Help with specs for new desktop pc

zorbo

zorbo

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john
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Hi,Thanks in advance for any help you may have to offer.
I am presently using my pc for imaging work and also general web stuff.
But i am considering upgrading and was wondering if you guys could suggest a decent and not too expensive system. Preferably built and ready to go as im not very well up on the technical side of this.
My present system is..... amd 64 processor 3500+
2.21 ghz
2.0 gbm ram
And i am using a synkmaster 22 inch anoloug monitor.
I always shoot raw and am using ps cs5. along with several other programes.
I also run two external hard drives but not at the same time and printer scanner etc.
I have had this pc now for quite a few years now but it seems to be quite slow when editing. Also i dont wish to break the bank but something not too rubish either as i want it to last a fair while.
I am not far away from a reputable computer warehouse in bolton and have been looking on their site , but its all confusing to me.
 
Your general requirements will just need a standard pc but with these particular options.
Dedicated graphics card. Not a high spec gaming but a reasonable one which can drive two monitors.
Fast hard disk. You can go with a two disk setup or even a SSD but that's more expensive.
Lots of memory. I would go for 8gb.
 
Budget is the first point of call. And knowing whether you do any gaming.
 
As above ^ budget, last month I built myself a new pc and decided to get the best I could afford. AMD Bulldozer 8120 processor, Geforce 560ti gfx, 8gb, 1Tb hdd (later changed to 256Gb ssd) and Win7 Ultimate oem, Asus mobo, case and psu. The whole lot came to over a grand and I could easily have spent much more but compared to my old machine it flies and is so quiet.
 
Thanks guys,But im afraid anything over the 500 pound mark is going to be a no no for me.Well at the moment anyway,sorry maybee i should have added that before and also i dont do any gaming .I was also told that with my present pc that although it has a slot for more memory in my case this would not be beneficial. I did say in my first post that im not clued up on this.So the more info i can get would be great. Thanks again.
 
Do you want a new monitor in that price? (I'm hoping the answer to that is no ;))
 
gblades said:
http://www.ebuyer.com/282968-hp-pro-3405-mt-desktop-lh134ea-abu
http://www.ebuyer.com/342351-crucia...rt-memory-kit-cl9-1-5v-bls2cp4g3d1339ds1s00eu

Just over £400. The lower end computers don't come with much memory but it's cheap and easily fitted.
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You can do a lot better than that for ~£400. For example this:

http://www.ebuyer.com/338526-zoostorm-2nd-gen-core-i5-no-os-desktop-7873-1053

at £435 inc Win 7 is about 3x as fast a processor of the HP one. Current recommendations are for an i5-2xxx processor and the latest gen Intels have enough graphics oomph onboard for image editing.
 
More like £467 as I wouldn't go with windows 7 home. The pro one has better networking which will make it easier for accessing data on other computers if you keep your old one or get a notebook later for example.
 
gblades said:
More like £467 as I wouldn't go with windows 7 home. The pro one has better networking which will make it easier for accessing data on other computers if you keep your old one or get a notebook later for example.
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No it doesn't. You just need to set it up properly using Windows shares (I have 2x Win 7 Home Premium, 1 x Win 7 Pro, 3 x Linux, 1 x FreeBSD and an XP machine here and they all talk to each other nicely...). What Pro will allow you to do over Home is connect to a domain controller. That's too geeky for even me to implement here....
 
um yes, in my personal experience home is a pita when trying to connect to a network unless all of them are running home.
 
Steep said:
um yes, in my personal experience home is a pita when trying to connect to a network unless all of them are running home.
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In which case, it is unfortunately the user ;) There is nothing extra in Pro that makes it any easier to connect assuming you are using SMB shares. The main issues are to do with credentials and how you share the share. I wouldn't touch homegroup with a bargepole though
 
Again thanks guys for your help. arad in planning on using my existing monitor and the networking side its not something i would be using ,well i dont think so.This is only for a serious hobby and not for my work.I have had a look at the ebuyer links and will read up a bit more before i buy one.As for windows seven.. im still using xp and home at that so again i havent a clue as to its benefits,but i will have to move foward i know that.
 
You need a 64bit operating system to make use of the extra memory (more than 4GB) so that pretty much means you need to upgrade anyway. There was a 64bit version of xp but it was rarely used and very poorly supported.
 
That'll be ebuyer code: 338538 - go to ebuyer.com and enter those 6 digits into the search (the go.talk... doesn't seem to be working for me today).
 
I always go for a known make. I don't know zoostorm and they may be good but I have seen a lot of cheap computers where the power supplies fail or the fans become noisy etc...
 
Zoostorm are ebuyers own make.

I would expect ANY bundled system to have a dodgy power supply and louder than normal fans....

(when I say any, I mean any not specifically designed to minimise this).
 
mid_gen said:
Curious what is wrong with Homegroups? Used to drive me mad sorting out network at my parent's house on win2k/xp. Homegroups just work for me.
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It's a Win7 thing only (I run Win 7, XP, Linux, FreeBSD here - 3/4 of those wouldn't connect), uses IPv6 so is router dependant as to whether it works, obfuscates where the shares actually are (so, for instance, I can't share my media to my xbmc systems easily), forces a Videos/Music/Pictures/Documents hierarchy to your network data. Need I go on?

TBH, if you have a couple of PCs running Win7 and just want to share some documents, music, video and pictures between Win7 machines, it works nicely, but as soon as you want to break that model, it just complicates things.
 
neil_g said:
it was also known to be horrendously slow due to the way it does its routing.
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I did seem to recollect, but CBA to do any googling around at 5am ;)
 
Once again many thanks guys for your help and taking time to answer.
I have ordered the hp pro 3400 as gblades suggested and extra memory .
From ebuyer.
 
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