Will this PC (desktop) be up to the job?

tingting44

tingting44

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Martin
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Hi guys, for ages now ive been using my daughters notepad, its not very good and not fair on her me keep on pinching it lol, so with my birthday coming up in a few weeks, i was thinking about saving up and treating myself to a half decent desktop,

ive been into AP (Astro Photography) for a while but am no pro by all means lol, from experiance i know that stacking DSO images is ONE HELL of a drainer on memory! and i had to give up with DSO as the pc was just not up to it.... ill also be needing the pc for photoshop, lightroom, stacking etc, all the norm programs for picture and video editing but im not too clued up on the pc front these days!

i was looking into building my own pc but from what i can see its no cheaper at all, this pre built one i have been looking at seems ok (what do you think?)
http://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/range/novatechblacknta12.html

i added all the pieces from the above link to see if it did come out cheaper if i were to build it but it only came out £30 cheaper and i didnt add no mouse or keyboard lol so im thinking just to save me the headache and get a warranty to get a pre built one?

will the above pc be ok for what i need it to do?

also is it worth investing in an SSD hard drive? just to run O/S and programs off? they seem amazing with no moving parts! boy have pc's changed since i was into them (about 15 years ago lol)

any help and advice will be greatly appreciated guys :)

all the best

martin
 
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tingting44 said:
link fixed now buddy
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Looks decent enough :thumbs: I don't really know about the processor as I've always used intel chips, I'd be tempted to up the RAM and a SSD from my experience limited though it may be is brilliant for the OS and Software :)
 
I would also get 16Gb of RAM or even 32Gb. The CPU will easily be up to the job.

I ALWAYS have an SSD as the O/S drive. Even on old laptops that I buy for the kids I put them in. Makes a big difference.
 
Mathew I am the same I will stick with Win 7 as long as poss.
 
I'm using Windows 8 on a decent spec machine, I quite like it. Feels like a giant smartphone.
 
If you're in the market for a new PC then it will be well worth looking at the choice offered by Chillblast.

An SSD for operating software is nice to have but if I was specing to a budget I would go with an Intel 3rd generation Ivy Bridge chip and spend the cost of an SSD on increasing RAM and a decent graphics card.
 
Gaz J said:
If you're in the market for a new PC then it will be well worth looking at the choice offered by Chillblast.

An SSD for operating software is nice to have but if I was specing to a budget I would go with an Intel 3rd generation Ivy Bridge chip and spend the cost of an SSD on increasing RAM and a decent graphics card.
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Everything this man said :thumbs:
 
Should be more than capable of doing everything you need it to do. I use Windows 8 and quite like it by the way.
 
I would try and extend your budget a bit if you can. A bit more spent now will allow you to get something that will be reasonably future proof.

As an example.

http://www.chillblast.com/Chillblast-Fusion-Elixir.html

If you go for Windows 7 as an OS then make sure it's the 64 bit version.. The 32 bit only supports 4 GB RAM
 
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arad85 said:
You don't need a decent graphics card for photo editing....
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You're compromising your system without one. Why build a nice system and not spec one in. HD4000 graphics is nothing to write home about..
 
Gaz J said:
You're compromising your system without one. Why build a nice system and not spec one in. HD4000 graphics is nothing to write home about..
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Because it isn't used by any of the photo apps.... so is like having a 5litre 600hp engine on UK roads.

I run a 3 monitor (2 x Dell 24" and a Dell 27") from a passive 640. The only reason I went for a 640 as opposed to a 610/20/30 was because the others don't support the monitors at their native resolution at the same time. I'd happily run all of the apps listed on a HD4000 system.
 
Not a big fan of desktop computers or windows for that matter but I would be sure to check out pre-built first because you can usually get something with a warrantee that will last longer than a "spec quoting" "gaming" rig. Personally I would go for a mac mini or MBA but if your after windows go used they are a dime a dozen....
 
MWHCVT said:
Interesting I heard such bad things about 8 on my recent build I went with 7 64bit pro and I love it :D
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Windows 8 was really designed for touch screen operations. I use Win 7 64bit too and it is the best OS I have ever used.

Pinpho said:
Should be more than capable of doing everything you need it to do. I use Windows 8 and quite like it by the way.
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As mentioned elsewhere try and build a little "future proofing" if you can. would suggest at least 16GB of RAM and an SSD are essential especially if you intend to use Photoshop.

Laudrup said:
Overclockers is a good site to start.
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I have used Overclockers for years and have never had a problem with them. I used to build my own PC's but it is nearly as cheap to buy a custom designed and pre built system from Overclockers, it takes away so much hassle and all their rigs are stress tested before shipping. Take a look at their website.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/

Finally, I used to run AMD based PC's until I was persuaded to try Intel. As a result I will never go back to AMD because Intel is light years ahead (slightly more costly) in terms of performance, stability and heat produced. I would also recommend GeForce cards over AMD primarily because Nvidia have far superior software support.

Andy
 
I use Windows 8 on my main PC and love it. It's basically Windows 7 with a load of improvements and tweaks.

Aside from the different start menu, there's not much difference in how it works.

Don't knock it until you're tried it!
 
Keebsuk said:
I would also recommend GeForce cards over AMD primarily because Nvidia have far superior software support.
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:agree: I had a whole shedload of issues with a couple of different AMD 7750 cards when I went triple monitor recently. Replaced them with an Nvidia 640 based card and all became well with the world again....
 
I've got a 3GB 7970, no problems with it really. The drivers etc people seem to have problems with, but I'm not a massive gamer who is always playing the newest titles.
 
Laudrup said:
I've got a 3GB 7970, no problems with it really. The drivers etc people seem to have problems with, but I'm not a massive gamer who is always playing the newest titles.
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I was on the latest driver set (from February this year). I don't game at all - these were all desktop issues. The list of problems I had (and are 100% fixed with a move to Nvidia)
  • Occasional one "line" sync issue on HDMI (flicker happened about once per hour). Very annoying
  • Inability to use any free print screen routine. They all failed in some way or other
  • Sometimes the HDMI monitor would momentarily lose sync and blank
  • Occasionally, when entering blank screen screensaver, the 27" monitor would not enter low power and looked like the program had crashed with a garbled screen saver. Moving the mouse would get the system working, but the monitor didn't enter LPM ands was consequently much brighter than the other two for 15-20 minutes
  • System definitely used more system memory than with Nvidia - don't know how much of that is to do with the card I had being only a 1G card and my current Nvidia card being 2G
  • After a while of the system being up, my sidebar gadget that monitors the graphics card would show no stats at all

I tried two different 7750 cards from two different manufacturers. Both had exactly the same problems. Moving to the Nvidia card got rid of all above issues. The monitors are pretty decent as well - two Dell U2410s and a U2711....
 
Have you considered Scan's X3S systems - extremely configurable, and all come with Windows 7. They're customised so you can have, say, an i7 Haswell 4th generation chip, as much ram as you will ever need, SSDs mega big hard drives and gaming or visual display graphics nonster cards. Theyre burnt in as well and dont come with 'bloatware'.
www. scan.co.uk
 
wow thanks guys for all the input!! i think im going to go with intel now instead of amd guys, and i will be getting windows 7 64bit as i will never use a touch setup, will not be getting a graphics card as wont be playing any games, once my programs are installed the wifi will most likely be taken out as this is simply going to be for picture editing and AP stacking etc.

i will check out all the sites above guys :) basicly ive got around £500 for a setup thats no O/S and no monitor, so once i have got the desktop then i will start saving for O/S and monitor etc,etc just as long as i can get the main desktop for now lol

by the sounds of it SSD drives are a bit iffy at the mo, if i put a OEM O/S on it and it failed there is currently no data recovery for these SSD's is there....think i might stick to the old trusty sata HDD's for a bit any way, by the sounds of it ill be more worth while spening more of my budget on memory and processor, i just built one on overclockers and it came to £600 with no monitor/O/S/mouse/keyboard lol so a tad over my budget, dam this is going to be hard :(

edit, wow this does look nice with O/S too!
http://www.chillblast.com/Chillblast-Fusion-Elixir.html
 
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Get registered on overclockers forum, give them a budget and what you'd be looking for and they'll spec you. It's a very friendly forum.
 
Laudrup said:
Get registered on overclockers forum, give them a budget and what you'd be looking for and they'll spec you. It's a very friendly forum.
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Be careful with O/Cs... They tend to be a bunch of die hard gamers and will tend to apportion too much of the budget to a mid-high end graphics card when you don't need it....
 
HoppyUK said:
Andy, since I know you know about these things, is there a specific machine you'd recommend? I'm thinking i7, 16Gb, 2Tb, Windows 7 or 8? This any good at £600? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zoostorm-78...Hz-Processor/dp/B00DWTJW6Y/ref=dp_ob_title_ce
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You would certainly need AT LEAST 16Gb of memory by the sound of what you want to run, preferably 32 Gb and Win 7 64 bit.

And TBH I doubt if you'd need a graphics card at all if you have integrated graphics on your MB - a BIG saving there - I have an i7 and the onboard graphics can quite happily cope with Blu-Ray films.

If you want to fit an SSD then the Samsung 840 250Gb SSD one is very good and will give an extra zip to your machine with the 2TB HDD used for storage.

.
 
petersmart said:
You would certainly need AT LEAST 16Gb of memory by the sound of what you want to run, preferably 32 Gb and Win 7 64 bit.

And TBH I doubt if you'd need a graphics card at all if you have integrated graphics on your MB - a BIG saving there - I have an i7 and the onboard graphics can quite happily cope with Blu-Ray films.

If you want to fit an SSD then the Samsung 840 250Gb SSD one is very good and will give an extra zip to your machine with the 2TB HDD used for storage.

.
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Thanks Peter, but I'm not the OP ;) Bit of a hijack on my behalf, so apologies for that, though our requirements seem similar.
 
HoppyUK said:
Andy, since I know you know about these things, is there a specific machine you'd recommend? I'm thinking i7, 16Gb, 2Tb, Windows 7 or 8? This any good at £600? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zoostorm-78...Hz-Processor/dp/B00DWTJW6Y/ref=dp_ob_title_ce
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Hi Richard,

You could save a bit of money and go for: http://www.ebuyer.com/519871-zoostorm-desktop-pc-7873-0464

Newer processor and the graphics speed is better (yes, I know I said it didn't matter but... ;)) with everything else the same as far as I can see.

Zoostorm are budget PCs. The PSU is "only" 250Watts (it will be enough for the system, but won't take any expansion to talk of but can be changed as it is a standard ATX supply) it will probably use the standard heatsink and I have no idea of noise levels with it (if that matters).

I'd normally recommend i5 with 8G, but as you'll be using integrated graphics, 16G would be better. Looking around at the other Zoostorms, it seems to be a really good value package, so if you're happy with the budget end, go for it. I doubt you'd get a similarly spec'd system so cheap - in fact I'd be expecting closer to £750-£800 for something like a Novatech/Chillblast. In fact, here is a chillblast equivalent priced PC: http://www.chillblast.com/pconf.php?productid=17810 and it's i5-3xxx and 4G of memory (yes, I know you can expand it to 8G for £20, but as you add back in all the features, the cost goes up).
 
Thanks Andy, brilliant info :thumbs:

Yes, forgot to say, quiet is important, but overall number one priority is reliability. Are there any tricks on the reliability front, say specific components or brands? I thought PCs were pretty much commodity jobs these days, just different permutations of the same basic bits, but I know nothing about computers :eek:

Edit: I never play games, use Lightroom a lot, Imatest for lens testing, plus Word and Excel. Might have half a dozen web tabs open at the same time too.
 
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The main components of a PC are:

  • Motherboard - there are only a few manufacturers here and for any of the pre-built options, the quality will be much of a muchness. It is only my last couple of builds I have been very conscious of motherboard features.
  • CPU - i5/i7's come from Intel. No difference in reliability between devices
  • RAM - Sometimes a stick goes wrong, and you may have problems mixing and matching, but generally, I've never had a problem with RAM - I buy whatever is the cheapest branded.
  • SSD - Other than a couple of high profile cases where software bugs were to blame, they seem as reliable as each other. There are definite performance differences though!
  • HDD - it's a lottery.... just make sure you have backups
  • Graphics card - if you are using onboard, it's part of the CPU and what is in the latest intel is perfectly good for what you want. You can always add an extra card if you find there are issues though. As I said above, I use a £70 passive graphics card as I have 3 monitors (2 x 1920x1200 and 1 x 2560x1440) and I have no issues with LR/multiple desktops etc...)
  • PSU - cheap tends to mean less reliable, less capable (which means if it gets loaded, the power line quality reduces) and often noisier. I only buy known branded products and have paid upwards of £140 for PSUs as I want quiet and quality (I tend to buy Corsair AX, but their CX are well regarded as well).
  • Heatsink - Yup. Potentially a big noise source. Even a cheap upgrade from the base system is worth it IMHO.
  • Case - dictates heat and can add to noise if the case has fans. if you aren't intending to go inside, build quality (and hence cost) is probably unimportant.

Given that, and I were spec'ing a system based on the chillblast I linked to, I'd personally pay for their recommended heatsink (I've got one of these and for £20 it's very capable), upgrade the motherboard so I had 4 memory slots (the basic one only has 2 - extra £50), change the PSU (they have a Corsair CX unit there, so personally, I'd choose that) and probably upgrade the fans for quiet ones (£25). I'd also probably upgrade the case, but that is me.... but then you're upping the price by another £100-£120 or so, and you're still only 4G of memory. The system would be quieter, and I'd have confidence the items were good, but you're pushing up the cost.

The thing about the Zoostorm is you get what they give you....

Kinda like buying a car. Both a Fiat and Merc will get you from A to B, but the Fiat is more likely to have compromises, be rougher around the edges and have less available customisations.
 
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Thanks for the detailed reply Andy. Very much appreciated :)
 
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