Photo editing build

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Hey guys. Ive been asked to do a build for my GF's dad and would like some advice. He went to dell and specced an i5 machine for £700 which was a complete rip off (poor dell components etc). Although he hasn't set a budget Simply as cheap as possible for his uses. Ill set the budget at a flexable £500.

Uses: photo editing - hes a professional photographer for the NHS. He does a lot of editing for family, as do his daughters. He also wants to do some encoding of old videos, although this is a secondary task but should still be looked at.

Notes: I don't mind overclocking the system if need be, but I would prefer not to as I would like to keep heat and noise down if possible.

Components needed: pretty much everything including windows7. He's using an old Pentium 4 (donno socket) atm, so very little can be salvaged. Only thing not needed is a monitor.

The main thing I want to know is, is it worth going AMD over intel to save that extra cash. i5 is appealing because it can shutdown unused cores meaning that overclocking can be avoided.

I was also going to try and add in a USB3 PCI-E card (bit-tech recently reviewed) since transfer speeds would be handy. Anyone used or have any comments on a USB3 card at this time?

Thanks for your help in advance.
 
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For things such as rendering, I definitely suggest sticking with Intel rather than AMD.

My spec (in sig) is used for Photoshop work (Usually A3 300dpi CYMK images) and also working with 1920x1080 video in Premiere and After Effects, and for the basics (mobo, cpu, gpu and memory) i paid around 400 pounds I think it was, so the budget is definitely achievable for what you're after.
 
How much is old LGA stuff going for these days, would certainly be good if I could pick up cheap and new.

Hey bigwayne, told you it was comming soon lol. Exam went well too ^^
 
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How much is old LGA stuff going for these days, would certainly be good if I could pick up cheap and new.

My LGA755 Q9550 was about 160 quid I think. I wasn't really clued up when I bought it though and kinda think I should have got an i5 now. (Seemsing Q9550s dont even have hyperthreading). But the motherboards seem more expensive for the i5 and doesn't really allow for updating in the future (Unlike the LGA1366 which I believe is the same socket as the up and coming i9).
 
thats another reason for AM3. their performance isn't far off intels LGA775 processors and will have hex core in the future. ATM photo editing is the biggest focus, as far as Im aware its only dual core optimised. Chances are he will keep the PC for a very long time anyway so upgrade pathway isn't a big priority making hex core a redundant arguement.
 
Girlfriends Dad Media Station 2010

feeddagoat.gif


Notes:
  • Windows 7 Upgrade media works fine for fresh install following these instructions.
  • SSD is not my specialist subject so just picked randon 60GB for System-Drive
  • Budget can be worked down but SSD is pushing price up!
  • Large Data-Drive for My Documents
  • Picked Random uATX case, small, mean, powerful, may not be to taste though so please replace with whatever you think but keep it small!
 
Thanks for this useful post BiG.Wayne, my old s939 rig finally died tonight. Memory is dead, its got a case, hdd's, vid card, all i need is the core components, the cpu mobo and ram youve highlighted sound very nice, (my i7 cpu cost nearly that price). I dont intend on clocking the new setup that much, but its nice to have the option.
 
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Cheers bigwayne, case isn't a problem, I was just gonna let him pick one he likes lol.

Few points
-Would slightly cheaper ram not be better, i've dominator ram ive seen for £20 less.
-Happy with the SSD as it would make a huge difference.
-The other thing is I would rather go for a full ATX board. Gives the PCI expansion slots for future upgrading. Really liked the MSI C45 I used in my friends build and I would save a £10.
-for cooling Ill go with a freezer pro rev2. Its very cheap but better than stock coolers.

If I did overclock is there any option of turning down the wick when someone is just surfing?

Anyone else got a build to rival that?
 
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Girlfriends Dad Media Station 2010

feeddagoat.gif


Notes:
  • Windows 7 Upgrade media works fine for fresh install following these instructions.
  • SSD is not my specialist subject so just picked randon 60GB for System-Drive
  • Budget can be worked down but SSD is pushing price up!
  • Large Data-Drive for My Documents
  • Picked Random uATX case, small, mean, powerful, may not be to taste though so please replace with whatever you think but keep it small!

I would probably go for the Samsung F3 1TB as it will be a faster drive than a Caviar Green:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-082-SA

Also it maybe possible to get Windows 7 cheaper for a person who works for the NHS. The OP should have a look at this!
 
Cheers bigwayne, case isn't a problem, I was just gonna let him pick one he likes lol.

Few points
-Would slightly cheaper ram not be better, i've dominator ram ive seen for £20 less.
-Happy with the SSD as it would make a huge difference.
-The other thing is I would rather go for a full ATX board. Gives the PCI expansion slots for future upgrading. Really liked the MSI C45 I used in my friends build and I would save a £10.

If I did overclock is there any option of turning down the wick when someone is just surfing?

Anyone else got a build to rival that?
If you do get a good stable overclock you can always use the bios powersaving features, not sure what amd call it theese days, but on my current intel i7 i use speedstep, i dont need a 4ghz chip to browse the net.
 
Cheers bigwayne, case isn't a problem, I was just gonna let him pick one he likes lol.

Few points
-Would slightly cheaper ram not be better, i've dominator ram ive seen for £20 less.
-Happy with the SSD as it would make a huge difference.
-The other thing is I would rather go for a full ATX board. Gives the PCI expansion slots for future upgrading. Really liked the MSI C45 I used in my friends build and I would save a £10.

If I did overclock is there any option of turning down the wick when someone is just surfing?

Anyone else got a build to rival that?

OcUK has limited section of the cheaper AMD motherboards and the one Big.Wayne suggested has integrated graphics!

There are some cheaper DDR3 4GB sets on OcUK too.
 
thanks setter, ill google and see what comes up

Nice point Cat, TBH I could pick up win7 from uni for free or on software for students at a stupidly low price. I always forget about that *facepalm* My heads been melted the last 2weeks.
 
Off Topic:

Hey setter,

can you make a new thread called:

Emerald Pocket Rocket

:p
An emerald pocket rocket system would be nice.:D. Very sad to see the demise of my s939 system, (first rig built with my own hands), those were the days, mohaa on asus a8n sli and twin 6800gt's.
 
Cheers bigwayne, case isn't a problem, I was just gonna let him pick one he likes lol
Yup thats normally a nice gesture, at the very least get him to pick a colour, pretty sure he will want black or white . . . it's a photographer thing! :D

Would slightly cheaper ram not be better, i've dominator ram ive seen for £20 less
The ram in initial spec is a a placeholder for budget, if you can get cheaper stuff go for it . . .as long as its quality! (Corsair sounds great, got a link?)

Happy with the SSD as it would make a huge difference
That will be so swish!

The other thing is I would rather go for a full ATX board. Gives the PCI expansion slots for future upgrading. Really liked the MSI C45 I used in my friends build and I would save a £10
Yeah I understand some people didn't wake up to uATX yet but the board specced has literally everything built in, in the rare chance you need to add in an expansion card in the future you got two PCI slots just waiting . . . surely thats more than enough! ;)

I only use ASUS boards as they never let me down, feel free to choose whatever you wish but the uATX ASUS boards are . . . well very special!

If I did overclock is there any option of turning down the wick when someone is just surfing?
Well all the new AMD stuff comes with Cool'n'Quiet™ Technology which will turn down the CPU GHz when it's idling. The ASUS boards have a neat feature that allows you to turn the case power button into an overclock button, press it once= overclock, press it again = stock

feeddagoat.jpg


feeddagoat, the spec supplied above is a base from you to work with, make adjustments as you see fit! :cool:
 
Wayne, apart from the obvious cost effective reason, is there any reason why you picked AMD over Intel for a Photoshop / Video editing build? I've always thought that Intel was miles ahead in this, but if not i'd love to be proved wrong!
 
apart from the obvious cost effective reason, is there any reason why you picked AMD over Intel for a Photoshop / Video editing build? I've always thought that Intel was miles ahead in this, but if not i'd love to be proved wrong!
Hey Aleksandrs,

when did you last check into AMD performance? . . . be honest now! :)

Further info please read: 4P
 
Yup thats normally a nice gesture, at the very least get him to pick a colour, pretty sure he will want black or white . . . it's a photographer thing! :D

Personally, black with no lights for me lol. I kinda like cheap mATX cases for some reason xD

The ram in initial spec is a a placeholder for budget, if you can get cheaper stuff go for it . . .as long as its quality! (Corsair sounds great, got a link?)

The dominator was on a rival site, just hope the offer is still on. Tho on here corsair

Yeah I understand some people didn't wake up to uATX yet but the board specced has literally everything built in, in the rare chance you need to add in an expansion card in the future you got two PCI slots just waiting . . . surely thats more than enough! ;)

Fair point and well noted.

The guy is very impulsive tho. New years eve there he came in from work, packed a case and drove to Derry. Spent an hour there and came back. He claimed he was gonna visit family in convoy (outside Letterkenny) and stay over in a mobile home they have down there. You all know how cold the UK was this year >.> Chances are he will find something to fill them with be it usb ports or sata ports. He has 6 or 7 external HDD's around mostly full of duplicate data. That and custard (usually on "offer" in tesco) hes got a thing for buying on impulse. Last count there where 12 tins of the stuff in the cupboard and no one really eats the stuff. Me and the GF decided to make triffles with it but gave up in the end.

I only use ASUS boards as they never let me down, feel free to choose whatever you wish but the uATX ASUS boards are . . . well very special!

Using an ASUS MA78 pro myself, does a nice job. MSI is good and supposedly overclocks very well (mate was too impatient to let me try on his). Only proble I had was the manual was abit unclear at times. why are they special, ive yet to get an attachment to anything other than a mATX cases xD

Well all the new AMD stuff comes with Cool'n'Quiet™ Technology which will turn down the CPU GHz when it's idling. The ASUS boards have a neat feature that allows you to turn the case power button into an overclock button, press it once= overclock, press it again = stock

*trousers become wet at the front and white liquid appears* that sounds good =D Still acts as an on switch when the PC is off I assume?

feeddagoat, the spec supplied above is a base from you to work with, make adjustments as you see fit! :cool:

cheers again :)
 
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