How's this for a new PC?

kitacanon wrote in post #10674058
Exactly....well, I'd be fine with 320gb 1st HDD and a Tb for a 2nd HD...
now where did you get yours...for $400 + $125 for OS upgrade (well, half that with ink cartridge credits at office depot)

I built mine from Tiger Direct. Normally I use Newegg, but Tiger Direct had some deals on a few items.

Intel i3 530 ($100)
ASUS P7H55-M Pro($80)
4GB of OCZ DDR3-1333 RAM($100)
Corsair 400W PSU($40)
Lite On OEM DVD drive($25)
CoolerMaster CM310 case($30)
I used a 160GB HDD that I already had
Plus tax in this case

Thanx N2P...
I see a i3 at HP for $600 plus OS upgrade... so it looks like I'll just have to keep my eyes open...
I've never built a pc (other than putting missing parts into thriftshop finds...), so maybe I'll keep an eye open for tiger's barebones PCs (I'm on their email list)...

kitacanon wrote in post #10674253
Thanx N2P...
I see a i3 at HP for $600 plus OS upgrade... so it looks like I'll just have to keep my eyes open...
I've never built a pc (other than putting missing parts into thriftshop finds...), so maybe I'll keep an eye open for tiger's barebones PCs (I'm on their email list)...

Building really isn't that difficult. If you have installed a part here or there you can build one! We can help with the parts if you decide to go that route. And Black Friday/CyberMonday deals can be pretty good on parts!

Getting a barebones built-kit could be a nice way to go too...

basroil wrote in post #10664618
Do you know that you can't run photoshop 6 (ew...) on W7? So far, the only program i know of that doesn't work with W7 perfectly is BeSweet, and most people have never even heard of it.

besweet is old, no longer upgrade audio conversion utility, just dump it and move on.

Well, I may just try PS6 in the standard 64bit Win7 home premium and see...maybe it'll work...if not I can then upgrade to Win7 Pro

I went to the adobe photoshop forum and asked if anyone had installed PS6 in Win7 without XP and got a reply that it works...so...

...this one looks like a winner...any opinions about it would be appreciated...

Asus Essentio CG5275-AR003
i5/8gb/1TB/integ. video (with 8gb I should think that would be okay)
...but I wonder if I'm missing anything
...at $550...it seems like a deal...
(no video card but with 8gb, I think that wouldn't be too serious a negative)...

why would having 8gb ram make a difference on video card? integrated intel HD (calling it HD, what a joke) is quite bad. Its ok for web surfing, thats about it.

Well, I like to use my PC to watch movies/tv off the web (hulu/youtube) and, like now, just sitting back on my sofa surfing...
The only drawback would be if the integrated graphics wouldn't allow me to adjust colors to match my HDTV to my PC monitor...but I have the Nvidia-based v.card I'm using now that I'll pull out of this pc before selling it so I'll have THAT option...and upgrading a card isn't a major expense for non-gamers

kitacanon wrote in post #10693297
I went to the adobe photoshop forum and asked if anyone had installed PS6 in Win7 without XP and got a reply that it works...so...

...this one looks like a winner...any opinions about it would be appreciated...

Asus Essentio CG5275-AR003
i5/8gb/1TB/integ. video (with 8gb I should think that would be okay)
...but I wonder if I'm missing anything
...at $550...it seems like a deal...
(no video card but with 8gb, I think that wouldn't be too serious a negative)...

Doesn't look bad at all. Just make sure there are expansion slots and open SATA ports for adding additional storage at some point.

nekrosoft13 wrote in post #10693327
why would having 8gb ram make a difference on video card? integrated intel HD (calling it HD, what a joke) is quite bad. Its ok for web surfing, thats about it.

Because the integrated GPU will use some of the system RAM.

Integrated video cards are plenty for processing photos. We aren't building a machine for HD playback, this is a photo forum. Even then, my i3 with integrated graphics runs HD video just fine!

kitacanon wrote in post #10693374
Well, I like to use my PC to watch movies/tv off the web (hulu/youtube) and, like now, just sitting back on my sofa surfing...
The only drawback would be if the integrated graphics wouldn't allow me to adjust colors to match my HDTV to my PC monitor...but I have the Nvidia-based v.card I'm using now that I'll pull out of this pc before selling it so I'll have THAT option...and upgrading a card isn't a major expense for non-gamers

It will handle that just fine. The i5 650 CPU has the GPU built in and it is more than capable of running HD video.

In2Photos wrote in post #10693379
Integrated video cards are plenty for processing photos. We aren't building a machine for HD playback, this is a photo forum. Even then, my i3 with integrated graphics runs HD video just fine!

yes this is photo forum, there is photoshop CS4/5 with opengl acceleration.

and btw, not every HD is really HD , like the junk on youtube.

Thanx....and yes the box is pleny big to add an HD backup...I wish PC makers wouldn't make the primary drive so big...1TB seems overkill for those using the primary drive for just OS and programs...
Still, using the 1st drive for all RAW files without worring about space is nice...the 2nd would be for backing up the RAW keepers and their edits seems the way to go..

I don't have blue tooth or 3D so I'm cool with the HD I have for now...

not sure what your budget is, but you could always add SSD as primary OS drive. Intel 80GB SSD is great for the money.

nekrosoft13 wrote in post #10693396
yes this is photo forum, there is photoshop CS4/5 with opengl acceleration.

and btw, not every HD is really HD , like the junk on youtube.

Open GL acceleration is still in its early stages and the number of filters that can use it is minimal. If it becomes an issue you can add a 5450 at ANY time for $50 or less!!!

And i'm talking about playing back 1080p blu ray rips. Check out AVS and see all the guys using i3s for HTPCs. They are excellent for this purpose!

kitacanon wrote in post #10693419
Thanx....and yes the box is pleny big to add an HD backup...I wish PC makers wouldn't make the primary drive so big...1TB seems overkill for those using the primary drive for just OS and programs...
Still, using the 1st drive for all RAW files without worring about space is nice...the 2nd would be for backing up the RAW keepers and their edits seems the way to go..

I don't have blue tooth or 3D so I'm cool with the HD I have for now...

You can pick up an SSD for your boot drive or you can always partition the hard drive. I use a 60-100GB partition for my OS and Apps drive. Then the remainder of the drive is used for data (sometimes partitioned as well). So something like:

C: drive - OS and Apps 100GB
D: drive - Photos and other data - 820GB or so
E: drive - Backup
F: drive - DVD drive