Recommend me a desktop please.

[Ben:]

So my Dell desktop is a few years old now and running extremely slow when editing photos using lightroom and photoshop.

Looked at the new Dell XPS8300
i7, 8GB RAM, 2TB HDD, 24" Full HD LED Monitor and so on.
For about £1000.

Is it worth getting something custom built for that sort of money?
I already have a half decent 20" Dell monitor.

Thanks

 

[Ben:]

Hello

 

[neil_g]

the higher end dell kit is usually pretty good for pre-built, i dont think youd gain much by going custom other than being able to spec decent branded parts, but then youll lack the support of pre-build.

as for the spec, an i7-2600k or i5-2500k are great performance for your £'s. 8gb memory is about right, do you need the "HD" monitor or can you ditch it in favour of maybe an older 24" IPS.

 

[Ben:]

Hey thanks for your comments
They are including the monitor in the price. There's a package without the monitor, same spec, for about £60 less. So thought I might as well have the monitor.

Is there much performance difference between the i5 and i7? Worth the extra money?

 

[neil_g]

Hey thanks for your comments
They are including the monitor in the price. There's a package without the monitor, same spec, for about £60 less. So thought I might as well have the monitor.

Is there much performance difference between the i5 and i7? Worth the extra money?

The i5-2500 performs very well, some say nearly as well as the i7-2600 for most peoples needs. For balls out grunt the i7 is king though.

 

[boliston]

I have been using DNUK desktops for about 15 years now and they offer good spec for the money and good service:
https://secure.dnuk.com/store/desktops.php
I normally go mid range and upgrade every 2-3 years.

Beware of any monitor simply labelled as "LED Full HD" as this could simply mean a cheap TN panel with LED backlighting.
You definitely want to aim for IPS panel if doing anything photo related - TN is mainly aimed at gamers, general entry level home users and office clerical use.