New PC

AndrewSt

AndrewSt

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My laptop is starting to struggle and I am going to upgrade to a PC. Just for editing on Lightroom and storage etc.

Suggestions on minimum spec? Would also consider building myself, anyone got any links to any good ideas?

Budget around £600ish!
 
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Have a word with the people at Scan computers https://www.scan.co.uk. That is where my son and I got parts to build mine, but they do supply all you need in kit form I believe as well
 
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Have a look here https://www.cclonline.com.

They will supply the bits or build it for you.
Their built ones come with 3 yr warranty, first year on site

Missed out the spec
mine is their 300 business spec but with 16gb ram and a 250 gb ssd , no WiFi and Win 10 on a disc.
Runs LR and PS, in fact its probably a bit overspecced for what I do cost £600
 
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Mini itx case £30-120
Mini itx z170 motherboard £100
I5 6600k £200 or i7 6700k
16gb ddr4 ram £50
Graphics card - n/a but if you want one there's room in your budget.
 
AndrewSt said:
My laptop is starting to struggle and I am going to upgrade to a PC. Just for editing on Lightroom and storage etc.

Suggestions on minimum spec? Would also consider building myself, anyone got any links to any good ideas?

Budget around £600ish!
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I'd go for a second hand Macbook Pro Retina 13. The one I'm running is a late 2012 i5 with 8Gb & 256Gb SSD. Still plenty fast enough 4 years later, I can't see any need to upgrade for another 4-5 years.

You can get them used and stay within your budget.
 
For £600 I would definitely get a desktop over a second hand Macbook. The specs would kick the Mac out of the park.

I specced up a £700 desktop and it had an i7-4790k, Asus Z97 motherboard, 16gb ram, 1tb HDD, a secondary 2tb HDD, Invidia GT730 graphics, nice midi case etc etc. Ended up going for a £1600 build in the end, but the lesser build was still very good.
 
jojo90 said:
I'd go for a second hand Macbook Pro Retina 13. The one I'm running is a late 2012 i5 with 8Gb & 256Gb SSD. Still plenty fast enough 4 years later, I can't see any need to upgrade for another 4-5 years.

You can get them used and stay within your budget.
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I had the same spec and found it to be very slow especially when opening 24 meg raw files. A decent desktop spec pc is in a different league to even the fastest MacBook.
 
Oliver Pohlmann said:
For £600 I would definitely get a desktop over a second hand Macbook. The specs would kick the Mac out of the park.

I specced up a £700 desktop and it had an i7-4790k, Asus Z97 motherboard, 16gb ram, 1tb HDD, a secondary 2tb HDD, Invidia GT730 graphics, nice midi case etc etc. Ended up going for a £1600 build in the end, but the lesser build was still very good.
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Was this for a self build or one of the custom design and build sites?
 
Until earlier this year I had never put my hand inside a PC and I have built 4 since March!!

It's very easy and a lot of fun and I would encourage anyone to have a go.
 
Does the budget include a monitor? Good keyboard and mouse as well?

Suggestions could be very different if it does.
 
You might consider a low power/low noise option - usually integrated cpu/graphics card with the graphics in the cpu. I have a self-built ASUS AM1 based PC with quad-core cpu, runs with just the cpu fan on at 21C and will do all the basic things perfectly well. It does struggle(ie takes a bit of time) with the heavy lifting type processes such as focus stacking but you can have it running 24/7 right next to you and it not get irritated by unwanted sounds.
 
Jason Crest said:
You might consider a low power/low noise option - usually integrated cpu/graphics card with the graphics in the cpu. I have a self-built ASUS AM1 based PC with quad-core cpu, runs with just the cpu fan on at 21C and will do all the basic things perfectly well. It does struggle(ie takes a bit of time) with the heavy lifting type processes such as focus stacking but you can have it running 24/7 right next to you and it not get irritated by unwanted sounds.
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I have had 3 separate am1 builds and you can overclock on that board if you want to extract a little more power! There's also a passive CPU cooler if you want a no fan system.
 
There are a few companies that will build to order, or supply parts - and advice - if you want to build your own machine. Just bear in mind that there's no warranty on a self build. If it doesn't work properly, it's your problem, unless there's a bad component. A bespoke PC will come with a warranty.

Must admit, I'm not very interested in computers as such, and the idea of building one doesn't appeal to me. I'd consider if if there was a major cost saving though.
 
Any opinions on this spec? It's the Black Panther from PC Specialist.

NZXT S340 MID TOWER GAMING CASE (BLACK/BLUE)
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i7-6700k Quad Core (4.00GHz @ upto MAX 4.60GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® Z170 PRO GAMING/AURA: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs, RGB Lighting
Memory (RAM)
16GB HyperX SAVAGE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 8GB Kit)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 480 - HDMI, 3 x DP - DX® 12
1st Hard Disk
240GB KINGSTON UV400 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (550MB/R, 490MB/W)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET (£79)
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster Hyper 212X (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler (£29)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
LED Lighting
60cm White LED Strip (£10) - To Complement The Colours of Your Case
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£89)
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
 
No one has mentioned what monitor, but coming from a laptop to a desktop you would definitely need one (unless you already use one connected to your laptop) plus the calibration device for the screen. For a photography based system a mid range gpu is fine as the RX480 is more for gaming.(as in the above spec)
 
dejongj said:
Does the budget include a monitor? Good keyboard and mouse as well?

Suggestions could be very different if it does.
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AndrewSt said:
No I have all of those!
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Mintchocs said:
No one has mentioned what monitor, but coming from a laptop to a desktop you would definitely need one (unless you already use one connected to your laptop) plus the calibration device for the screen. For a photography based system a mid range gpu is fine as the RX480 is more for gaming.(as in the above spec)
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Yes they have, only 17 posts in this thread as well ;)
 
Its £1000 at PC Specialist, looks a good deal. I think it is gaming orientated so perhaps overkill!
 
I would either drop the gpu and get 32gb ram instead, drop the gpu and save £200 or keep the gpu and enjoy some gaming!!!
 
Future software may start to make more use of the the gpu's processing power.
 
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