PC requirements - buying new

aram535 wrote in post #5911858
I highly recommend the Dell XPS systems, the XPS 420 is a very nice system to build up from. (order code RXCWQJ2)

As others have suggested get the minimum memory and disk space. Those you can upgrade yourself post purchase. The Dell Ultrasharps are very very very nice monitors and you get a very good discount when you buy it with a computer. The base system from above is < $1000 without the monitor, the 24" Ultrasharp monitor is another $700.

At one time I would have agreed,however after owning several Dell machines and watching their service go downhill I'll never buy another

I buy most of my computer stuff at Tiger Direct. the system you spec'd out would be more than enough. If possible get the 512 just because and a bigger screen is always better for photos if you can afford the extra jing.

You can probably get the (slightly) older q6600 quad core for a really good price. Right now about $200 US. super easy and stable to overclock to 3.0 Ghz. And I don't normally overclock.

If you don't game no sense in getting a hot and power hungry video card. whatever is big enough to handle a large monitor.

Another suggestion: get a whatever size HDD for your OS (500gb are cheap now), but put all your photos (eggs) in another drive (basket) or 2. For externals, Thermaltake makes a great external docking bay that's eSata so your speeds are practically like it's in the case. Just pop in a bare hard drive. No more large external hdd cases taking up space. It's called BlacX. there are 2 versions 1 is usb only, 1 is usb/eSata. This saves you from having multiple hdds in your case using power and raising temps. Of course, if you use more drives than you have eSata ports.. then you have no choice but to go multi-internal. I have 5 internals, 3 externals, and just started using the BlacX.

Would you be willing to build your own?

dharmon wrote in post #5912270
At one time I would have agreed,however after owning several Dell machines and watching their service go downhill I'll never buy another

Well all of the "brand" companies's support has gone down the drain with the offshoring of the support jobs. So that aside, they're all on equal footing, HP, Dell, IBM's all get the support from overseas and most probably from the same company, they just greet the phone differently based on the number dialed.

That being equal, I own/have about 7 dell machines in this house alone and have had very good luck with them. 1 DVD failure and 1 PS failure in about 5 years and both were sent over via express mail and I did the replacement. They have made their cases so easy to work with that its not worth the headache of dealing with a tech.

But we digress from the OP's question.