new PC options

moranphotography

moranphotography

Suspended / Banned
Messages
485
Name
Phil
Edit My Images
Yes
Once I get myself a new job I am going to be getting myself a new PC, my current HP us really starting to struggle.

Any suggestions of where best to look, I'm happy with the monitor at present so would just be the base unit I'd need. No experience of building myself a PC what so ever but not something I would say no to.

Suggestions?

Thanks in advance


Phil
 
I built my first PC in 10 years last weekend (and my first build 10 years ago was with my PC savy friend). I built this PC by myself and it works fine. I'm not the greatest with technology but there are so many websites and forums out there that can help, you really can't go too wrong.

If you want to have a little extra project and save some money, build one yourself as it's not too frightening. Even I done it fine and i'm known for my mishaps.
 
How much are you willing to spend? What spec. is your current PC?

Building yourself, you'll probably get similar spec as something out there, but better components. Whilst I agree it is fairly easy, you do need some debug skills (although asking on forums can help there :)) if things go wrong and you will be doing stuff like installing operating systems and drivers. Again, not a problem though if you feel confident doing that sort of thing.
 
Definitely build if you can for no other reason than you'll get a much better PSU and motherboard.
 
Self building isn't actually that difficult.
Hey if I can do it.......... :lol:

Although to be fair, my last build was probably about 5 years ago, and things have changed somewhat!
 
Plus on to Andy's comments above, I'm the same I built 2 PC's 2 years ago and it was scary, nerve racking but when I undersrood where it all went and didn't blow up, it really was a doddle. Us humans beings put tons of extra pressure on ourselves, when really there is no need, just a clear head, a plan and some nice new shiny PC bit to put together like a jigsaw
 
Building it yourself isn't the hard bit - they're just Meccano sets inside. Stick the right bit in the only hole it will fit into and everything will work.

More daunting is knowing what parts to buy to ensure they go with all the other bits, (and how to start troubleshooting if it doesn't all work straight away). There is a massive amount of confusing jargon out there. A decent computer shop (which is unlikely to be on the High Street) will sell you the correct and compatible bits, and should offer good advice.

But, the cost difference isn't that great between a decent spec computer bought ready to go and a self-build. Much better sense of satisfaction in DIY though.
 
Last edited:
Thanks everyone for comments so far. Might give a self build a go when the time comes.

Budget is likely to be around the £5-600mark (just don't tell the wife)

Anybody know of any good forums etc to be looking at in the meantime?


Phil
 
Overclockers is normally quite good, although you need to sort through the experienced people vs the kiddies who think they know. It also tends to be gaming oriented so big on expensive graphics cards.

There's enough people around here who have built photoshop rigs to help out you know ;)
 
Thanks, please forgive my ignorance but what does make a good Photoshop/Lightroom PC?

I doubt I would do much more than those things and maybe a bit of browsing the web etc with this PC

What are the most important components to handle Photoshop/Lightroom?

Phil
 
I did my first ever self build last year and have just upgraded it with some new bits this week.

I got lots of great help and assistance from the guys on here.
 
moranphotography said:
Thanks, please forgive my ignorance but what does make a good Photoshop/Lightroom PC?
Click to expand...
Multi-core CPUs, high clock speed, lots of memory, fast system & scratch disk.

The current recommended system is:

Intel i5-2500K or i7-2600K (about 10% faster, but £100 more expensive)
P67 or Z68 based board (with the Z68 you can use the perfectly adequate onboard gfx if you choose the right board)
8 or 16GBytes memory
SSD as system disk
mechanical HDD as storage drive
possibly fast SSD as scratch drive (I've not yet done this - will see what the bonus is like in March first ;))
Win 7-64bit.

Depending on how high end you want to be, budget £450-£750 for that lot.

If you build yourself and want a decent case/PSU and DVD drive and all the other bits you'll need (case quiet case fans etc), add another £150-£200 (this could all be done on the cheap, but I never skimp on PSUs).

Perfectly possible to build a high end system for ~ £600 that will knock socks off everything else you've used before.
 
moranphotography said:
Thanks everyone for comments so far. Might give a self build a go when the time comes.

Budget is likely to be around the £5-600mark (just don't tell the wife)

Anybody know of any good forums etc to be looking at in the meantime?


Phil
Click to expand...

You can get a prebuilt Dell i5 or i7 for roundabout that figure - about £550 inc VAT for the i5, £650 for the i7. It will be light on RAM, missing a graphics card and only have a basic DVD drive rather than a Blue Ray.. but you can buy and install all of those yourself cheaper than Dell will charge for adding them to the box (c. £35 for 8Gb memory). Look under "Small Business" at the Vostro 460MT, select the base model and change the processor under "customization". Remember that products in the small business section don't include VAT in the price, but as long as you're above £379 on the pre-VAT price on a Vostro delivery is free at the moment. I'm looking at one of these myself.
 
moranphotography said:
To all those who asked what PC I currently have it is below, probably not upgradeable is it?

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/product?tmp_forceView=desktop&cc=uk&dlc=en&lc=en&product=3666190


Phil
Click to expand...
Although you could probably do it, it isn't worth it IMHO as you'll have difficulty getting the processor cooled sufficiently in that box. Buying a processor that would fit isn't going to give you much more power.

You might get away with turning it into an HTPC though - what gfx card does it have?
 
arad85 said:
Although you could probably do it, it isn't worth it IMHO as you'll have difficulty getting the processor cooled sufficiently in that box. Buying a processor that would fit isn't going to give you much more power.

You might get away with turning it into an HTPC though - what gfx card does it have?
Click to expand...

Motherboard
M2N61-AR (Acacia)

Processor
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+

Memory
2 GB

Video graphics
ATI Radeon HD2400

Integrated graphics using nVidia GeForce 6150SE

Sound/Audio
Integrated Realtek ALC888S Audio

Networking
LAN: 10-Base-T

Hard drive
320 GB

CD/DVD disc drive
SuperMulti 16X DVD(+/-)R/RW 12X RAM (+/-)R DL LightScribe SATA drive

Memory Card Reader
15-in-1 multimedia card reader

Computer Case
Slimline

Power Supply
160W

I/O Ports
Front I/O ports
Back I/O ports

Keyboard, mouse and input devices
HP Wireless
HP wireless mouse/receiver set

Software
Windows Vista Home Premium with Windows Media Center (32-bit)

I dont think it would be worth upgrading it as most of it would need to be replaced.

The link below has lots of info on upgrading the HP slimline if you go that route:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1224011

I found case, power supply and MOB limiting when I updated Dads one.
 
Last edited:
it looks like a slightly extended ITX motherboard so potentially could be upgraded. however the power supply would be the sticking point, it would probably be custom form factor and hard to find one with enough juice to power upgraded internals.

id go with what andy has said, i5-2500k or i7-2600k based machine with 8-16gb memory, SSD OS drive.
 
tris101 said:
Video graphics
ATI Radeon HD2400

Integrated graphics using nVidia GeForce 6150SE
Click to expand...
Actually, I think they are too old to be h/w accelerated properly.

Doesn't really matter anyway assuming you can drop a very cheap h/w accelerated video card into the PCI-e slot. Then run xbmc and away you go....
 
arad85 said:
Actually, I think they are too old to be h/w accelerated properly.

Doesn't really matter anyway assuming you can drop a very cheap h/w accelerated video card into the PCI-e slot. Then run xbmc and away you go....
Click to expand...

You might well be right info just copied from HP website.

MOB info:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01321559&lc=en&cc=uk&dlc=en&product=3666190#N31

Installed PCI-e graphics card:

ATI Radeon HD240 low profile

S-Video (or Composite Video using included adapter)
2 - Single-link DVI (or VGA using included adapter)
Interface: PCI Express x16

Maximum resolution:
DVI (single link capable): 1920x1200 @ 60 Hz
VGA: 2048x1536 @ 75 Hz or

TV out:
480i for North America
576i for EMEA

Onboard memory: 256 MB

Supports HDCP
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top