budget PC specification.

Stevenjay5

Stevenjay5

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Steven
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hey guys, finally crunch time has come, and im in need of a new desktop PC, i will be using the PC for simple day to day family use, i.e, surfing the web, Microsoft office, and then photo editing, using cs6 and lightroom.
i don't have much of a budget, and don't really want to go past 650, and therefor not expecting crazy good results,so my question is this... is there anything really wrong with this specification for what i need it to do?

CIT Fortress Case with USB 3.0
AMD Trinity A10-5800K Processor 3.8GHz
AMD Stock Cooler
Generic thermal paste
Asus F2A85-M LE Motherboard
8GB Corsair PC3-12800 1600MHz DDR3 Memory (2 x 4GB sticks)
Integrated AMD Radeon Graphics
120GB Samsung 840 Series Solid State Drive
2000GB 7200RPM Hard Disk - 6Gbps
24x SATA DVD-RW Drive
EZCool Basic 500W PSU
Onboard High Definition Audio
300Mbps 802.11n Wireless PCIe Adaptor (for Wireless networks)
Windows 8 64 bit
Standard Chillblast Cable Management
24" Asus VS239HR IPS Widescreen LED Monitor
Logitech Cordless Keyboard and Mouse

any input would be greatly appreciated!

oh and the price for this system is 650, fully assembled by the supplier, im not really competent to do this myself! :|
 
I'd say get the best monitor you can afford, this is what you'll be looking at & seeing your images on & working with.
Asus do the PA238Q 23" IPS Widescreen Monitor for about £60 more than the one you mention. It's factory calibrated, so you should be ok for a while before wanting to get a colour calibrator.

Can't help with the PC specs, i'm not the least bit techie.
 
I reckon a mid range PC will do you fine as long as you don't use anti-virus.
Anti-virus scans everything you open, before you open it, it's the single biggest cause of slow performance bar none.

Otherwise my suggestion would be to focus on the best rated MOBO you can find, the rest is upgradable.
Building PCs is easy, I recommend having a go, you can't really go wrong these days. Just remember tyraps (zipties).
 
Lyonspride said:
I reckon a mid range PC will do you fine as long as you don't use anti-virus.
Anti-virus scans everything you open, before you open it, it's the single biggest cause of slow performance bar none.

Otherwise my suggestion would be to focus on the best rated MOBO you can find, the rest is upgradable.
Building PCs is easy, I recommend having a go, you can't really go wrong these days. Just remember tyraps (zipties).
Click to expand...

Sorry but that is terrible advice. A decent AV is the very minimum anyone should be using.

Andy
 
What I would say is spend a little more on a case that allows for extra expansion slots . I went for the Lian LI PC-K9B First Knight for good reason, air flow and comes with 2 usb3 ports on top already

First seriously consider air flow the one you have on your list makes the air "bend " via the side vent slowing down that all important air flow. Keeping a computer as cool as possible is what to aim for to give best efficiency. This one has 4 powerful fans pushing airflow straight though the computer from front to back in a direct line and another 2 for the graphics card. We replaced to ones that came with the case for more more powerful ones to increase airflow even further so we fitted 3 x (120mm Scythe Gentle Typhon 1450rpm cooling fans).

dsc7667copy.jpg



Secondly seriously consider expansion later on such as adding additional internal hard drives, do check the one your thinking about has enough bays inside to allow for this. On top of this do check the power unit (shown 750w) has enough outlets to power any additional internal units you may want later on, this goes for the motherboard as well. Mine is a Asus P8Z77-V Intel Z77, this has more USB ports than you can shake a stick at. Yes a little more expensive initially BUT you won't have to add more later on. I used an Intel core i7 processor on it.

If i were you I would drop the 120GB Samsung 840 Series Solid State Drive ( personally I would rather have a slower computer startup and better graphics) and instead invest in a separate graphics card. Yes I know there is an onboard one on the motherboard but for photographic work I went for the MSI GTX 560TI instead.
LINK

http://www.scan.co.uk/search.aspx?q=LN37607

but may be cheaper elsewhere on the net. being a dedicated graphics card not only takes away some of the work the motherboard does but in my opinion does a far better job with pictures/video and the like.



My son has built several computers before so knew his way around which did make life easier I have to admit. Once I got though to him it was for mainly photographic work. In total I guess it took about 3 months compiling the components as he lived abroad and everything was worked out via skype mainly, apart from the actual build when he was here.
Doing your own build one can pick out such things as best cooling fans, sound cards-graphics cards (already mentioned)- power unit- mother board- processor etc etc. Ok this particular built was double the cost of what you have budgets for, but may give some idea as regards to your one your having built.

Why didn't I go for a prebuilt one? for a very good reason, I don't know the quality of parts used and didn't want to pay their build fees on top of VAT. Do get a breakdown of every component the supplier uses then you can check the real cost of the computer.

Hope this is of some help

PS
since this photo was taken there is now an additional hard drive internally and also another external one as well and the computer still has the capability to add more if I need to, at least another 2 internal hard drives which is why i went for this setup

Realspeed
 
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Keebsuk said:
Sorry but that is terrible advice. A decent AV is the very minimum anyone should be using.

Andy
Click to expand...

I haven't used it for 11 years, I run Malwarebytes, SpybotSND and free online virus scanners once per week, my browsers run "noscript" and "abp". Never had virus or malware on 1 PC and 3 laptops. I found it did nothing but sap performance and get in the way of doing every day things, as it does at work (where i've no choice but to put up with it).

My folks have anti-virus, every virus they ever had was missed by the expensive AV and last time I tried to use malwarebytes on their machine, the AV blocked it from updating. The AV also once deleted a virus, but that virus had replaced explorer in the system registry startup key, so when it was deleted it bricked the PC.

The best anti-virus is knowledge and common sense.
 
realspeed said:
First seriously consider air flow the one you have on your list makes the air "bend " via the side vent slowing down that all important air flow. Keeping a computer as cool as possible is what to aim for to give best efficiency. This one has 4 powerful fans pushing airflow straight though the computer from front to back in a direct line and another 2 for the graphics card. We replaced to ones that came with the case for more more powerful ones to increase airflow even further so we fitted 3 x (120mm Scythe Gentle Typhon 1450rpm cooling fans).
Click to expand...

Just want to add to this, ALWAYS do your fan airflow calculations, if the exhaust fans are stronger than the intakes, the case will have a slight vacuum, which causes dust to creep in through holes/seams/vents, eventually blocking up everything with dust. Creating slight positive pressure has the opposite effect, effectively pushing air out through those holes/seams/vents, forcing dust to enter only via the filtered intakes.
 
Lyonspride said:
Just want to add to this, ALWAYS do your fan airflow calculations, if the exhaust fans are stronger than the intakes, the case will have a slight vacuum, which causes dust to creep in through holes/seams/vents, eventually blocking up everything with dust. Creating slight positive pressure has the opposite effect, effectively pushing air out through those holes/seams/vents, forcing dust to enter only via the filtered intakes.
Click to expand...

If you noticed we replaced all 3 fans with fans the same size/power. As for dust collection that will occur anyway where air is being sucked in. This particular computer case we used the front just pulls off and the dust prevention mesh unclips for cleaning. I clean mine once a year even though its on a desk. My other 2 computers need cleaning more often as they sit on the floor. At present my CPU is running at 33.C degrees as is my MB
Lyonspride

Hopefully you spent a lot of time deciding on the components you used when you built your own, and spent time considering the best air flow for your system. I would be interested on which cooling fans you decided to use and the size and rpm and your computer running temperature and how many you fitted.
Realspeed
 
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realspeed said:
Lyonspride

Hopefully you spent a lot of time deciding on the components you used when you built your own, and spent time considering the best air flow for your system. I would be interested on which cooling fans you decided to use and the size and rpm and how many you fitted.
Realspeed
Click to expand...

Airflow is particularly important in mine because the CPU is heavily overclocked and water cooled, the radiator being in front of the main exhaust fan, I have 3 exhaust fans 1x 180mm (top vent) and 2x 120mm (PSU and CPU rad), I then have a side intake case fan at 120mm (normally off) and two further 120mm intake fans at the front.
It's a mixture of Antec, Akasa, Vantec and Coolermaster, they're big enough to run slow and quiet, I don't go in for all the fancy glow in the dark nonsense.

All active fans are temperature controlled and there has been some soldering of inline resistors where needed to reduce speeds slightly, but if things still get too warm there are 50c thermal switches attached to the GFX card and CPU radiator (with hotmelt glue), which when activated will kick all the system fans into full speed (has only happened a few times).

I know the cooling is right because holding tissue paper near a hole or vent results in the paper being pushed away slightly. The most important thing is cleaning the filter for the 2 front intake fans, if it gets mucky the case turns negative pressure and sucks in dust, which then blocks the CPU cooler radiator with potentially disasterous results.

I learnt my lesson with the first PC I built, I literally had to disassemble it every 6 months to clean everything :LOL:
As you mentioned, I keep my PC's on the floor, so the potential for dust is greatly increased.
 
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For general use why do you need a dedicated graphics card? The SSD will be more useful than a graphics card. The best place to go is overclockers.co.uk, they will spec you a nice machine in your budget.
 
Have you tried pcspecialist.co.uk they ate great I got a fantastic system from them. Call them up and they will advice you without ripping you off.

Thoroughly recommend them.
 
Laudrup said:
For general use why do you need a dedicated graphics card? The SSD will be more useful than a graphics card. The best place to go is overclockers.co.uk, they will spec you a nice machine in your budget.
Click to expand...

If you read the OP quote " photo editing, using cs6 and lightroom." is what he was particularly after therefore a dedicated graphics card is why I recommended one. of course I understand that having a dedicated graphics card is no good without a monitor to match but that is not what was asked about.



Realspeed
 
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Lyonspride said:
Airflow is particularly important in mine because the CPU is heavily overclocked and water cooled, the radiator being in front of the main exhaust fan, I have 3 exhaust fans 1x 180mm (top vent) and 2x 120mm (PSU and CPU rad), I then have a side intake case fan at 120mm (normally off) and two further 120mm intake fans at the front.
It's a mixture of Antec, Akasa, Vantec and Coolermaster, they're big enough to run slow and quiet, I don't go in for all the fancy glow in the dark nonsense.

All active fans are temperature controlled and there has been some soldering of inline resistors where needed to reduce speeds slightly, but if things still get too warm there are 50c thermal switches attached to the GFX card and CPU radiator (with hotmelt glue), which when activated will kick all the system fans into full speed (has only happened a few times).

I know the cooling is right because holding tissue paper near a hole or vent results in the paper being pushed away slightly. The most important thing is cleaning the filter for the 2 front intake fans, if it gets mucky the case turns negative pressure and sucks in dust, which then blocks the CPU cooler radiator with potentially disasterous results.

I learnt my lesson with the first PC I built, I literally had to disassemble it every 6 months to clean everything :LOL:
As you mentioned, I keep my PC's on the floor, so the potential for dust is greatly increased.
Click to expand...

Ah now I see why you mentioned about vacuum etc as you have installed different fans throughout your computer. So what is the computer temperature you have achieved at idle ? it must be fairly low. Mine is 33c degrees

Realspeed
 
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Wow!! Cheers guys! A lot of "food for thought" there! A lot! Haha, I've asked the question on overclockers, will post the spec once I get a reply,

Keep the advice coming! I'm soaking it in! Haha
 
realspeed said:
Ah now I see why you mentioned about vacuum etc as you have installed different fans throughout your computer. So what is the computer temperature you have achieved at idle ? it must be fairly low. Mine is 33c degrees

Realspeed
Click to expand...

It's actually fairly consistent, internally it's 35-36 just above the CPU rad (about 2 inches from the top of the case), maximum is around 40, because as it all starts to heat up the fans run harder and then once the overheat switches kick in, it drops to 35 again (in around 20 seconds) before they reset. I bought a bulk load of KSD thermal switches on ebay for £10 or so, for another project, so it seemed logical to use them up.

I think the biggest factor is the water cooled CPU, as the heat is immediately removed from inside the case, instead of swirling around warming everything else up.
 
Presently I'm using a Lenovo from PC World (I hate PC World but I needed a new unit asap!) with an Intel i3, 8gb ram and windows 8. Only using on board graphics. £399 all in (I already have a very nice IPS monitor).

It processes 15-20mp raw files in LR4 and CS5 almost instantly and is a dream to use! I didnt expect this from a £399 unit, but the purpose built tower I had spec'd up is on hold indefinately!!

I think we put far too much emphasis on creating supercomputers for image processing and sometimes can go into overkill.
 
odd jim said:
Presently I'm using a Lenovo from PC World (I hate PC World but I needed a new unit asap!) with an Intel i3, 8gb ram and windows 8. Only using on board graphics. £399 all in (I already have a very nice IPS monitor).

It processes 15-20mp raw files in LR4 and CS5 almost instantly and is a dream to use! I didnt expect this from a £399 unit, but the purpose built tower I had spec'd up is on hold indefinately!!

I think we put far too much emphasis on creating supercomputers for image processing and sometimes can go into overkill.
Click to expand...

I totally agree, I'd love to buy a of the shelf unit and save a few pennies, but the Lenovo unit you have mentioned cost you 399, and for me to buy a similar model, and a ips monitor, it would push me somwhere near my limit anyway don't you think?
 
Don't forget to cost in the Operating System.

I bought this last month and an AOC i2367Fh. Works much better than the old laptop I was using :D

EDIT: I see you included Windows :)
 
loooooads of similar "spec me" for similar budget in the computers section..

realspeed said:
If you read the OP quote " photo editing, using cs6 and lightroom." is what he was particularly after therefore a dedicated graphics card is why I recommended one. of course I understand that having a dedicated graphics card is no good without a monitor to match but that is not what was asked about.



Realspeed
Click to expand...

lightroom doesnt have GPU acceleration and CS6 only uses it for some features like blur, warp and liquify. id get a mid/lower end card if youre considering high res/twin screens at some point and keep the SSD.
 
Lyonspride said:
I reckon a mid range PC will do you fine as long as you don't use anti-virus.
Anti-virus scans everything you open, before you open it, it's the single biggest cause of slow performance bar none.
Click to expand...

I would never advise anyone not to use an anti-virus package. The consequences are not worth avoiding any potential for a slow-down (something I've not noticed with Kaspersky).
 
digital said:
I would never advise anyone not to use an anti-virus package. The consequences are not worth avoiding any potential for a slow-down (something I've not noticed with Kaspersky).
Click to expand...

It depends really, you see im the sort of person who doesn't open an email attachement before phoning or emailing the source to identify whether it's genuine. The sort of person who doesn't click links on Facebook before doing the same ^^, who never clicks on ads and never falls for the common tricks that dodgy websites use.

I know all the tricks and i'm of the opinion that everyone should learn how to defend their IT equipment, rather than rely upon poor all in one software solutions.
Just as people shouldn't expect other people to raise their unruly kids.


Yeah, I know im being completely unreaslistic...... But that's just the way I feel.
 
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Lyonspride said:
It depends really, you see im the sort of person who doesn't open an email attachement before phoning or emailing the source to identify whether it's genuine. The sort of person who doesn't click links on Facebook before doing the same ^^, who never clicks on ads and never falls for the common tricks that dodgy websites use.

I know all the tricks and i'm of the opinion that everyone should learn how to defend their IT equipment, rather than rely upon poor all in one software solutions.
Just as people shouldn't expect other people to raise their unruly kids.


Yeah, I know im being completely unreaslistic...... But that's just the way I feel.
Click to expand...

Aye, but there's not many like you in a half pound :D

For the rest of us great unwashed, AV is very sensible (y)
 
Lyonspride said:
It depends really, you see im the sort of person who doesn't open an email attachement before phoning or emailing the source to identify whether it's genuine. The sort of person who doesn't click links on Facebook before doing the same ^^, who never clicks on ads and never falls for the common tricks that dodgy websites use.

I know all the tricks and i'm of the opinion that everyone should learn how to defend their IT equipment, rather than rely upon poor all in one software solutions.
Just as people shouldn't expect other people to raise their unruly kids.


Yeah, I know im being completely unreaslistic...... But that's just the way I feel.
Click to expand...

A lot of us 'know all the tricks' but we have enough common sense to also know that one day (today? tomorrow? the next day?) there may be a trick we don't know about.

Advising someone you don't know not to bother with anti-virus isn't a good idea.
 
Pretty nice setup generally speaking. Some notes:
- windows 8 - I wouldn't recommend, this is an attempt from MS to bridge w/ Smartphone world - less troubles sticking with WIn 7 Pro or Ultimate re drivers, software etc.
- Samsung 840 SSD is very good, the Pro version is even better. In any case you'll need to have a good system backup policy in place to your data hard drives
- 2 TB hard drive is *dangerous* - it's putting all your eggs in same place .. lose it and you lose *everything*. Much better to use 2x 1 TB drives so at least you can backup your most important files/ pics on a dupl drive. Stay away from Seagate btw ... Western Digital Blue or Black edtn are better and well worth the price delta re reliability
- 8GB of ram isn't much these days - my laptop (Thinkpad T430s got 16 Megs;D ) - you need all the ram you can use for CS6 etc
- remember also to get a UPS to protect your PC components!
- if you have a good relationship with your builder, do try and get him to find a solid business PC ( even used /refurb ... HP Compaq my current fav - or even Lenovo, laptop thinkpad series with docking station and external USB3 drives .. check their Lenovo refurb site - runs much cooler and more silent )
and beef it up. You'll get better value .. Asus is great a Mobo manufacturer, but it's hard to beat corporate machines for reliability/ price

Good luck ;D





Stevenjay5 said:
hey guys, finally crunch time has come, and im in need of a new desktop PC, i will be using the PC for simple day to day family use, i.e, surfing the web, Microsoft office, and then photo editing, using cs6 and lightroom.
i don't have much of a budget, and don't really want to go past 650, and therefor not expecting crazy good results,so my question is this... is there anything really wrong with this specification for what i need it to do?

CIT Fortress Case with USB 3.0
AMD Trinity A10-5800K Processor 3.8GHz
AMD Stock Cooler
Generic thermal paste
Asus F2A85-M LE Motherboard
8GB Corsair PC3-12800 1600MHz DDR3 Memory (2 x 4GB sticks)
Integrated AMD Radeon Graphics
120GB Samsung 840 Series Solid State Drive
2000GB 7200RPM Hard Disk - 6Gbps
24x SATA DVD-RW Drive
EZCool Basic 500W PSU
Onboard High Definition Audio
300Mbps 802.11n Wireless PCIe Adaptor (for Wireless networks)
Windows 8 64 bit
Standard Chillblast Cable Management
24" Asus VS239HR IPS Widescreen LED Monitor
Logitech Cordless Keyboard and Mouse

any input would be greatly appreciated!

oh and the price for this system is 650, fully assembled by the supplier, im not really competent to do this myself! :|
Click to expand...
 
digital said:
I would never advise anyone not to use an anti-virus package. The consequences are not worth avoiding any potential for a slow-down (something I've not noticed with Kaspersky).
Click to expand...

For the vast majority a decent AV is essential. Not all are system hogs, Kaspersky is very good. I use BitDefender 2013 and run a daily scan with Malwarebytes (the free version), neither of which cause any slowdown or conflicts.

I am a member of the Windows Seven forum and it really woke me up as to what is going on with regards to infected PC's. There is some incredibly nasty software in use and aimed at the general home user which does more than just fill temp files with junk. Some of the rootkit infections require a complete reinstall and for some that will be more than just a pain.

I would urge everyone to take a good look at their protection. Spend an hour or so doing a bit of research and take it seriously. There is no need to spend a fortune and where I DO agree with Lyonspride is when he mentions common sense. A lot of problems are self inflicted and can be easily avoided.

Andy
 
That spec looks fine to me. Do you really need a new monitor, keyboard and mouse or could you recycle the ones from your old PC? You could put that money towards an external drive for backup. Or maybe a dedicated graphics card?

There's nothing really wrong with Windows 8. The Windows 8 experience is definitely enhanced by a touchscreen though. Personally I'd buy a Windows 8 licence but use the downgrade rights to install Windows 7 today. As for antivirus you'd be silly to miss this out unless you (and anyone else who uses the PC) know exactly what you're doing and understand the risks and how to mitigate them. Don't spend money on this though. Microsoft Security Essentials is free, works well enough and integrates nicely with Windows.
 
MSE is all you really need. Nobody knows PCs like MS, I've had it on a desktop and 2 laptops over the past few years and have never had one issue/trojan/virus ...
 
Easily recommend a SSD over dedicated graphics, especially if you build 1:1 previews in LR. Putting the OS, LR cache and initial raw on SSD and then afterward you finish working with the gallery, migrate the library to the normal HD
 
My recommendations would be to get win 7 over win 8. And secondly, if you consider building it yourself, you let someone you know build it, ensure the use of an anti static wrist strap. This will save u potential future headaches.
 
pike0 said:
My recommendations would be to get win 7 over win 8. And secondly, if you consider building it yourself, you let someone you know build it, ensure the use of an anti static wrist strap. This will save u potential future headaches.
Click to expand...

as long as you earth yourself (touch a radiator etc) you should be fine.
 
pike0 said:
My recommendations would be to get win 7 over win 8. And secondly, if you consider building it yourself, you let someone you know build it, ensure the use of an anti static wrist strap. This will save u potential future headaches.
Click to expand...

I'm quite liking Windows 8, works a dream with CS3/5 and LR4. No issues with it.

(Well, apart from some monitor res / cable confusion at the start but that was user error!)
 
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neil_g said:
as long as you earth yourself (touch a radiator etc) you should be fine.
Click to expand...

And also, some of the components will come in an anti-static ESD safe bag, you can use this almost like a glove to handle other bits of the PC.

If your first step is the PSU (and it should be), once this is installed and plugged into the mains socket (but with the PSU switch in the OFF position), there's no need to worry about so much about ESD precautions because the case will then be earthed via the PSU and you can use the case in place of the trusty radiator :D
 
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Lyonspride said:
And also, some of the components will come in an anti-static ESD safe bag, you can use this almost like a glove to handle other bits of the PC.

If your first step is the PSU (and it should be), once this is installed and plugged into the mains socket (but with the PSU switch in the OFF position), there's no need to worry about so much about ESD precautions because the case will then be earthed via the PSU and you can use the case in place of the trusty radiator :D
Click to expand...

(y)

Also, don't scoot around on nylon carpet in your socks before hand :LOL:
 
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