New PC - sorry its been asked in other ways before

superpippo

superpippo

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I will preface this with an apology that this kind of query has been posted before.
Also sorry that it is a bit of a long read.

I have an HP brand desktop/tower PC which I bought in 2011.
It has:
Intel core i3 – 2100 CPU @3.10GHZ
4 Gb RAM
64 bit operating system
1TB HDD (which is about half full)

I have 2 external hard drives which I use for backing up.

It was operating on Win 7 but I upgraded to Win 10 via a free download in November 2019.
Initially after the update it seemed to work a bit smoother but of late there are glitches showing up e.g. I often get a dialogue box at start up saying ‘Software Update Notification – Access Violation at
Address (a number) Read of address (a Number)
Also when I close down Outlook programme it often tries to start it up again of its own accord.

Today I had what looked like a serious glitch when the PC closed itself down as I was inserting my card reader.

It is probably time to upgrade methinks.

I use the PC for photo editing, Office word processing, internet (YouTube) and Outlook email. I also use it for purchasing online and internet banking. I rarely have many programmes open.
I run McAfee security software.

Since I had the machine I have used Windows Live Photo Gallery for my storage and for culling and some basic editing. I use LR6 for working on RAW and more detailed editing.
Win10 does not support Photo Gallery and whilst it is still useable it has some glitches, e.g. not being able to delete multiple photos – it just shuts down.

I have searched on the web for advice and this article seems useful as although it tries to suggest some PCs, it sets out a series of specifications to cover editing in LR
https://www.theguardian.com/technol...best-desktop-pc-photo-editing-adobe-lightroom

From this I have deduced an initial spec of:
Intel quad core i7 (but would i5 do?)
16Gb RAM
256 SSD
2TB HDD
Nvidia Geoforce card

The problem that I have found with looking at PCWorld is that the towers tend to lean towards gaming (in which I have no interest) and are thus expensive.

I would like to keep outlay to about £1k, excluding keyboard, mouse, printer, monitor.

This would tend to lead to something like:
£999
https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/compu...ming-pc-2-tb-hdd-240-gb-ssd-10193558-pdt.html

£1099
https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/compu...desktop-1-tb-hdd-256-gb-ssd-10193580-pdt.html

One being i5 and the other i7

Chillblast also get a mention in the article and they have one at budget of £910
https://www.chillblast.com/chillbla...ml?category_id=413#product-details-tab-tab693
which is only i5 but otherwise seems to fit the bill

and a more expensive one which is well outside budget at £1199
https://www.chillblast.com/chillblast-fusion-core-i7-custom-video-photo-editing-pc-8.html
but does seem to hit the spec , being i7 and having a 4TB HDD

I suppose that my question is am I on the right lines for the spec and can I make the £1000 budget and still have a fast reliable PC, which means i5 chip I think.

This is probably the last PC that I will buy and I want to future proof it as much as possible, accepting that the tech world moves at an incredible pace.
I would not have the ability or the temperament to build my own so that is a non – starter.

Any help would be much appreciated.
 
You could try a clean install of Windows 10 for a start. Make sure you apply all the service updates and get the latest drivers. A copy of the full Windows 10 installer is obtainable from here

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

If you really want to replace it, I would suggest you look for a refurbished DELL Optiplex desktop or Precision workstation, you should be able to get something that meets your spec for considerably less than £1000. Buy what you need for today & maybe tomorrow, long term future proofing seldom works as motherboard/processor technology changes so quickly.

You can save more money if you are prepared to upgrade memory and add an SSD yourself as these tend to be cheaper as after market upgrades. I have used https://uk.crucial.com to identify memory types for upgrades.

Try these sites for starters. They tend to have high stock turn over so you may need to check what they have available from time to time

https://www.dell.com/learn/uk/en/ukdfh1/campaigns/shop-outlet-deals

https://www.itcsales.co.uk/acatalog/Computer-base-units-and-systems.html

https://www.dellrefurbished.co.uk/desktop-computers

https://itzoo.co.uk/collections/pc-base-units
 
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I had a very similar requirement about a year ago, needed a new PC for "grown up" stuff, never played a computer game in my life!

Following great advice on here I contacted Novatech Computers in Portsmouth who built and supplied a machine matched to my needs (Photo Mechanic, LR, MS Office Suite/Project). They're clued up on what spec is optimal for LR, PS etc.

Great customer service and delivered within 10 days. A year in and I'm still amazed how fast LR runs now:)

GC
 
@superpippo , you could try backing up and doing a clean install from your installation disks, then reapply the W10 upgrade (plus updates) to see if that stabilises performance.
You might also consider sticking an i7-2600 and some extra RAM in to give it a bit of a boost.

@broc , would the full Win10 activate from an HP OEM Win7 key?
 
Don't go to PC world. You'll spend more and get an inferior spec.

I've just built my own PC for just over £400 that has a better spec of models that are around £1k in PC world.

You have already stated that you do not want to build your own (although it's nowhere near as difficult as you may think particularly these days with YouTube tutorials etc) so in that case I'd recommend looking at posts from sarden84 on hotukdeals

He looks for deals where a prebuilt PC costs hardly anymore than the normal cost of parts therefore you are paying minimal for the build and get 3 years warranty.


E.g. something like this for c£500:
https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/cc...-confirmed-480gb-ssd-b450-rx570-49799-3396154

Or this for c£400:
https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/cc...ge-16gb-ram-ryzen-1200-rx570-a320-405-3387281


Or if you want to stick to Intel this is similar to your PC World £1k spec

https://www.cclonline.com/pc/gaming-pcs/elite/ccl-elite-gaming-pc/0101020103/
 
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This is what I would go for....

CCL custom build


Customised CCL Reaper Gaming PC
  • AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6GHz 8 Core (Socket AM4) CPU
  • Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x 8GB) 3200MHz DDR4
  • MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX AMD Socket AM4 Motherboard
  • Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler
  • Seagate BarraCuda 1TB SATA III 3.5" Hard Drive
  • XFX Radeon RX 590 Fatboy 8GB Graphics Card
  • Corsair Carbide 275R TG Mid Tower Gaming Case
  • Seasonic Core GC 650W 80+ Gold PSU
  • Adata XPG SX8200 Pro 512GB M.2-2280 NVMe PCIe SSD
  • TP-Link Archer T6E 1300Mbps PCI Express WiFi
  • 2x NF-S12A FLX Ultra Quiet 120mm Flexible Cooling Fan
    • 3 Year Collect & Return warranty

£1,043.98
 
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Tori_T said:
@superpippo , you could try backing up and doing a clean install from your installation disks, then reapply the W10 upgrade (plus updates) to see if that stabilises performance.
You might also consider sticking an i7-2600 and some extra RAM in to give it a bit of a boost.

@broc , would the full Win10 activate from an HP OEM Win7 key?
Click to expand...
Yes it should......
Once the system (during Win7 to Win10 upgrade )has registered with Microsoft servers as a Windows 10 system it will re-register as long as it broadly has the same hardware config. I believe you can replace HDD, increase memory, change graphics and it will still be ok. A different motherboard & different CPU would probably fail.

Later DELL PCs have a registration key embedded in their BIOS which enables automatic registration of Windows 8 & Windows 10 systems.
 
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iirc windows 7 onwards register windows against the motherboard serial so providing the motherboard is the same you can reinstall the same version of windows (so home or pro) and then just click "i don't have a serial number" and it will go through. Once its all running just go into the system bit and make sure its activated.
 
While I would not comment on the build of Twist,s suggestion I would certainly endorse his CCL recommendation.
They built mine some 3 years ago for £600(ish) +OEM Win 10 disk and it has never missed a beat, its based around an i5 chip with 16gb RAM 256 SSD and 1Tb Hdd ( I subsequently added a second SSD .
It runs LR and PS without any problem.
Have a look https://www.cclonline.com/pc/ and give them a ring
 
broc said:
You could try a clean install of Windows 10 for a start. Make sure you apply all the service updates and get the latest drivers. A copy of the full Windows 10 installer is obtainable from here

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

If you really want to replace it, I would suggest you look for a refurbished DELL Optiplex desktop or Precision workstation, you should be able to get something that meets your spec for considerably less than £1000. Buy what you need for today & maybe tomorrow, long term future proofing seldom works as motherboard/processor technology changes so quickly.

You can save more money if you are prepared to upgrade memory and add an SSD yourself as these tend to be cheaper as after market upgrades. I have used https://uk.crucial.com to identify memory types for upgrades.

Try these sites for starters. They tend to have high stock turn over so you may need to check what they have available from time to time

https://www.dell.com/learn/uk/en/ukdfh1/campaigns/shop-outlet-deals

https://www.itcsales.co.uk/acatalog/Computer-base-units-and-systems.html

https://www.dellrefurbished.co.uk/desktop-computers

https://itzoo.co.uk/collections/pc-base-units
Click to expand...


Thanks Brian.
I tried the clean install again and it did install a November Win10 update. Not surre that I can tell any difference and I still get that error message.
My problem is that I am losing trust with it and now nervous about losing data or compromising security.
 
gcgraphs said:
I had a very similar requirement about a year ago, needed a new PC for "grown up" stuff, never played a computer game in my life!

Following great advice on here I contacted Novatech Computers in Portsmouth who built and supplied a machine matched to my needs (Photo Mechanic, LR, MS Office Suite/Project). They're clued up on what spec is optimal for LR, PS etc.

Great customer service and delivered within 10 days. A year in and I'm still amazed how fast LR runs now:)

GC
Click to expand...

Thanks @gcgraphs
 
mike_6480 said:
Don't go to PC world. You'll spend more and get an inferior spec.

I've just built my own PC for just over £400 that has a better spec of models that are around £1k in PC world.

You have already stated that you do not want to build your own (although it's nowhere near as difficult as you may think particularly these days with YouTube tutorials etc) so in that case I'd recommend looking at posts from sarden84 on hotukdeals

He looks for deals where a prebuilt PC costs hardly anymore than the normal cost of parts therefore you are paying minimal for the build and get 3 years warranty.


E.g. something like this for c£500:
https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/cc...-confirmed-480gb-ssd-b450-rx570-49799-3396154

Or this for c£400:
https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/cc...ge-16gb-ram-ryzen-1200-rx570-a320-405-3387281


Or if you want to stick to Intel this is similar to your PC World £1k spec

https://www.cclonline.com/pc/gaming-pcs/elite/ccl-elite-gaming-pc/0101020103/
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike.
I did not really want to go to PCWorld, just a useful benchmark I think.
Those sites look useful, particularly the CCL (y)
 
twist said:
This is what I would go for....

CCL custom build


Customised CCL Reaper Gaming PC
  • AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6GHz 8 Core (Socket AM4) CPU
  • Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x 8GB) 3200MHz DDR4
  • MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX AMD Socket AM4 Motherboard
  • Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler
  • Seagate BarraCuda 1TB SATA III 3.5" Hard Drive
  • XFX Radeon RX 590 Fatboy 8GB Graphics Card
  • Corsair Carbide 275R TG Mid Tower Gaming Case
  • Seasonic Core GC 650W 80+ Gold PSU
  • Adata XPG SX8200 Pro 512GB M.2-2280 NVMe PCIe SSD
  • TP-Link Archer T6E 1300Mbps PCI Express WiFi
  • 2x NF-S12A FLX Ultra Quiet 120mm Flexible Cooling Fan
    • 3 Year Collect & Return warranty

£1,043.98
Click to expand...
troutfisher said:
While I would not comment on the build of Twist,s suggestion I would certainly endorse his CCL recommendation.
They built mine some 3 years ago for £600(ish) +OEM Win 10 disk and it has never missed a beat, its based around an i5 chip with 16gb RAM 256 SSD and 1Tb Hdd ( I subsequently added a second SSD .
It runs LR and PS without any problem.
Have a look https://www.cclonline.com/pc/ and give them a ring
Click to expand...

Thanks to both of you. Good to get further endorsements for CCL
 
Definitely don’t go to pc world or any high street chain. £1000 would get you a top end pc if you built yourself or went to a company like pc specialists who make custom builds for you.

Building a PC isn’t as hard as it seems, especially if you start from scratch. I’ve found it harder to change parts on a finished pc because of lack of space. There are loads of step by step videos on YouTube, maybe watch one and see how you feel.

I recently built a pc. For £550 I got an i5 9400f, 16gb of ram, 500gb SSD and a 1050ti GPU. Not long after I sold the 1050ti and upgraded to an RTX 2070 for £300 but only because it was a decent deal, wasn’t needed.
 
Ben johns said:
Definitely don’t go to pc world or any high street chain. £1000 would get you a top end pc if you built yourself or went to a company like pc specialists who make custom builds for you.

Building a PC isn’t as hard as it seems, especially if you start from scratch. I’ve found it harder to change parts on a finished pc because of lack of space. There are loads of step by step videos on YouTube, maybe watch one and see how you feel.

I recently built a pc. For £550 I got an i5 9400f, 16gb of ram, 500gb SSD and a 1050ti GPU. Not long after I sold the 1050ti and upgraded to an RTX 2070 for £300 but only because it was a decent deal, wasn’t needed.
Click to expand...

Still not sure that I could manage that :)
 
superpippo said:
i have had a loo at that thread and he seems to have not been overjoyed with CCl

Scan computers seems to come up well though.
Click to expand...

TBF, I think a lot of the misery was caused by improper installation of windows (not done by CCL), The drive speed again, is down to the chosen motherboard, but also its key to remember that that drive is running at full speed on that board and nobody will notice the speed difference (NVME is ridiculously fast). If you dont feel comfortable checking all the bits are there just post what you paid for here and someone will check for you.
 
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Nobody seems to realise that if you go to your local little PC shop with a nerd behind the counter,

he will build you one for a very reasonable charge and very likely beat everyone except if you build it yourself.
 
Caerus said:
Nobody seems to realise that if you go to your local little PC shop with a nerd behind the counter,

he will build you one for a very reasonable charge and very likely beat everyone except if you build it yourself.
Click to expand...

And offer the 3 year warranty? Will he be around in 3 years? Something to realise.
 
twist said:
And offer the 3 year warranty? Will he be around in 3 years? Something to realise.
Click to expand...

A local guy might only charge £30 build charge so not much difference between that and doing it yourself.

These companies like dinopc might look like good value at first but the PSU, Case and motherboard tend to be really bottom of the line if I remember.
 
Caerus said:
A local guy might only charge £30 build charge so not much difference between that and doing it yourself.

These companies like dinopc might look like good value at first but the PSU, Case and motherboard tend to be really bottom of the line if I remember.
Click to expand...

I think if you price up the parts in a lot of CCL builds youre only paying like £40-50 more and youre getting a 3yr labour warranty from a big company not Dave down the road.

Thats why I recommend a custom spec build, not a POS from Ebay.

I built my latest myself, its a piece of cake these days, dont even need to know how to use thermal paste in a lot of cases!
 
Last edited:
twist said:
I think if you price up the parts in a lot of CCL builds youre only paying like £40-50 more and youre getting a 3yr labour warranty from a big company not Dave down the road.

Thats why I recommend a custom spec build, not a POS from Ebay.
Click to expand...

I will have a go pricing them, I might be wrong but im sure they use rotten £20 fire hazard PSU`s and stuff like that to cut costs
 
Caerus said:
I will have a go pricing them, I might be wrong but im sure they use rotten £20 fire hazard PSU`s and stuff like that to cut costs
Click to expand...

No, they definitely DO NOT. Everything is specified and CCL dont use crap, why would they want the hassle.

https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/t...ked-in-other-ways-before.706577/#post-8614706

CCL custom build


Customised CCL Reaper Gaming PC
  • AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6GHz 8 Core (Socket AM4) CPU
  • Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x 8GB) 3200MHz DDR4
  • MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX AMD Socket AM4 Motherboard
  • Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler
  • Seagate BarraCuda 1TB SATA III 3.5" Hard Drive
  • XFX Radeon RX 590 Fatboy 8GB Graphics Card
  • Corsair Carbide 275R TG Mid Tower Gaming Case
  • Seasonic Core GC 650W 80+ Gold PSU
  • Adata XPG SX8200 Pro 512GB M.2-2280 NVMe PCIe SSD
  • TP-Link Archer T6E 1300Mbps PCI Express WiFi
  • 2x NF-S12A FLX Ultra Quiet 120mm Flexible Cooling Fan
    • 3 Year Collect & Return warranty

I would always use partpicker, choose parts, check build cost, compare against builders cost. This was a quick spec for OP not sure how far its within the few quid supplier + warranty value as havent broken it down, but theres a lot of CCL builds you can get that are amazing for about £50 difference.
 
Last edited:
twist said:
No, they definitely DO NOT. Everything is specified and CCL dont use crap, why would they want the hassle.

https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/t...ked-in-other-ways-before.706577/#post-8614706

CCL custom build


Customised CCL Reaper Gaming PC
  • AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6GHz 8 Core (Socket AM4) CPU
  • Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x 8GB) 3200MHz DDR4
  • MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX AMD Socket AM4 Motherboard
  • Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler
  • Seagate BarraCuda 1TB SATA III 3.5" Hard Drive
  • XFX Radeon RX 590 Fatboy 8GB Graphics Card
  • Corsair Carbide 275R TG Mid Tower Gaming Case
  • Seasonic Core GC 650W 80+ Gold PSU
  • Adata XPG SX8200 Pro 512GB M.2-2280 NVMe PCIe SSD
  • TP-Link Archer T6E 1300Mbps PCI Express WiFi
  • 2x NF-S12A FLX Ultra Quiet 120mm Flexible Cooling Fan
    • 3 Year Collect & Return warranty

I would always use partpicker, choose parts, check build cost, compare against builders cost. This was a quick spec for OP not sure how far its within the few quid supplier + warranty value as havent broken it down, but theres a lot of CCL builds you can get that are amazing for about £50 difference.
Click to expand...

Im very surprised, I make it £88 difference which is very good with the warranty actually.
 
Caerus said:
Im very surprised, I make it £88 difference which is very good with the warranty actually.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Ive seen some of their systems as low as £40 difference during black friday or seasonal offers. No brainer really, I still prefer building my own but it was a pretty complex build trying to figure out all the bits and spec it (ITX). If I wanted someone else to do an ATX for me and I didnt want to do it myself Id go CCL or perhaps AWD.
 
Last edited:
superpippo said:
Thanks Brian.
I tried the clean install again and it did install a November Win10 update. Not surre that I can tell any difference and I still get that error message.
My problem is that I am losing trust with it and now nervous about losing data or compromising security.
Click to expand...
Unless you are prepared to invest time & effort troubleshooting the error messages maybe it is time to move on. If you want some help troubleshooting feel free to contact me via PM.

I used to build my own PCs but got used to buying DELL when I ran a school network (approx 300 desktops & 400 laptops) as they just work, they tend to have quite conservative settings in BIOS & they don't stress their components as much as some clone builders. Now that I am retired I have a lot more time on my hands but still prefer to buy rather than build

Going down the self-build or having someone like CCL or Scan build a PC is ok but you run the risk (albeit small) of incompatibility between components and/or their drivers as they only build in small numbers, whereas DELL build many thousands of each system/model & do thorough integration testing of their products, components, & drivers & you can go to the DELL support website to access these in one place. DELL also offer extended warranties, either collect & return or next business day onsite, useful for small businesses.

Pound for pound you will find DELL & HP 'new' does not offer the best price/performance compared to the clone builders, but choosing nearly new or factory refurbished units will close the gap.

You can compare the relative performance of CPUs between generations here:

https://www.cpubenchmark.net
 
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Personally I always buy from Ebay because I have never been let down and if you know a little about computers you can get excellent deals.
I always buy workstations because you get so much more bangs for your bucks.
Lat year I got a Duo Core with 4GB RAM and 500GB HDD for £25.00 - delivered - and it works perfectly.
The only other place I have bought from is Bargain Hardware and their service is excellent - and you can put together a PC to suit you perfectly.
 
superpippo said:
Still not sure that I could manage that :)
Click to expand...
It is scary when you’ve never done it! There are independent people dotted around that will repair computers, I’m sure they could both build one and suggest parts in your budget.

one thing you have to take Into account is windows :(. You either have to buy it from Microsoft which can add a decent amount of money to the build or you can do what I did. Windows can be downloaded for free and run with payment but you lose a few features. I did that for a while then bought a validation code from a seller on eBay for £20. That was for windows 10 professional 64bit.
 
Ben johns said:
It is scary when you’ve never done it! There are independent people dotted around that will repair computers, I’m sure they could both build one and suggest parts in your budget.

one thing you have to take Into account is windows :(. You either have to buy it from Microsoft which can add a decent amount of money to the build or you can do what I did. Windows can be downloaded for free and run with payment but you lose a few features. I did that for a while then bought a validation code from a seller on eBay for £20. That was for windows 10 professional 64bit.
Click to expand...
Can get validation codes for a couple of pounds on eBay from no longer used computers
 
mike_6480 said:
Can get validation codes for a couple of pounds on eBay from no longer used computers
Click to expand...
yea? Ive never gone that route. The Windows I bought ( I'm guessing it was £20, I have a feeling it was less) was a business code so it cant be transfered to another pc but that doesnt bother me. I bought a code for office for about £5 recently
 
I would get the parts from either overclockers or scan depending on who’s closest to you. I used CCL a ehile
Ago and wasn’t impressed with their after service. The two above are decent but again after service is much easier where you can go in and get help.
 
Ben johns said:
yea? Ive never gone that route. The Windows I bought ( I'm guessing it was £20, I have a feeling it was less) was a business code so it cant be transfered to another pc but that doesnt bother me. I bought a code for office for about £5 recently
Click to expand...

That office code is definitely dodgy.
 
I use Linux Mint which comes with Libra Office and it's all FREE.

And it's the only Linux I've been happy with because it's so like Windows that the transition is really easy.

Mint 18.3 is more suitable for legacy machines and the latest Mint 19.3 leans more towards UEFI machines.
 
petersmart said:
I use Linux Mint which comes with Libra Office and it's all FREE.

And it's the only Linux I've been happy with because it's so like Windows that the transition is really easy.

Mint 18.3 is more suitable for legacy machines and the latest Mint 19.3 leans more towards UEFI machines.
Click to expand...

How do you run Adobe products?
 
I've heard you can get some Abobe stuff to run on Linux under Wine.
Not tried it though, so no details.
 
twist said:
How do you run Adobe products?
Click to expand...

You can create VMs which contain Win 7 or 10 very easily, and there are free programs like GIMP or Darktable and several others which will run in Linux and, again, are free.

But there are some programs which you absolutely must use win 10 and the native PC so there all you can do is go with the best PC you can afford and try to make sure it is as future proofed as you can make it.

But Windows 10 will take over in the end because it is superior to all other OSs and in many ways works better than Win 7, which isn't surprising considering the advances in computer technology since the advent of Win 7.
 
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