and do you already have an ips monitor?
 
sep9001 said:
Hi Helen

That looks okay, you might also want to add a ssd so that all the apps and OS is on the ssd, and your data is on the 1tb drive.

Have you also factored in the cost of the OS and do you already have an ips monitor?
Click to expand...

Hi Kev I have 7 Home Premium 64 Bit I was thinking of adding external drives for data

I don't know anything about ssd dives so info on that would be helpful

I don't have a monitor at the moment so any help on that would also be helpful

Thanks
H
 
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A ssd speeds up the opening and running of the apps.

A bit more information is shown here

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_drive

May be Neil will pop in a bit and explain it properly.

I would suggest that you have the ssd for OS, 1tb for data and another external drive for backup. Ideally you want two backups one on sites and another kept offside.

Also I have recently add a ssd to my old core 2 duo pc and that is improved the speed a bit of LR4.
 
Drop the graphics card and run off the internal GPU in the i5. Add a 128G SSD (but check on performance specs as they are not all equal). Swap the PSU for a decent one such as: http://www.ebuyer.com/429886-corsair-cx-series-cx430m-atx-power-supply-cp-9020058-uk and buy a decent heatsink (it will be quieter than the Intel one). This is definitely worth the £16: http://www.ebuyer.com/176157-arctic...o-rev-2-socket-775-1156-1155-1366-ac-frz-7pr2

You don't say what case you are putting it in either....
 
Certainly an SSD but Id also double that RAM to 16GB, I have a similar setup and for fast editing big RAM is pretty useful, and its not expensive right now.

I have a 22" Iiyama monitor which is spot on for colour. (E2208HD)
 
g8ina said:
Certainly an SSD but Id also double that RAM to 16GB
Click to expand...
It depends what program you use. Lightroom, for example, only uses 2.5G max. I currently have LR open, about 40 windows and ~20 Chrome tabs open and I'm using 9.3G of memory.

I wouldn't say no to 16G of memory, but a single monitor and most "normal" users (I'm not normal ;)) 8G will probably do to start with. Having said that, it's certainly the first upgrade I'd make to the system I've described.
 
Thanks guys
So a graphics card is not necessary? shows what I know.. not a lot

That brings the price down a bit but up again on the ssd drive

As for case, I guess that depends on the fans to fit

It's not easy working these things out, I've not seen too much ready made in my budget in the high street and don't know who to trust with the online builders

H
 
Hell on earth said:
Thanks guys
So a graphics card is not necessary? shows what I know.. not a lot
Click to expand...
Sooo...
Here is what I'd build for £600 (assuming no monitor/keyboard etc...)

http://www.ebuyer.com/467680-cpu-core-i5-4570-3-20ghz-lga1150-box-bx80646i54570 £156
http://www.ebuyer.com/517867-h87m-e-s1150-h87-matx-vga-snd-gln-u3-sata-6gb-s-ddr3-in-90mb0f50-m0eay0 £72
http://www.ebuyer.com/176157-arctic...o-rev-2-socket-775-1156-1155-1366-ac-frz-7pr2 £17
http://www.ebuyer.com/272176-kingst...mhz-hyperx-blu-memory-kit-khx1600c9d3b1k2-8gx £55 (or £110 if you went for 16G).
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/128g...nd-read-530mb-s-write-390mb-s-256mb-cache-97k £110 (£117 on ebuyer)
http://www.ebuyer.com/319639-seagate-1tb-barracuda-internal-hard-drive-oem-st1000dm003 £46
http://www.ebuyer.com/429886-corsair-cx-series-cx430m-atx-power-supply-cp-9020058-uk £38
http://www.ebuyer.com/410560-liteon...-r-ram-sata-drive-internal-black-ihas124-19cu £14
Case of your choice £25

Total cost £540ish. £60 towards monitor and job done.
 
arad85 said:
Sooo...
Here is what I'd build for £600 (assuming no monitor/keyboard etc...)

http://www.ebuyer.com/467680-cpu-core-i5-4570-3-20ghz-lga1150-box-bx80646i54570 £156
http://www.ebuyer.com/517867-h87m-e-s1150-h87-matx-vga-snd-gln-u3-sata-6gb-s-ddr3-in-90mb0f50-m0eay0 £72
http://www.ebuyer.com/176157-arctic...o-rev-2-socket-775-1156-1155-1366-ac-frz-7pr2 £17
http://www.ebuyer.com/272176-kingst...mhz-hyperx-blu-memory-kit-khx1600c9d3b1k2-8gx £55 (or £110 if you went for 16G).
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/128g...nd-read-530mb-s-write-390mb-s-256mb-cache-97k £110 (£117 on ebuyer)
http://www.ebuyer.com/319639-seagate-1tb-barracuda-internal-hard-drive-oem-st1000dm003 £46
http://www.ebuyer.com/429886-corsair-cx-series-cx430m-atx-power-supply-cp-9020058-uk £38
http://www.ebuyer.com/410560-liteon...-r-ram-sata-drive-internal-black-ihas124-19cu £14
Case of your choice £25

Total cost £540ish. £60 towards monitor and job done.
Click to expand...

Thanks Andy, I wish I was as confident at DIYing it as you

But I'll see if anyone has anything near that built and take it from there

H
 
PC Specialist built mine, and gave me some good advice when i told them what i would be using it for, what i needed and what i didn't really need, give them a call HERE :)
 
TG. said:
PC Specialist built mine, and gave me some good advice when i told them what i would be using it for, what i needed and what i didn't really need, give them a call HERE :)
Click to expand...

That's where I got the first spec from but having little idea I thought I'd ask here

H
 
Just give em a call, and tell them you want to change a standard spec machine, they are very amenable.

And for after sales support they have their own section in Hexus.
 
Thanks everyone

H
 
check dabs.com good service from them and thay got some nice bundle sets like this i5 prossesor , mo board and Corsair 8GB DDR3 1600Mh for £319.99
That bundle link
 
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Hell on earth said:
Thanks


I found this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300915116293?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 there is a 16Gb mem and other configs
Has the Haswell i5 4430 chip and Z87 board

Which is pretty close, no OS which I have, can add other drives and stuff

£415 with post

H
Click to expand...

Just to update, I went to one of my local pc build shops and got the same system as the one on ebay posted above but with with the Arctic fan and 500 Corsair PSU

£375 :)

Another local shop wanted £440

H
 
Whoah... That's a great price!
 
Back to looking again
Got a call late this afternoon from the "manager" saying the price is wrong and wanted an extra £100 so I left it.

Went in to another place and the guy offers me this

Configurable- HP Compaq Elite 8300 Small Form Factor Desktop PC
QV996AV-ALT
HP Compaq Elite 8300 Small Form Factor Desktop PC
FreeDOS

Intel Core i5-3470 Processor (3.20 GHz, 6 MB Cache) Intel HD Graphics 2500
Intel® Q77 Express Chipset
8GB DDR3-1600 DIMM (2x4GB) RAM
128GB 3.5 1st Solid State Drive
1 TB 7200 RPM 3.5 2nd Hard Drive
DVD-ROM Optical Drive
Integrated Intel 82579 GbE
HP PS/2 Standard Keyboard
HP PS/2 Optical Mouse
HP SFF Chassis Tower Stand
HP Compaq Elite 8300 SFF Standard Chassis
Single Unit (SFF) Packaging
3/3/3 SFF Warranty
HP Compaq Elite 8300 Country Kit (Includes a Quick Setup & Getting Started manual in English and a country-specific power cord)

Windows7 64it pro

It's new and with 3 year warranty
Book price is £1, 075 (I checked the price myself on Hp to make sure) http://h71016.www7.hp.com/dstore/dcart/cart.asp?HeaderAction=ViewCart&oi=E9CED&BEID=19701&SBLID=

Wants £550
I'm a bit worried about the 3rd gen chip and 2500 on board graphics and no card reader, not the end of the world but still

But what do you think ?

H
 
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not sure about the make on the SSD. If it is a work station reliability should be a priority imo even if there is warranty to cover it, down times will still be down times.

Here is what I will do with £600, rather similar to arad85's set up. main difference is the SSD now being a Samsung 830 256gb (which is better than current 840s, but not 840 Pro's, ie 840 Pro > 830 > 840) and swapped out the 1TB for a 2TB drive for a bit of future proofing

http://www.ebuyer.com/429886-corsair-cx-series-cx430m-atx-power-supply-cp-9020058-uk £38
http://www.ebuyer.com/410560-liteon...-r-ram-sata-drive-internal-black-ihas124-19cu £14
http://www.ebuyer.com/467680-cpu-core-i5-4570-3-20ghz-lga1150-box-bx80646i54570 £164
http://www.ebuyer.com/517867-h87m-e-s1150-h87-matx-vga-snd-gln-u3-sata-6gb-s-ddr3-in-90mb0f50-m0eay0 £76
http://www.ebuyer.com/176157-arctic...o-rev-2-socket-775-1156-1155-1366-ac-frz-7pr2 £17
http://www.ebuyer.com/319641-seagate-2tb-barracuda-internal-hard-drive-st2000dm001 £65
http://www.ebuyer.com/342352-crucial-8gb-ddr3-1600mhz-ballistix-sport-memory-bls2cp4g3d1609ds1s00ceu £58
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007BBQQ04/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 £130

comes to £562. Although you can pick up a Samsung 830 128gb SSD for £70 off amazon if you dont need the extra space on the OS/program drive, bringing it down to £502, then you have a hundred quid for case, monitor and peripherals. This is slightly better than the HP one you posted :)
 
FlyingShrapnel said:
not sure about the make on the SSD. If it is a work station reliability should be a priority imo even if there is warranty to cover it, down times will still be down times.

Here is what I will do with £600, rather similar to arad85's set up. main difference is the SSD now being a Samsung 830 256gb (which is better than current 840s, but not 840 Pro's, ie 840 Pro > 830 > 840) and swapped out the 1TB for a 2TB drive for a bit of future proofing

http://www.ebuyer.com/429886-corsair-cx-series-cx430m-atx-power-supply-cp-9020058-uk £38
http://www.ebuyer.com/410560-liteon...-r-ram-sata-drive-internal-black-ihas124-19cu £14
http://www.ebuyer.com/467680-cpu-core-i5-4570-3-20ghz-lga1150-box-bx80646i54570 £164
http://www.ebuyer.com/517867-h87m-e-s1150-h87-matx-vga-snd-gln-u3-sata-6gb-s-ddr3-in-90mb0f50-m0eay0 £76
http://www.ebuyer.com/176157-arctic...o-rev-2-socket-775-1156-1155-1366-ac-frz-7pr2 £17
http://www.ebuyer.com/319641-seagate-2tb-barracuda-internal-hard-drive-st2000dm001 £65
http://www.ebuyer.com/342352-crucial-8gb-ddr3-1600mhz-ballistix-sport-memory-bls2cp4g3d1609ds1s00ceu £58
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007BBQQ04/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 £130

comes to £562. Although you can pick up a Samsung 830 128gb SSD for £70 off amazon if you dont need the extra space on the OS/program drive, bringing it down to £502, then you have a hundred quid for case, monitor and peripherals. This is slightly better than the HP one you posted :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Kyle

I had a try out on the Hp and Lightroom locked up trying to preview 100 pic on my Sd

Don't know why :shrug: but it put me right off

I'll have a look at your links thanks

I'm getting pretty fed up but did see this on ebay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261256260432?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#viTabs_0 refurd

but again I know little about them, like is the screen any good ?

H
 
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I've ended up buying a refurb a bit of a risk but what do you think

Asus CM6330
Intel® H61
Processor Model: Intel i7-3770 (3rd Gen)
Processor Speed: 3.9 GHz
Processor Bus: 650 MHz
Processor Cache: 8 MB
Number of Cores: Quad
Memory (RAM): 8 GB
Storage (hard drive): 1 Tb
Shared Graphics: Intel HD4000
Operating System: Windows 7 pro

Case
Front
1 x Headphone
1 x Microphone
2 x USB 2.0
Card Reader 6 -in-1: SD/ SDHC/ MS/ MS Pro/ xD/ MMC
Dvd rewrite

Back
I/O Ports
2 x USB 3.0
4 x USB 2.0
1 x PS/2(Keyboard/Mouse)
1 x HDMI-Out
1 x VGA(D-Sub)-Out
1 x RJ45 LAN
1 x 8 Channel Audio
1 x S/PDIF out(Audio jack)

£300

Can't find anything like this spec under £500, the Chip itself costs around £240 new

H
 
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