Can you spec me a computer?

KIPAX

KIPAX

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KIPAX Lancashire UK
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I ahve been using computers for around 20 years.. Started with a spectrum then an atari 520st and onwards/upwards.. I tend to keep computers for a long time and not take much notice of the insides.. I used to be a games programmer and took a lot of notice about processors etc but around P3 or P4 I lost track..

Now I know nothing about a computer spec and need to upgrade my desktop.. I will probably keep it so long I will forget what it is. I absoloutly 100% do not want a laptop and I absoloutly 200% dont want a mac (spit)

I am thinking DEL website and spec one out..

Computer is for internet and photo work only.. I already know internet isnt system <> performance specific so its mainly photoshop and the like which is almost constantly on. Never ever ever games so no 3d stuff needed... My stereo is for music and the sound is just about never turned on the computer ..

So given the above and you where on Del website wanting somehting good but not made of money.. what would you spec.. I am looking for EXACT rather than telling me to get best this that cus I am lost.. what EXACT spec then I can go.. enter it and see what appens.

Thanks in advance :)

PS its not goign on show so it doesnt need to look brilliant with flashing lights or a toy fishtank inside :)
 
I currently have a laptop that struggles with CS3 so I'm considering getting a desktop just for my photo work so I'd be interested in hearing the recommendations in this thread.

I'm assuming that as long as the desktop has a good processor (Intel Core 2 Duo), plenty of RAM (2Gb or more) and a good sized HDD (250Gb or more) then it should be fine.
 
I ahve no set budget.. hence the long explanation of what I need.. Whatever the spec that i require to run photoshop and the like as good as possible..then thats the budget i need.. if theers a choice then cheapest :)
 
-Rob- said:
I currently have a laptop that struggles with CS3 so I'm considering getting a desktop just for my photo work so I'd be interested in hearing the recommendations in this thread.

I'm assuming that as long as the desktop has a good processor (Intel Core 2 Duo), plenty of RAM (2Gb or more) and a good sized HDD (250Gb or more) then it should be fine.
Click to expand...

Mine's already better than that and it's too slow :(

DD
 
If you have the capability or, if you have someone with the knowledge to help you, it would be a lot cheaper to build one yourself, most component suppliers would assemble it for you if you preferred.
 
Would still need the spec though :)
 
I recently re-built my 5 year old PC to the spec below, bought bits and installed into same case, total £470. Runs CS2; Lightroom etc.. very easily.

Anything more than abasic spec and you do save ££ on a self build, especially if you can re-use existing bits.

If it is your first self build I would buy a new case. It is not hard just follow the instructions that come with MoBo etc...

The we page below gives useful CPU benchmark info for the unitiated.
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php

SPEC

CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Socket 775 (3.0GHz) 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed

RAM - Corsair 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Kit CL5 1.9V

HDD - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATA II 7200RPM 16MB Cache - OEM

MoBo - Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H GeForce 7100 Socket 775 onboard VGA 8 channel audio mATX Motherboard

Periferal - Microsoft Silver Wireless Laser Desktop 6000 - USB

Op sys - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium - Licence and media - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 64-bit - English

Power supply - Coolermaster 460W eXtreme Power Plus PSU - 20+4pin 4+4 ATX12v 4x SATA 6pin

used existing case, monitor, card readers, fan, CD / DVD writter
 
If you want it to run PS as fast as possible I would add a really fast small(ish) HD to the spec above to act as the scratch disk.

For an ultimate photography machine I would probably also add another hard drive as you can never have enough space or backups!
 
Cheers will.. your on your own.. only one who came up with a spec :) thnaks!!

I ahve a desktop now with a couple of external HDs :) I just want to upgrade the PC .. maybe do my own in current case.. hmm
 
my best suggestion would be to join the forum at 'overclockers'. they are a really helpful bunch and you will find dozens of threads asking for spec advice. if you stick up your budget and proposed programs of use, you will def get specialist help there. overclockers is pretty much for people who are building their own rig but even if you want to buy a complete system you will still get good advice.

on a side note, im pretty sure the latest editing software programs, cs4 etc, are now able to use the power of your graphics card to crunch numbers. you can get really great cards now for not much more than £100 (4870 etc)
 
A bit like you I have always built my own desktops but feel I'm now out of touch. I've always been a fan of Dell but only had laptops in the past. If I was to buy now I'd be looking at the Inspiron 545 with dual core (I'm led to believe quad core are really no faster), 512 Gfx, 3 gb ram & 640 Sata Hdd. I'd then add more ram and a second hdd internally for file storage as I already have 2x500 drives as backup on my network.
The other model I'd look at is the XPS 430 quad core. with similar spec and add same as above.
 
recently got myself a dell studio xps, custom specced, stunning machine - mega fast

Base : Studio XPS Intel Core i7 Processor 920 (2.66GHz, 8MB cache, 4.8GT/sec) (8 processors)
Memory : 6144MB (6x1024) 1067MHz DDR3 Tri Channel
Media Card Reader : 19-in-1 Media Card Reader
Hard Drive : 640GB (2x320GB) Serial ATA Raid 0 "Stripe" (7200RPM) Dual HDD
Optical Drive : 16X DVD+/-RW Drive 1
Display : 21.5in S2209W HD UK/Irish Black Widescreen Trans Value (1920x1080) DVI-D
Graphics : 512MB ATI Radeon 4850 Graphics card
Audio : Creative SoundBlaster Xfi MB Software Suite
Keyboard & Mouse : UK/Irish (QWERTY) Dell Multimedia Wireless Keyboard & Mouse Black
Operating System : English Genuine Windows Vista SP1 Home Premium (64 BIT) including Media

all for £890 inc delivery :D it was on special (£120 off) + 10% discount code + £60 cashback

drew
 
KIPAX, whatever you do totally avoId the quad core and the new i7's as you will never use them to their potential.

my ideal spec would be a 80gb SSD for windows and programs and loaded with XP Pro 64, a good Gigabite motherboard and the fastest core 2 duo processor about, a half decent graphics card, an nvidia 512mb 8800 gts or something similar, 4gb corsair dominator Ram, then scavenge the rest from my current PC including the 2 500mb 10,000 RPM hard drives
 
Gary Coyle said:
KIPAX, whatever you do totally avoId the quad core and the new i7's as you will never use them to their potential.

my ideal spec would be a 80gb SSD for windows and programs and loaded with XP Pro 64, a good Gigabite motherboard and the fastest core 2 duo processor about, a half decent graphics card, an nvidia 512mb 8800 gts or something similar, 4gb corsair dominator Ram, then scavenge the rest from my current PC including the 2 500mb 10,000 RPM hard drives
Click to expand...

I disagree completely. Photoshop is one of the only programs that will use a quad core. XP 64 is pure crap (for a number of reasons specific to his needs) and he already said he doesnt need a graphics card.

However you havent been very helpful with your lack of a proper budget. What you need for your uses is:
Quad core cpu
4Gb of ram
Vista home premium 64bit
1Tb drive for photos, quite cheap now and it should last you.
Any graphics card will do
A good backup solution (see HCK's post above)

Without a budget it is hard to pick a spec because price ultimately determines what you can get, but around £800-1000 (including a screen) is generally were value for money tends to drop as you spend alot more for very little more performance. Without a graphics card (saving ~£200) you might come in a little lower than most gaming pc's.

Craikeybaby mentioned a small fast drive to use as a scratch disk, this would come in the form of a solid state drive (SSD), they are super fast and perfect, however there are concerns about their lifespan when used for this purpose but i am not sure what the facts are regarding this so it is something you could look into. What you shouldnt do is get a small conventional hard drive like an 80Gb as these are much slower than anything over 500Gb.

Building yourself is the best option because you just pick what you want but the research will be more time consuming but have a poke on the dell website and see what you can get at a price that appeals.
 
Have a look at this site as I fing that there can be good bargins there:

http://itcsales.co.uk

good price system http://itcsales.co.uk/acatalog/Dell_Vostro_400_Series_Computers.html#a2942

Vostro 420 LMT
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 (3.00GHz)
16X DVD+/-RW
250GB HD (7200 Rpm)
Mouse Dell Wheel USB 2 Button Scroll Black
Dell Quietkey Black Keyboard
3072MB (1x2048 + 1x1024) 800MHz DDR2
256 MB ATI Radeon HD 3450
Windows Vista SP1 Home Premium

3 Year Dell Onsite Next Business Day ProSupport Warranty

All for £366 (+del)

or a mental system:

http://itcsales.co.uk/acatalog/Dell_Vostro_400_Series_Computers.html#a449

Vostro 420 LMT
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 (2.83GHz)
16X DVD+/-RW
500GB HD Serial ATA non Raid (7200 Rpm)
DVI to VGA port adapter
Ship Accessory English Docs
Dell Quietkey Black Keyboard
Mouse Dell Wheel USB 2 Button Scroll Black
4096MB 800Mhz (2x2048MB) Memory
Modem Cable(RJ11)- UK
V.92 Data Fax Modem
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT
Windows Vista SP1 Business

3 Year Dell Onsite Next Business Day ProSupport Warranty

All for £804 (+del)


OR INSANE System:

http://itcsales.co.uk/acatalog/Dell_Precision_690_Workstations_Discounted.html#a2742

Precision T7400
Intel Xeon X5450 (3.00GHz Quad Core)
16X DVD+/-RW
500GB HD (7200Rpm) Serial ATA II
2 x 500GB HD (7200Rpm) Serial ATA II Total 1 Tbyte
C6 SATA RAID 0 for 2 Hard Drives
Dell 2 Button USB Scroll Black Mouse
Dell Quietkey USB Black
System Documentation UK
Vista OnLine Getting Started Guide
Dell Welcome and Customisation
8GB (4X2048) 667MHz DDR2 Quad Channel FBD
512 MB ATI FireGL V7700 (MRGA15B)
Windows Vista Business x64 SP1

Dell 3 Year Warranty On Site Next Working Day

all for just £1840!!!!!

Happy shopping :)
 
p.s. I am in no way linked to that site!! I think the prices are good, thats all!!!
 
slats said:
Have a look at this site as I fing that there can be good bargins there:

http://itcsales.co.uk

good price system http://itcsales.co.uk/acatalog/Dell_Vostro_400_Series_Computers.html#a2942

Vostro 420 LMT
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 (3.00GHz)
16X DVD+/-RW
250GB HD (7200 Rpm)
Mouse Dell Wheel USB 2 Button Scroll Black
Dell Quietkey Black Keyboard
3072MB (1x2048 + 1x1024) 800MHz DDR2
256 MB ATI Radeon HD 3450
Windows Vista SP1 Home Premium

3 Year Dell Onsite Next Business Day ProSupport Warranty

All for £366 (+del)

or a mental system:

http://itcsales.co.uk/acatalog/Dell_Vostro_400_Series_Computers.html#a449

Vostro 420 LMT
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 (2.83GHz)
16X DVD+/-RW
500GB HD Serial ATA non Raid (7200 Rpm)
DVI to VGA port adapter
Ship Accessory English Docs
Dell Quietkey Black Keyboard
Mouse Dell Wheel USB 2 Button Scroll Black
4096MB 800Mhz (2x2048MB) Memory
Modem Cable(RJ11)- UK
V.92 Data Fax Modem
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT
Windows Vista SP1 Business

3 Year Dell Onsite Next Business Day ProSupport Warranty

All for £804 (+del)


OR INSANE System:

http://itcsales.co.uk/acatalog/Dell_Precision_690_Workstations_Discounted.html#a2742

Precision T7400
Intel Xeon X5450 (3.00GHz Quad Core)
16X DVD+/-RW
500GB HD (7200Rpm) Serial ATA II
2 x 500GB HD (7200Rpm) Serial ATA II Total 1 Tbyte
C6 SATA RAID 0 for 2 Hard Drives
Dell 2 Button USB Scroll Black Mouse
Dell Quietkey USB Black
System Documentation UK
Vista OnLine Getting Started Guide
Dell Welcome and Customisation
8GB (4X2048) 667MHz DDR2 Quad Channel FBD
512 MB ATI FireGL V7700 (MRGA15B)
Windows Vista Business x64 SP1

Dell 3 Year Warranty On Site Next Working Day

all for just £1840!!!!!

Happy shopping :)
Click to expand...

Those prices don't seem too hot to me?

I have just picked up this system direct from Dell for £323

Processor: AMD Phenom™ X4 9750 (2.40GHz, 512kx4)
Memory: 8192MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [4x2048]
Video Card: 256MB ATI® Radeon™ HD 3650 graphics card
Hard Drive: 1TB (7200rpm) SATA Hard Drive
Floppy Drive: 19-in-1 Media Card reader
Microsoft Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 (64 Bit) - English - With a free upgrade to Windows 7 in October (y)
Optical Devices: DVD +/- RW Drive (read/write CD & DVD)
Sound Cards: Integrated 7.1 Channel High Definition Audio
Standard Warranty: 1Yr Limited Warranty - Collect & Return
 
good looking system and a good price :)

nice that you get the free windows upgrade :)
 
You would certainly need a half decent spec if your going to run Windaz Vista!! Oh dear, this OS is just sheer pants - its slow and needs all your resouces just to run the OS, then you may experience the problem of your drivers not working, silly little graphics just to annoy you, oh and lets not forget the incessant security patches that you HAVE to download!!

I just bought an Inspiron 1525 laptop from Dell :
3GB RAM
250Gb disc space
1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo T5450
DVD RW
4 USB ports
and it was £350...
it was going to cost £399 but I opted for Ubuntu.
Gimp and RawTherapee are two pieces of software that are free and easy to use and are very reliable too.

Ditch Windows, and its costly software and jump on the GPL cruise liner! :D
 
yorkshireflatcap said:
You would certainly need a half decent spec if your going to run Windaz Vista!! Oh dear, this OS is just sheer pants - its slow and needs all your resouces just to run the OS, then you may experience the problem of your drivers not working, silly little graphics just to annoy you, oh and lets not forget the incessant security patches that you HAVE to download!!
Click to expand...

what utter tosh.
 
Please explain.
 
6-8gb installation size, 4gb ram to run it.... porting software from XP to Vista, not the easiest thing to do.

Silly graphics - These are what takes up most of your memory, and hey, who can tell me what to do with my copy of windows that I've forked out top dollar for? Windows can.... try transfering your precious copy of vista onto another machine.... KERPOW!!!
And as a software developer, don't get me started on porting software from XP to Vista....
 
I have a dell dimension 5150, i've had it for a couple of years now, a couple of months ago the PSU packed up, as usual dell spare parts are ridiculous price's, but i managed to get a refurb one for about £30, apparently the PSU,s on dell machines are fairly quick to go and can be hard to replace, not sure how long the one i have now will last but here,s hoping, i certainly wouldn't buy a dell again for that reason alone, and there spare part,s are silly price,s, i seen that medion one in Aldi too, it looked very high spec for £500.
 
TG. said:
I certainly wouldn't buy a dell again for that reason alone
Click to expand...

yeah, I agree with you there. However, Acer's seems to be a good buy at the moment - very cheap laptops with a high spec fot as little as £299
 
nictry said:
Those prices don't seem too hot to me?

I have just picked up this system direct from Dell for £323

Processor: AMD Phenom™ X4 9750 (2.40GHz, 512kx4)
Memory: 8192MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [4x2048]
Video Card: 256MB ATI® Radeon™ HD 3650 graphics card
Hard Drive: 1TB (7200rpm) SATA Hard Drive
Floppy Drive: 19-in-1 Media Card reader
Microsoft Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 (64 Bit) - English - With a free upgrade to Windows 7 in October (y)
Optical Devices: DVD +/- RW Drive (read/write CD & DVD)
Sound Cards: Integrated 7.1 Channel High Definition Audio
Standard Warranty: 1Yr Limited Warranty - Collect & Return
Click to expand...


You bought a computer with an AMD processor, thats why it seems so cheap.
 
Well, if I were looking for a desktop right now I'd probably go for something like this Dell Studio XPS -

Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 920 (2.66GHz, 8MB cache, 4.8GT/sec)
Genuine Windows Vista® SP1 Home Premium (64 BIT) - English
512MB ATI® Radeon® 4850 Graphics card
4096MB (4x1024) 1067MHz DDR3 Dual Channel
1TB Serial ATA (7200RPM) Hard Drive
16X DVD+/- RW Optical Drive (DVD & CD read and write)

£860 - without a monitor (then again I've already got a decent 24" one).
 
yorkshireflatcap said:
6-8gb installation size
Click to expand...

on a 400gb+ hard drive that not exactly the end of the world now is it.

4gb ram to run it
Click to expand...

funny, im running vista on a 2gb virtual machine at work and is fine..

Silly graphics - These are what takes up most of your memory
Click to expand...

well that depends on your graphics adapter really. plus if they bother you that much you can turn down the levels of prettyness.

and hey, who can tell me what to do with my copy of windows that I've forked out top dollar for? Windows can.... try transfering your precious copy of vista onto another machine.... KERPOW!!!
Click to expand...

not entirely sure what your point there is..

TG. said:
apparently the PSU,s on dell machines are fairly quick to go and can be hard to replace
Click to expand...

weve got about 300-400 dells here, i think the last PSU failure was 2007 on a server i think? it was a while ago. psu's on the desktops are no harder to replace than any other.

oh and that server psu that failed? took under 4 hours for a replacement to turn up. business support rocks.
 
TG. said:
I have a dell dimension 5150, i've had it for a couple of years now, a couple of months ago the PSU packed up, as usual dell spare parts are ridiculous price's, but i managed to get a refurb one for about £30, apparently the PSU,s on dell machines are fairly quick to go and can be hard to replace, not sure how long the one i have now will last but here,s hoping, i certainly wouldn't buy a dell again for that reason alone, and there spare part,s are silly price,s, i seen that medion one in Aldi too, it looked very high spec for £500.
Click to expand...

If you buy a normal desktop then the PSU should be std ATX 2.2 and you can pick a decent (higher spec) one from the Dell one for around £70-80 and it will run anything you can throw at it. I think the 5150 was the slimline? If so then I guess you may have probs without using a custom Dell one?
 
nictry said:
If you buy a normal desktop then the PSU should be std ATX 2.2 and you can pick a decent (higher spec) one from the Dell one for around £70-80 and it will run anything you can throw at it. I think the 5150 was the slimline? If so then I guess you may have probs without using a custom Dell one?
Click to expand...

Wished i'd have known that about 6 weeks back, however the dimension 5150 is not the slimline one, but the standard size one :)
 
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