New Computer - Advice Please

S

starabo

Suspended / Banned
Messages
97
Edit My Images
No
Dear all,

I'm thinking about getting a new PC. I've realise that (sniff) my PC gaming days are over as I only seem to use the PC for work, t'internet, and photo processing; the latter being the reason for upgrading (it's so old it's nearly ground to a halt).

Therefore I was wondering if anyone has any advice. I'm not really interested in spending mega-bucks (I'd rather put that towards more glass), so my current thoughts are:

- a standard dual core processor (something like Intel E8400)
- max out on the RAM, 4GB if poss
- run-of-the-mill graphics card

Is there anything else that's important? I'm thinking of dedicating my old (i.e. current) hard disk as the scratch disk for CS3, which should speed things up a little, sticking with XP (I'm yet to see a valid reason to go Vista), and trying to resist installing loads of rubbish in the few two weeks of ownership.

Any thoughts?

--
Starabo
 
i use a dual core E8400 (3ghz) with photoshop and 4gb of mem! it's a dell but does the photoshop job fine! i would invest in a good screen though!
 
No point getting 4GB unless you intend to use Windows 64-bit. Stick with 3GB and save a little.

CS3 doesn't use the graphics card for processing edits but I'd stick get at least a 256MB dedicated to keep the refresh rate on screen decent - especially if you get a big monitor as it'll be a higher resolution and require more gpu processing power.

Processor; stick to Intel definitely and Dual Core should be fine although Quad Cores are pretty cheap now and readily available.

Forgot to mention, I'm running an XPS Quad Core Extreme, 4GB with an 8800GTX 768MB Dedicated and to be honest there's not a great deal of difference for photo editing (except for lightroom) than my laptop which is a Dual Core T5500, 2GB and 256MB Dedicated 7900. However, the biggest impact I've found was getting the 22" screen and also getting it calibrated so I'd agree 100% with investing in a decent screen!
 
My advice would be DO NOT buy until new year as I've heard prices are set to plummet.

I saw on TV today that somebody had been to a well know retailer for a £499 laptop and was told by the sales staff not to buy as they would be £100 after Christmas
 
You will not save much getting 3Gb over 4Gb and Windows 7 will be out next year. If buying the bits to build a machine, having one built for you or getting one from a supplier I would get 2x2Gb. You can then likely add another 2x2Gb under Windows 7 if you get a motherboard capable of that. Either way I would still just get 4Gb.

Also why not just get a 64bit OS? If the machine is new anyway then all the bits can be purchased as 64bit capable. There are 64bit drivers for most printers, scanners etc from major manufacturers.

Going down this route will most likely give you a machine that requires little in order to upgrade your OS later and get the most from your software now.

If you are happy to do a bit of messing about you can pick up a E7300 and overclock it totally stably to 3.8GHz using a decent fan and it will be cheap! If you dont fancy messing about like this there are still a whole load of CPU bargains at the moment with the new Nehalem processors coming out.

What is your budget? What software will you be using? Do you have anything that you can re-use such as a decent monitor, keyboard and mouse? Do you have the knowledge to build a machine? If so is your case, power supply, DVD writer and/or hard drive still of use?

Photoshop and other software will be making use of the 3D card over the next few years! But even cheaper cards are very capable now! If your machine is for what you have said then my advice would be something like this:

£45 Reasonable case with 650w PSU or similar
£80 Good quality motherboard
£109 Samsung 1Tb F1 hard drive & 2x2Gb Corsair 800MHz ram (its on special today at scan)
£135 Intel E8400
£65 Nvidia 8600Gt 512Mb GPU
£15 Decent fan assembly
£15 DVD writer 22X Samsung or similar

That would be a really decent machine for running Vista/XP for a few years to come for about £450.

You can add an OEM version of Vista home premium 64bit or XP 64bit for about £50 giving you a total of around £500

You can save money all over the above machine though!
 
cowasaki is right on the money, i'd have to disagree with techno-geeks choices. If you arent going to be overclocking then you just need a motherboard which is going to be stable but nothing special. Imo, 4Gb of ram is a must, especially for an photoshop work.

Regarding the OS i'd recommend vista 64bit, its much more widely suppported than Xp-64 (which is really what started all the rumours of problems) Also it'll use your dual core properly. The only problem is with (dedicated) sound card drivers but that is really the fault of creative being completely useless at supplying drivers.

I dont know about your backup arangements but a 2nd hard drive or an external might be a good investment, though you mentioned the old computers hard drive so that might do depending on size.
 
Blue Eagle said:
Regarding the OS i'd recommend vista 64bit, its much more widely suppported than Xp-64 (which is really what started all the rumours of problems) Also it'll use your dual core properly. The only problem is with (dedicated) sound card drivers but that is really the fault of creative being completely useless at supplying drivers.
Click to expand...
XP will be fine for any dual or quad-core processor on the market. No need to upgrade to Vista 64-bit unless you're pushing the limits of the 4GB of MMIO devices with a graphics card with over 512MB of onboard memory.

Techno-Geek said:
Clicky
Clicky
Clicky
Clicky
Clicky
Clicky

That should be alright for that sort of stuff
Click to expand...
£90 on a graphics card that won't be used? £126 on a motherboard and pairing it with a 1.6ghz Celeron and 2GB of PC4200 RAM?

What a bizarre selection of components.

starabo said:
I'm thinking about getting a new PC.
Click to expand...
Don't.

With the new Intel i7 range there's loads of enthusiasts abandoning their Core 2 Dual and Quad processors and hardware with great haste.

If you know someone who knows their stuff you could pick up a second-hand system on the cusp of the cutting edge for around £350 that would see you through to the successor to Vista.
 
have you seen the offer in aldi for the base unit for a new comp think its £479 no monitor though but has all you wanted.?
 
glitch said:
£90 on a graphics card that won't be used? £126 on a motherboard and pairing it with a 1.6ghz Celeron and 2GB of PC4200 RAM?

What a bizarre selection of components.
Click to expand...

Er not really mate, the E1200 is fine.

=glitch;1074469]With the new Intel i7 range there's loads of enthusiasts abandoning their Core 2 Dual and Quad processors and hardware with great haste.

If you know someone who knows their stuff you could pick up a second-hand system on the cusp of the cutting edge for around £350 that would see you through to the successor to Vista.
Click to expand...

:lol: :lol: Okay what?
 
Techno-Geek said:
Er not really mate, the E1200 is fine.
Click to expand...
About the only positive thing to say about the CPU is that it will work.

But do explain to me the sense in spending £215 on a graphics card and motherboard and then scrimping on the CPU and memory.

Techno-Geek said:
:lol: :lol: Okay what?
Click to expand...
Do you not understand what I said or do you not agree? Your somewhat bizarre reply doesn't yield many clues.
 
glitch said:
About the only positive thing to say about the CPU is that it will work.

But do explain to me the sense in spending £215 on a graphics card and motherboard and then scrimping on the CPU and memory.

Do you not understand what I said or do you not agree? Your somewhat bizarre reply doesn't yield many clues.
Click to expand...

I think your just trying to get a reaction out of me, which i find very funny

The sense in spending £215 on a graphics card? "£90.84 inc VAT (includes 2.5% VAT discount)" Ya really £215 isn't it?...............................................................:bang:

You can scrimp on the CPU and RAM, there is no harm in that. And when you feel the need for more power, go upgrade

Stop quoting me as bizarre What is so bizarre about it?
 
You quote what I've written and yet still manage to get it wrong. How?

You're suggesting that it would be a good idea to spend £90 on a graphics card and £126 on a motherboard. £90 + £126 = £216. I've then rounded that down to £215. Do you see?

The OP has stated that they want dual-core CPU like the E8400, 4GB of RAM and a 'run of the mill' graphics card. You suggest the bottom of the line Celeron CPU, 2GB of RAM and a £90 graphics card.

I think that's a bizarre selection. You, apparently, do not.

I'll leave it at that until starabo replies to any of the points raised in this thread. When he/she does we can take it from there.
 
It is bizarre mate.

E8400/Q6600 2x2Gb of ram, Vista 64bit and a 24" or 2x 22" screens. Easy. Dunno why you are recomending Xp, its awful, extremely dated and hardware limiting. Also driver support for XP-64 is terrible. Sorry but get with the times, Vista 64bit is the only OS choice these days.
 
I'm recommending XP as the OP already has a copy and sees no reason to upgrade yet. And quite frankly there is no reason to. XP isn't hardware limiting unless you're pushing 4GB of RAM and your graphics card has a horrendous amount of onboard memory.

As an overall choice, I am with you on Vista. Given the option of buying XP or Vista 64-bit, I'd go for the latter. But not if I already had a copy of XP that could be put to good use.
 
glitch said:
You quote what I've written and yet still manage to get it wrong. How?

You're suggesting that it would be a good idea to spend £90 on a graphics card and £126 on a motherboard. £90 + £126 = £216. I've then rounded that down to £215. Do you see?

The OP has stated that they want dual-core CPU like the E8400, 4GB of RAM and a 'run of the mill' graphics card. You suggest the bottom of the line Celeron CPU, 2GB of RAM and a £90 graphics card.

I think that's a bizarre selection. You, apparently, do not.

I'll leave it at that until starabo replies to any of the points raised in this thread. When he/she does we can take it from there.
Click to expand...

Hmm, no you won't leave it until starabo replies. It will stop now.

Why is it any forum i post on someone wants to argue with me?
 
Thanks for the comment guys (before the flaming anyway)

There's a lot to think about there. I like the look of the setup cowasaki is recommending, it's about the right sort of pitch for me. I only need the machine as all the ancils (monitor, keys etc) can be re-used.

The only question that remains is do I go XP or Vista. If Vista is going to give me a better performance by supporting the dual core better then I'll opt for that. My original thinking was concerned that vista would eat up all of the runtime thereby cancelling out all of the extra power I've just invested in!

Regards

Starabo
 
Either XP64 or Vista64 will handle two/four cores and 4Gb of Ram but XP32 and Vista 32 will still make use of the other cores too (you may loose a little of the Ram though). Personally I would transfer your existing XP onto the new computer and go from there. The new version of windows will be out next year anyway and your new computer will make a pretty good platform to start off with that and give you a little space to maybe add more Ram or a second HD etc.

If you bought your XP from an OEM (ie with a new computer) and want to re-use it just ring Microsoft and tell them that you have changed your motherboard (which you have) they will then deauthorise your old computer and you can use online authorisation (or telephone) to authorise your new computer. You might be lucky and find that if you use the same details it will just accept it though.

All in all you will be fine with either OS. I use Vista64 ultimate on my PC but just because I got it free as part of a deal for building several computers for a local company. Never had any problems with it but it does not actually get battered that much as it is sat next to a Mac pro :)

Oh if you want help on picking the exact components just PM me and I will put you together a parts list with SCAN (they are pretty well priced)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top