New PC Specification

Bristolian

Bristolian

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It never rains but it pours - my ageing PC is close to the end of its days :(

A bit dramatic, I know, but this computer first saw the light of day more than a decage ago and despite it having a couple of replacement motherboards, CPUs, RAM, HDD & power supplies I think it's time to move on. Tonight the power supply died and I thought maybe it's time for a new computer.

The current spec is an AMD 64 dual core 3MHz cpu, 8GB DDR2 RAM, 250GB SSD with 1TB 2nd drive. It is running W10 x64 Pro and I have Office 2010, Lightroom Classic CC and Photoshop CC plus a few smaller applications installed. On the whole, it performs adequately but it certainly isn't what I would call fast although as my photo editing is now exclusively for pleasure ultimate speed isn't a requirement.

My problem is, it's been so long since I did any building or replaceing of PC parts that I have lost touch of what's what. i've been looking on-line and don't know how to compare CPUs, GPUs or anything else.So I'm looking for some advice or guidance on what I should be looking for - or even where I should be looking for it.

What do you think?
 
It all depends on budget, what you need it to do and what extras like Blu-ray.

Plus if your keeping the case or other parts, building it yourself.

Basically its complicated and takes some careful planning.
 
Bristolian said:
It never rains but it pours - my ageing PC is close to the end of its days :(

A bit dramatic, I know, but this computer first saw the light of day more than a decage ago and despite it having a couple of replacement motherboards, CPUs, RAM, HDD & power supplies I think it's time to move on. Tonight the power supply died and I thought maybe it's time for a new computer.
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Sounds all a bit "Trigger's broom" ;)

I'd imagine anything based on a modern i7 processor with 16GB RAM will do you for another decade. My main PC is self-built, seven years old, based on an i7-2600k, only has 8GB RAM (thinking about doubling that as browsers etc consumer ever more RAM compared to years gone by) and still flies along. I do have a decent GPU in it for gaming and to drive a 4k screen together with a pair of Dell 2209-WA, but for 2d photo editing modern onboard graphics should be fine (and would spare you from the GPU price inflation that's happened recently).
 
I fell out of love with Windows, especially after they introduced W10.

I do keep a Windows machine here for work, logging remotely with Safari does not work :(

Apple iMac for me now, very happy :)
 
Norkie said:
I fell out of love with Windows, especially after they introduced W10.

I do keep a Windows machine here for work, logging remotely with Safari does not work :(

Apple iMac for me now, very happy :)
Click to expand...

One problem. They cost a bomb.

Once you can build a PC and repair / upgrade yourself computing becomes considerably cheaper.
 
Have a look here https://www.cclonline.com/pc/home-pcs/ if you want a new M/c, or look on the Dell or HP sites they usually have some offers, possibly a refurb Mac if you want to go that way and not spend mega money.
If you know what you are doing or have a handy PC man you should be able to reuse the case and the SSD and HDD dives in which case all you will need is a new MoBo , CPU and a few bits.

Just had a quick rethink, buy a new one with an SSD and an HDD and put the existing SSD in the new m/c and put your LR catalogue on that ( it becomes very fast), then buy a caddy and use the old HDD as an external back up disc
 
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Bristolian said:
It never rains but it pours - my ageing PC is close to the end of its days :(

A bit dramatic, I know, but this computer first saw the light of day more than a decage ago and despite it having a couple of replacement motherboards, CPUs, RAM, HDD & power supplies I think it's time to move on. Tonight the power supply died and I thought maybe it's time for a new computer.

The current spec is an AMD 64 dual core 3MHz cpu, 8GB DDR2 RAM, 250GB SSD with 1TB 2nd drive. It is running W10 x64 Pro and I have Office 2010, Lightroom Classic CC and Photoshop CC plus a few smaller applications installed. On the whole, it performs adequately but it certainly isn't what I would call fast although as my photo editing is now exclusively for pleasure ultimate speed isn't a requirement.

My problem is, it's been so long since I did any building or replaceing of PC parts that I have lost touch of what's what. i've been looking on-line and don't know how to compare CPUs, GPUs or anything else.So I'm looking for some advice or guidance on what I should be looking for - or even where I should be looking for it.

What do you think?
Click to expand...


This site is quite good for getting a rough idea of comparisons: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html There's also tabs at the top for comparing video cards, hard drives etc.

If ti helps I've had an i7-3770K with 16GB of RAM with an SSD drive since 2012 with the only upgrade being the graphics card which is currently a GTX1050Ti and it still deals with everything I throw at it. I'm also using an i5-4460 with 8GB RAM and an SSD and a GTX 750Ti and it handles everything fine as well.

I have always favoured Intel over AMD though,
 
Thanks for the suggestions/information to date - I will certainly follow-up on it.

Ideally I don't want to spend more than £650 but will stretch that to £700 if I need to. Unlike when I used the computer as a work tool it is now a hobby computer so I don't feel the need to spend too much on a replacement when, in reality, I don't need to replace the computer as a new power supply would likely get it up and running again provided the mobo didn't die as well. I just figure this would be a good time for a change.

I was thinking back about when I originally bought this computer (it was hand crafter by a guy in his spare bedroom) and am fairly sure it had the latest 386 processor so when I say it's more than a decade old I mean way more than a decade old :) The only original part that is still in use is the case and aside from the original build I've done all of the updates/upgrades myself so building a computer from scratch doesn't hold any fears for me. Doesn't mean I want to do it though and will happily pay for an off the shelf one if it fits the bill.

I did think about a Mac but some of the applications I run either won't work in Mac-land or I'd have to buy another license.

Okay, so I'm off to look at the various sites mentioned above :)
 
Here's a quick spec thrown together using PC part picker website

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/NbwH9J

It comes in between your two quoted figures and will give you an idea of what you could get in the way of brand new components. (With some shopping around you may be able to shave the price/enhance the spec slightly.
Dont discount the i3 chip as the latest series are now true quad core which at hobby level will be more than adequate.

The only thing i didnt factor in is external storage as most of us already have external HDD to hand.
 
This reminds me of the only fools and horses sketch, “had this brush for 20 years, had 3 new heads and 4 handles”
Sorry couldn’t resist.

More to the point I updated my laptop not so long ago to a MacBook Pro. Amazing machine, don’t think il go back to a windows one.
 
nige87 said:
This reminds me of the only fools and horses sketch, “had this brush for 20 years, had 3 new heads and 4 handles”
Sorry couldn’t resist.
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HaHa! Yes, absolutely spot on :)

More to the point I updated my laptop not so long ago to a MacBook Pro. Amazing machine, don’t think il go back to a windows one.
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Hmm, but I can't afford to replace both the desktop PC and laptop or I would be seriously tempted :(
 
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stupar said:
Here's a quick spec thrown together using PC part picker website

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/NbwH9J

It comes in between your two quoted figures and will give you an idea of what you could get in the way of brand new components. (With some shopping around you may be able to shave the price/enhance the spec slightly.
Dont discount the i3 chip as the latest series are now true quad core which at hobby level will be more than adequate.

The only thing i didnt factor in is external storage as most of us already have external HDD to hand.
Click to expand...

Hi Stupar; that was an interesting combination. I changed it slightly to have an i5-8600K cpu, cooler and CD/DVD writer and it came to just over £750 which SWMBO says is absolutely the maximum I can spend :) This is definately on the cards.
 
Can you not reuse your SSD (assuming it's one of the parts you've changed more recently) and save a few quid there?
 
Bristolian said:
Hi Stupar; that was an interesting combination. I changed it slightly to have an i5-8600K cpu, cooler and CD/DVD writer and it came to just over £750 which SWMBO says is absolutely the maximum I can spend :) This is definately on the cards.
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Thats pretty decent.
For some reason the cost of Windows 10 is unknown on PC part picker so you would still need to factor that in too.
 
gman said:
Can you not reuse your SSD (assuming it's one of the parts you've changed more recently) and save a few quid there?
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I thought I would use the existing SSD drive as suggested above for the Lightroom catalogue and previews :)
 
Lez325 said:
Have you thought about a laptop????
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I have an HP G72 laptop but don't like using it for editing - it's just me, I guess as I know pleanty of people that do all their work on one.
 
stupar said:
Thats pretty decent.
For some reason the cost of Windows 10 is unknown on PC part picker so you would still need to factor that in too.
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Yeah, I think this is the way I'm going to go. SWMBO is okay with the spend so I guess she has something up her sleeve that she wants :)

I already have an activated copy of W10 Pro x64 and a bootable USB stick so I think I can move the existing SSD into the new PC and let Windows Installer do its thing to change files and drivers. I'm waiting for some advice on that from TenForums :)
 
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Bristolian said:
I have an HP G72 laptop but don't like using it for editing - it's just me, I guess as I know pleanty of people that do all their work on one.
Click to expand...

I'm the same, I think it's a combination of the smaller screen and also how things change depending on how the screen is tilted/angled lol
 
The deed is done, I have ordered a new build from a computer store in Bristol - gonna pick it up next saturday. The spec isn't quite what I was planning but it will still be a big improvement on what I've got:
Asus Intel Z370 ATX mobo
Intel Core i5-8400 processor
8GB DDR4-2400 RAM
Nvidia GeForce 1030 2Gb graphics card
250GB M.2 drive
24x CD/DVD writer
ATX case with 500W PSU
Windows 10 Pro X64 & Avast anti-virus software installed

Into this will go my existing 250GB SSD drive and 750GB hard drive.

Happy Chappie :banana:

Thanks to one and all for the suggestions/advice above - it was much appreciated :ty:
 
Bristolian said:
The deed is done, I have ordered a new build from a computer store in Bristol - gonna pick it up next saturday. The spec isn't quite what I was planning but it will still be a big improvement on what I've got:
Asus Intel Z370 ATX mobo
Intel Core i5-8400 processor
8GB DDR4-2400 RAM
Nvidia GeForce 1030 2Gb graphics card
250GB M.2 drive
24x CD/DVD writer
ATX case with 500W PSU
Windows 10 Pro X64 & Avast anti-virus software installed

Into this will go my existing 250GB SSD drive and 750GB hard drive.

Happy Chappie :banana:

Thanks to one and all for the suggestions/advice above - it was much appreciated :ty:
Click to expand...

Thats a good spec you got there.
When you get the chance i would defo up the RAM to 16gb just for that extra head room.
You should see a considerable improvement over your current machine
 
stupar said:
Thats a good spec you got there.
When you get the chance i would defo up the RAM to 16gb just for that extra head room.
You should see a considerable improvement over your current machine
Click to expand...
Hi Stuart, yeah, adding more RAM in a few months is definitely on the cards. Just thought I'd see how it performs against my present pc, which has 8GB, first ... and it kept the price within budget :)
 
Good grief this thing is FAST :police: I feel like a kid with a new toy

Boot time from button press to everything loaded is about 20s. Photoshop CC loads in less than 5 seconds and Lightroom Classic CC is only a second or so slower.

I've had to buy a new hard drive as the meltdown in the old PC killed my data drive but at £45 for a 1TB Toshiba I'm not really bothered. Fortunately the virtually new Samsung SSD survived the crash and is now set up to hold my LR catalogue and previews. It will also be used as a temporary storage for downloading images from my camera memory card.

Happy days :D
 
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