What to buy?

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ajf

ajf

ajf

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Hi there. First post here and would like some advice on what to buy.
Want to buy/build a PC mainly for photo editing using either Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop Elements or Photoshop CS/CS2.
Gaming is not something I am particularly into though I do play Flight Sim 2004 occassionally and would like to buy the new version at some point.

Current machine is very slow at loading large RAW images and when applying any changes to the images etc.
It is a Compaq P4 2.8 400Mhz FSB(!)
768Mb RAM PC2100
128Mb Geforce FX5200

Is it worth me going for a new Core 2 Duo system or will Pentium 4 Dual Core be OK?
If Core 2 Duo would it be any advantage going for more than the 1.86Ghz version?
What would I need to eventually run FSX at good settings?

Budget would be around £600.

Thanks
Andrew
 
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The E6300 would be a huge improvement over what you have, im not sure if the extra cache of the E6600 will be benificial or not. Pair it with some decent RAM, such as the Geil, and it should cut through those apps easily.

As for GFX, FS X is going to need some serious GFX grunt. Depends what your budget is really, but id be looking at at least a 7900GS or X1800XT.

EDIT, just noticed budget is £600, so for that you can get :

CP-135-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM (CP-135-IN)
£99.99 £99.99
HS-017-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) (HS-017-AR)
£14.99 £14.99
MY-034-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) (MY-034-GL)
£139.99 £139.99
GX-041-OK OcUK MSI GeForce 7900 GTO SILENT 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-041-OK)
£153.99 £153.99
MB-061-GI Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-061-GI)
£89.99 £89.99
Subtotal £498.95
VAT £87.32
Total £586.27

Should kick some serious butt :)
 
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Thanks for the fast reply :)
Just realised I need a new case too!
Would the Antec SLK3800 be suitable - it has a 400w power supply already installed?
Could probably stretch the budget to cover that or drop the memory to 1Gb only?
What are the recommended hard disks these days?
I hear some manufacturers have potential noise problems etc?

Andrew
 
They are nice cases I agree but cannot/do not want to buy case and power supply seperately due to cost.

I know Antec cases are usually good so was hoping their integrated power supplies are OK too - assume I can upgrade it at some point anyway?

Also looking at Meatloafs reply to my post, what are the differences between the DS3 motherboard suggested and the S3 other than the S3 is £10 cheaper?


Andrew
 
Sorry for the reply to my reply!

Anyway just going through the spec Meatloaf suggested and wondered whether these amendments would seriously compromise it?

Motherboard changed to Gigabyte GA_965P_S3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard rather than DS3

Memory changed to 1Gb rather than 2Gb - saves money for now and I can add another 1Gb later if really needed.

Graphics dropped to OcUK GeForce 7900 GS 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-042-OK) as not sure the GTO is worth it for me even if I do buy FSX. Again thinking I could upgrade if really found the need?
Also wondering just for the current FS 2004 I have whether I could drop to a 7600 GS?

Would then add the previously mentioned Antec case and this hard disk:
Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD) as I assume I would get the benefit of SATA-II performance with the motherboard?

Changes done to save costs as would rather get under my £600 limit at the moment but really want to get at least a good base PC ASAP.

Andrew
 
ajf said:
{snip}Current machine is very slow at loading large RAW images and when applying any changes to the images etc{snip}
Click to expand...
You'll definitely need 2GB RAM. Maybe something like this...
  • Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM (CP-135-IN) £99.99
  • Asrock ConroeXFire-eSATA2 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-003-AK) £53.99
  • GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) (MY-034-GL) £139.99 ;)
  • BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-025-BG) £84.99
  • NEC AD7170A 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-044-NE) £19.99
  • Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) (HS-017-AR)£14.99
  • Antec Performance TX1088AMG Metallic Grey Tower Case - 480w Truepower PSU (CA-035-AN) £38.99 - On 'This Week Only'
  • Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-018-SA) £44.99
  • Subtotal £497.92
  • Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £9.95
  • VAT £88.88
  • Total £596.75
 
ajf said:
They are nice cases I agree but cannot/do not want to buy case and power supply seperately due to cost.

I know Antec cases are usually good so was hoping their integrated power supplies are OK too - assume I can upgrade it at some point anyway?

Also looking at Meatloafs reply to my post, what are the differences between the DS3 motherboard suggested and the S3 other than the S3 is £10 cheaper?


Andrew
Click to expand...

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17629448
 
Thank you for the additional spec suggestions - some more items to consider. lol
Would prefer to get the 2Gb straight off so that was helpful showing the cheaper board and graphics. I may go for a cheaper card than that to be honest just for FS 2004 and then buy an all singing all dancing one if I buy FS X. I assume graphics cards have little effect on 2d photo editing?

Thread on the two gigabyte boards is interesting. Must admit I did not know about the solid capacitors but have experienced the leaking ones on a number of PCs at work.

Andrew
 
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