New computer help please!

kitschenalia

kitschenalia

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Our PC (tower) packed up today, and we're going to have to buy a new one. We've got a very nice flatscreen monitor, a decent wireless mouse, and keyboard, so we're only buying a new tower.

My husband has been looking at some reconditioned ones and built ones, we haven't a massive amount of money.

I don't know much about spec but he says he's looking at really high ram/processor/memory etc.

I wonder if you can advise what to look for from a photography point of view? Graphics card etc? I have been getting more into the use of photoshop etc. and being that I'm very serious about my newish hobby I'd like to make sure that we get the best computer for it. (Would love to convert to Mac, but can't afford to do that, and buy software all over again etc.).
 
Just about any graphics card will be fine for PS, what is more important there is memory and processor speed.

When you say your tower died, it's very rare for a pc to die completely, it's more likely one component has gone faulty and that could probably be replaced, you might be able to upgrade the pc at the same time, a much cheaper option.
 
What do you mean by your existing tower being 'packed up'? Maybe we can help with that first?

If not, would be helpful to know what kind of price range. If it's high end your after, your looking at probably £700/800+. A good mid-performance, probably £500-700. For example, I got an Intel Core i7 920 machine a few months ago, without monitor, speakers etc for about £800. i7 is the top end processor by Intel and is good for multi-tasking.

In your instance, if your not using it for games then graphics card isn't as important. Spend the extra on hard-drives/memory/processing power. Might be worth looking at Solid-State Hard Drives too (SSD).
 
a dream comp would be from alienware but you cheapest ones set you back around £2000. most comps now come with an i7 processor and 4GB memory so that more than enough for what you want but remember go for a 64 bit OS because they run twice as fast, i have recently bought a dell laptop that comes with a 64 bit processor and it runs twice as fast as my old desktop considering its under specced.
 
thanks everyone, it isn't even switching on, when he switches it on it makes a loud beeping alarm noise. It was a second hand £50 Ebay job two years ago so it's not done bad, Matt thinks it's quite a good one but just not working any more. We don't really have anyone close to hand that does repairs as we live rurally. But DH has been looking at ones around the £100 with this sort of spec (refurbished):

HP XW6000 WORKSTATION GAMING COMPUTER

WITH 2 X INTEL ZEON 2.8GHZ PROCESSORS = 5.6GHZ

WITH 2048MB (2GB) MEMORY (CAN TAKE UPTO 8GB)

IT HAS WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL PRE-INSTALLED


MATROX 450/NVIDIA NVS GRAPHICS CARD OR SIMILAR FOR DUAL SCREEN OUTPUT WHEN NEEDED CAN BE UPGRADED TO A HIGH SPEC AGP OR PCI GRAPHICS CARD FOR EXTREME GAMING

ULTRAFAST 10000RPM HARD DRIVE FOR FAST GAMEPLAYING

Open office suite included which is fully compatable with MS office and has the same programmes like, word, spreadsheet, slideshow presentation, photo etc

Dvd/cd software suite installed

What do you think? Or do you think it would be better to spend more and get from a shop? (not that we can really afford to but interested in your replies).

many thanks!
 
PCWorld do refurbs starting at £100
 
The trouble with a S/H PC is that it might last a long time or it could go off next week.
This is true whether you buy privately or from a shop.
If you or your other half know nothing about PCs then maybe you should save up and buy from a shop/ website new with a warranty?
With respect to your current machine, the noise that it makes when you power on tells you what's wrong (The BIOS makes some beeps). If it's like an alarm (high-low repeated) it's often a sign that there is something wrong with the processor (main cpu). In that case you may be looking at a new motherboard, processor and memory (cost about £100+). The rest of your bits will probably be ok.
What I would do is open up the PC, take everything out, put everything back (method to my madness here) and try again. If that fails you could buy a motherboard bundle (Motherboard, processor and memory which is matched) which will make your PC like new again (and the components will have a warranty).
The only problem I can see is power supply (if it isn't powerful enough) and your operating system if you don't have a retail copy then you may need to buy another one.
You do not need a gaming spec computer for your photography work and fast hard drives (10000 rpm) are a bit of overkill.
HTH.
 
kitschenalia said:
HP XW6000 WORKSTATION GAMING COMPUTER

WITH 2 X INTEL ZEON 2.8GHZ PROCESSORS = 5.6GHZ
Click to expand...

doesnt quite work like that, itll just mean you have 8 cores @ 2.8. so youll basically be able to to more at once. its Xeon also.

WITH 2048MB (2GB) MEMORY (CAN TAKE UPTO 8GB)
Click to expand...

youll need at least 4Gb in my opinion for photoshop

MATROX 450/NVIDIA NVS GRAPHICS CARD OR SIMILAR FOR DUAL SCREEN OUTPUT WHEN NEEDED CAN BE UPGRADED TO A HIGH SPEC AGP OR PCI GRAPHICS CARD FOR EXTREME GAMING
Click to expand...

thats quite an old format. AGP is almost 100% phased out now, there are still cards available but there wont be for much longer. PCI graphics cards are extinct.

ULTRAFAST 10000RPM HARD DRIVE FOR FAST GAMEPLAYING
Click to expand...

sounds like SCSI drives to me, an older technology (at least compared to SATA).

to sum up it sounds like an old system that may be more hassle than its worth getting up to speed.

really you need to settle on a budget and we can advise from there.
 
Can you describe the beeping. Is it a sequence of short and long beeps, like morse code. If you could describe the beeps it may help solve the problem.
 
You dont need a top spec PC to run photoshop and you dont need 4gb of RAM either

I run photoshop CS4 happily on a Sony Vaio laptop with a built in graphics card and 2gb of RAM

Your budget will depend on what spec of PC you will get
Also you can buy all the parts you need from ebuyer for cheap and build the base yourself if you are confident enough to do this.

My reccomendation would be a Core 2 Duo processor, 2-4gb of RAM and as decent a graphics card as you can afford
 
and the cost between 2GB and 4GB is about £40 so why wouldn't you
 
ChrisWXM said:
Can you describe the beeping. Is it a sequence of short and long beeps, like morse code. If you could describe the beeps it may help solve the problem.
Click to expand...
This if you tell us the pattern of the code (2 long 1 short for example)

It could be as simple as the case got knocked and the ram has come lose.

You are considering getting rid anyway so you might aswell get your hands dirty for free and try and fix it (:

Also just need to know the make and model of the computer, if you dont know then open the case up and on the motherboard (main board everything connects to) read off the make and model of that Asus etc

From any info you have and the beeping it will be quite easy to determine what your problem is and whether its terminal (:
 
HI,

You asked for shop bought - well I bought a new one of these
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/st...m=null&tm=null&sku=185598&category_oid=-28485

Straight out of the box this spec will keep you going for years - they are lightening quick and very quiet too. The price on this refurb is as good as it gets AFAIK

Now i always thought PB were a really poor brand. But after searching the web for a better model for the same price - couldn't get anywhere near.

I did however change the power supply and graphics card (i do play high end games ) - but for photoshop this works like a dream

Ian
 
Like previously stated, the beeps are the key to solving your problem, it could be as simple as the memory is loose or the CPU fan has locked, the memory is more likely.

Did anything change prior to the failure? was the pc moved?

With regards to the HP xw6000, it's a decent workstation, they do get a little noisy though. The only problems I've encountered with them has been the Power Supply (causes a weird error whereby it reboots when logging into windows) and the odd hard drive, can only remember replacing a motherboard once.

It is SCSI drives, which while older tech than SATA or SAS, still reliable.
 
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