Help Spec Me a Photo Editing PC

[RedSnapper]

It is time to replace my current photo editing Computer. Any help with specs would be appreciated......

The bottom line is that I want to spend as little as possible but get a machine that does the job well. I considered a £500 machine but if I can save any money without sacrificing performance I will go with that. All I need is the computer I have a monitor, keyboard and mouse.

For 90% of the time I will be using Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, although I may need to do some video editing as well. I am tempted to stay with XP rather than go the Vista route.

Hard drive wise I would like separate system and storage disks. I use caddies for storage drives.

Thanks for your help.

Martin

 

[melbourne720]

Try this:-

OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series
DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK)
(£43.46)

Akasa AK-ZEN-01-BK Zen Black Case - No PSU
(£31.71)

Tuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775)
(£32.89)

NEC AD7170S Serial ATA 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
(£18.79)

Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD2500AAKS)
(£46.99)

Abit IP35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
(£93.99)

HIS ATI Radeon HD 2400 PRO 1024MB DDR2 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (H240PRHMF256-R)
(£38.76)

Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK)
(£68.14)

Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail
(£52.86)

Total : £440.46

 

[Kanifee]

this is my take on it, seperate drives for os and storage plus a decent mobo and chip should oc if needs be but will do everything you whant of it if you dont and i even surprised myself at how cheap it is aswell.

 

[melbourne720]

agreed, seperate drives is best, especially with the virtual memory usage of photo editing.

 

[Kanifee]

yeah that and it means an unexpected reformat isnt as much of a pian lol!

thing is aswell you aint looking for great oc's so the cheaper stuff is as good so memory wise you still have your warrenty though no reason why decreased price should equal decreased lifespan

 

[RedSnapper]

Thanks for the help, I would probably like a bit more Ummmf with the CPU with the Damian666 spec would the Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.33GHz (1333FSB) be a compatible chip?

Whilst I am happy to build a machine I have no idea what is compatible with what

Thanks Martin

 

[thefishdude]

do you intend to overclock your system or run it as it is ?

if you dont want to over lcok then you you dont need and after market cooler you can use *** stock one. the money saved from that can get you the e6750 cpu

 

[thefishdude]

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.66GHz (1333FSB) -
(£125.71)
Abit IP35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
(£93.99)
2x Western Digital Caviar SE16 400GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD4000AAKS)
(£108.08)
NEC AD7170S Serial ATA 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM Antec NSK 4480B Mini Tower Case - 380W Earth Watts PSU £45.99
(£54.04)
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK)
(£43.46)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT SILENT 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (11116-00-20R)
(£49.34)
Antec NSK 4480B Mini Tower Case - 380W Earth Watts PSU
(£54.04)
Sub Total : £419.92
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £75.40
Total : £506.27

 

[Kanifee]

Thanks for the help, I would probably like a bit more Ummmf with the CPU with the Damian666 spec would the Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.33GHz (1333FSB) be a compatible chip?

Whilst I am happy to build a machine I have no idea what is compatible with what

Thanks Martin

yeh that cpu will slot streight into that bored

 

[RedSnapper]

do you intend to overclock your system or run it as it is ?

No plans to overclock...

yeh that cpu will slot streight into that bored

Thanks for that!

Martin

 

[RedSnapper]

yeh that cpu will slot streight into that bored

The Gigabyte GA G33M-s2 micro atx is out of stock at the moment!

 

[Kanifee]

the ds2r is the same mobo but with raid so is a viable option for an extra £6 but other than that i dont think the asus p5k lga 775 is worth the extra cash when essentially its the same bored but with a 1:1 mem divider and since you arnt overclocking is pointless.
the abit fatality is unkown ground to me so i cant comment on that but generally the abit boreds tend to be good otherwise its moving up to full atx and changing the shopping list to accomodate ie: new case with psu and cutting some corners to accomadate that into the price