What to Upgrade PC too... ??

[ies photos]

If you were to buy a new PC motherboard and processor for editing images using CS3/Lightroom etc what would you get as I am looking at upgrading and have lost track with the technology as its about 5 years since i got my current K7N mobo and Athlon 2100+(1.6Ghz) with 1Gig DDR400. Currently use IDE HD's and a couple of external HD's via USB. its slowing down with many apps open. Maybe a boost in RAM may help but I'm think its getting on and should be relaced.

Prolly need Mobo, RAM, PSU, video card?
any pointers to recommended kit would be welcome. I'm looking at spending £400 max.
I have a monitor, CD/DVDRW, mouse, keyboard etc.
Best to build myself or get a ready built base?

[tim]

There's been a few threads on this recently. The Q6600 CPU is great value, video card only matters much if you go vista, 4GB DDR800 RAM (leave room to expand to 8GB), Asus P5Q motherboard.

[ies photos]

thanks Tim, I've had a few votes for that chip and mobo. Will get them priced up.

For HD's is it best to use my existing IDE HD's with my OS on or invest in some SATA. I need to read up how these drives are set up.

[jag1]

I was planning to go with Tim's plan with a Q9550 but got a Dell XPS Q6600 because it seemed easy. Well I have had it for almost two weeks and have not started the computer yet. When I opened the monitor there was stuff rolling around in it. I called Dell and 2.4 hours later we had a replacement sent to me. Mind you this is a brand new computer that has never been hooked up. Well to replace my new monitor they sent me a refurbished one. well I was less pleasant this time on the phone. Now they say that a new one is comeing. I also sent an email to M Dell and got a corprate reply to tell me that it will be the 18 of dec before my monitor even ships. They also said that they were sorry for the way I was treated by coustomer no service. I still do not know if the computer it self will even start. Guess were I will not buy my Laptop next year.

[ChasP505]

The Q6600 CPU is great value, video card only matters much if you go vista, 4GB DDR800 RAM (leave room to expand to 8GB), Asus P5Q motherboard.

Excellent recommendation! I've got my new Q6600 system built, but I'm slowly installing my software and data backups. It feels really fast. Still relying on the old AMD Athlon XP 2600+ system until the new one is "burned in" and tweaked just right.

[shimmishim]

Asus PQ5 is a good recommendation but it needs DDR2, not DDR1 (hehehe sorry Tim).

Q6600 is pretty much the standard for quadcore and is more than capable of running photoshop and lightroom and all other apps.

4GB is also plenty. You may want to expand to 8 as Tim suggested later on.

You'll notice a day/night difference between this and your old 2100+.

As for a hard drive... SATA is the way to go.

You can still use your IDE as a back up drive or extra drive.

1TB is pretty cheap these days (less than $120) and faster than your old IDE drive.

Seagate, Maxtor, Western Digital are probably the most heard of brands for hard drives.

[tim]

Asus PQ5 is a good recommendation but it needs DDR2, not DDR1 (hehehe sorry Tim).

I was just talking about speed, I wasn't meaning DDR1. Oops.

[tim]

I was planning to go with Tim's plan with a Q9550 but got a Dell XPS Q6600 because it seemed easy. Well I have had it for almost two weeks and have not started the computer yet. When I opened the monitor there was stuff rolling around in it. I called Dell and 2.4 hours later we had a replacement sent to me. Mind you this is a brand new computer that has never been hooked up. Well to replace my new monitor they sent me a refurbished one. well I was less pleasant this time on the phone. Now they say that a new one is comeing. I also sent an email to M Dell and got a corprate reply to tell me that it will be the 18 of dec before my monitor even ships. They also said that they were sorry for the way I was treated by coustomer no service. I still do not know if the computer it self will even start. Guess were I will not buy my Laptop next year.

So you have the PC, you have a monitor that should work and a new one's on the way, and you haven't started it why?

[ies photos]

this looks like what I may go for

BFG GeForce 9500 GT 1GB PCIe 2.0 Dual DVI TVO - Retail with PhysX & CUDA 1

Intel Dual Core Q6600

Samsung H653B - 20x DVD+/-/RW - 8 x Dual Layer - Sata - Black - OEM 1

MSI Intel P45 Neo3-FR Socket 775 DDR2 SATAII Raid 1

Geil Black Dragon PC2-6400 800Mhz 4GB Kit (2x2GB) 1

Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 32Mb Cache Hard Disk Drive SATAII 300MB/s <8.9ms 7200rpm - OEM 2

[shimmishim]

I was just talking about speed, I wasn't meaning DDR1. Oops.

You gotta clarify that since there's ddr1, ddr2, ddr3, and ddr5 (for video cards).

:)

I knew what you meant. I just wanted to make sure he did as well.

[Kronie]

What to Upgrade PC too... ??

How about a Mac.

[shimmishim]

You're going to need a heatsink/fan.

May I recommend the Thermalright Ultra 120? As for fans... panaflos are really good.

You're also going to need a good power supply unit. DO NOT SKIMP ON THE PSU PERIOD!!! My PSU died and took out my motherboard and cpu. It was a sad day.

I usually recommend Corsair and Silverstone and Antec (truepower quattro series) but there are a lot of quality PSU units. You can see reviews at www.jonnyguru.com

this looks like what I may go for

BFG GeForce 9500 GT 1GB PCIe 2.0 Dual DVI TVO - Retail with PhysX & CUDA 1

Intel Dual Core Q6600

Samsung H653B - 20x DVD+/-/RW - 8 x Dual Layer - Sata - Black - OEM 1

MSI Intel P45 Neo3-FR Socket 775 DDR2 SATAII Raid 1

Geil Black Dragon PC2-6400 800Mhz 4GB Kit (2x2GB) 1

Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 32Mb Cache Hard Disk Drive SATAII 300MB/s <8.9ms 7200rpm - OEM 2

[shimmishim]

What to Upgrade PC too... ??

How about a Mac.

Wouldn't that be a downgrade? ;)

Macs are good too but they are a bit expensive compared to a PC you can get custom built.

On the other hand.. macbook pro's are probably the best laptops you can get in the market today (especially for the photographer IMHO).

[legionnaire]

since 98 my hubby was computers (majority PC), now i'm switching to cameras (SLR). any suggestion on a good photo editing software (<200bucks)?

[shimmishim]

since 98 my hubby was computers (majority PC), now i'm switching to cameras (SLR). any suggestion on a good photo editing software (<200bucks)?

That is easy. Lightroom 2.2 for the PC.

I'd say Aperture 2.0 for Macs but I'm not sure how much it costs.

[ies photos]

pain in the backside as I cannot seem to find one retailer that sells all this kit, so looks like I'll have to pick and choose.

If I cut back on the CPU, whats the Intel Dual Core E5200 2 x 2.5Ghz 2Mb Cache 800MHz FSB Dual Core Processor like?

[tim]

What to Upgrade PC too... ??

How about a Mac.

FFS don't turn every computer thread into this.

[Kronie]

FFS don't turn every computer thread into this.

Sorry, I couldn't resist!

Disclaimer: I don't even own a Mac.