Photo editing computer for £350-£400

aerorob

aerorob

aerorob

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Joined
5 Jun 2012
Posts
4
Hi guys,

As the title suggest im looking to build a PC for a friend that will mainly be used for general family use (word processing / light excel work) but also have the capability to do photo editing from time to time. Any suggestions on what components to purchase would be much appreciated.

i already have all the peripherals (screen, mouse keyboard etc) but will need a copy of windows included.

Generally speaking, for photo editing would it be better to have a cheap graphics card or would using the motherboard be sufficient?

Thanks in advance for any replies.
 
aerorob said:
Generally speaking, for photo editing would it be better to have a cheap graphics card or would using the motherboard be sufficient?
Click to expand...

Onboard graphics should be fine for Photo Editing - especially at this price level (e.g. with more money to spend, a mid range or high end graphic card would enable you to use GPU accelerated plugins in certain photo editing packages)

Something like the below would be a good starting point at this budget (Latest Intel processor and 8GB DDR4 memory, SSD for fast storage)

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £397.55
(includes shipping: £11.70)
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The iGPU would be more than sufficient for photo editing.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £432.50
(includes shipping: £11.70)
​


​

You could drop the HDD storage and get a bigger SSD to bring you closer to £400
 
Why don't you check out eBay. Second hand parts are the way to go. You'll get a lot more bang for buck.

As for the video card. Of course it will make a difference in some situations, when you select gpu acceleration. You are basically offloading some things off to the gpu. On-board would probably suffice for you. You can always add additional hardware as required.

I would start off by getting a nice motherboard. Intel is probably the best option these days. There are a lot of options. I would say go for at least a quad core. I still use my ageing 2500k chip and it still works great for everything. I bought that second hand including the motherboard for £100 :)

Memory - I would say a bare minimum of 8Gb these days but preferably 16gb if budget permits.

Even with what I have said. If you still want to go new. Sites like overclockers have always got deals on. I'm sure someone else will reply with more specific parts etc. I don't follow the latest hardware these days.

Good Luck
 
6 core just because you can.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £405.45
(includes shipping: £11.70)
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