Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: F1 9LFG on 29 January 2012, 15:00:02
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Hi all,
I need some advice from a PC expert please.
I've just got into photography and need to get myself a new PC - but with what spec..?
I'm using a DSLR camera and will be processing RAW files from my 24.3mp Sony - VERY large image file sizes.
Guessing a i5/i7 processor or simuilar, plenty of RAM and looking for about 1gb hard drive as I will be using a few 250mb external SATA drives for protection.
Need a good graphics card to as I'll also be editing/viewing 1080p video.
Windows 7 ideally.
I would love to find someone willing to custom build me a PC as I'll get exactly what I want and not what PC world want to sell me!
If anyone can help please let me know.
Thanks
Rob
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first of all , you need a good mobo.. gigabyte , asus whatever you like, but check the tests from
http://www.tomshardware.com/
and also dont ignore SSD drives imo.. :y
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http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/asrock-z68-extreme4-asus-p8z68-v-pro-gigabyte-z68x-ud3h-b3,2939.html
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thank Cem, still unsure what is best though :o :D
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I'd vote Macbook Pro or a iMac tower, yes they are more expensive than a DIY build, but Macbooks in particular as well as iMac's hold their value so well.
Company I did some contract work for, gave some old 24" iMacs bought in 2008 to staff away free as the company went under.
One of them sold for £700 on eBay :o
Try doing that with a 4 year old Windows PC ;)
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thank Cem, still unsure what is best though :o :D
best depends on the budget imo..there are fast boards and faster boards but it depends on your needs..
img processing although cpu intensive with nowadays processors it wont take long.. would you spend more for few seconds
it depends on you.. personally I would advice you to go after stability tests instead of speed..
of course you will need a very good PSU (they are not cheap similiar price like mobos) and a big well ventilated chasis..
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I'd vote Macbook Pro or a iMac tower, yes they are more expensive than a DIY build, but Macbooks in particular as well as iMac's hold their value so well.
Company I did some contract work for, gave some old 24" iMacs bought in 2008 to staff away free as the company went under.
One of them sold for £700 on eBay :o
Try doing that with a 4 year old Windows PC ;)
Yes Macs do hold their value but I've had a mac before and much prefer windows OS, plus I'm looking for a tower that I can open up and swap bits etc in the future.
Cheers
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something like this
http://www.vatanbilgisayar.com/Bilgisayar%20Kasas%C4%B1/cooler-master-rc-942-kkn1-gp-haf-x-942-black-edition-full-tower--pencereli-siyah-kasa/productdetails.aspx?I_ID=51398#allImages
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something like this
http://www.vatanbilgisayar.com/Bilgisayar%20Kasas%C4%B1/cooler-master-rc-942-kkn1-gp-haf-x-942-black-edition-full-tower--pencereli-siyah-kasa/productdetails.aspx?I_ID=51398#allImages
Love the look of that case!
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something like this
http://www.vatanbilgisayar.com/Bilgisayar%20Kasas%C4%B1/cooler-master-rc-942-kkn1-gp-haf-x-942-black-edition-full-tower--pencereli-siyah-kasa/productdetails.aspx?I_ID=51398#allImages (http://www.vatanbilgisayar.com/Bilgisayar%20Kasas%C4%B1/cooler-master-rc-942-kkn1-gp-haf-x-942-black-edition-full-tower--pencereli-siyah-kasa/productdetails.aspx?I_ID=51398#allImages)
Love the look of that case!
there are much better models , but aint cheap.. :-\
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something like this
http://www.vatanbilgisayar.com/Bilgisayar%20Kasas%C4%B1/cooler-master-rc-942-kkn1-gp-haf-x-942-black-edition-full-tower--pencereli-siyah-kasa/productdetails.aspx?I_ID=51398#allImages (http://www.vatanbilgisayar.com/Bilgisayar%20Kasas%C4%B1/cooler-master-rc-942-kkn1-gp-haf-x-942-black-edition-full-tower--pencereli-siyah-kasa/productdetails.aspx?I_ID=51398#allImages)
Love the look of that case!
there are much better models , but aint cheap.. :-\
Well once I have an idea as to how much money I'll need for the bits inside I can see about buying a nice case! ;D
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also there is another option, you can buy a ready HP workstation.. (some models are SCSI) and they are very reliable which I'm using for job..
although they cant compete with OEM models performance, they are extremely reliable..
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With you not really having much idea on budget currently I banged this together on Overclockers. Built one very similar for someone at uni doing games design and wanted it for rendering except used an Intel processor instead. Total was a few quid over £1000
AMD Bulldozer FX-8 Eight Core 8150 Black Edition 3.60Ghz (Socket AM3+) Processor
Asus Crosshair V Formula AMD 990FX (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard
MSI ATI Radeon HD 6850 Cyclone Power Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Corsair Dominator 16GB (4x4GB) PC3-14900C9 1866MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit
Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 750W V2 High Performance '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply
Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s (3 of these, would probably set them as RAID 5)
LG CH10LS28 BD-ROM 10x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive
That would munch through Photoshop tasks easily without breaking a sweat and the descent graphics card will handle other 3D stuff very well too.
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Any i5/i7 coupled to a decent chipset, and a decent amount of memory, should deal with that.
Find out how well your preferred editing software runs on 64bit, as that will dictate whether to go 32 or 64bit. 32bit means memory will max out around 3.2Gb... ...64bit will run 32bit apps, allowing stupid amounts of memory, but sometimes it runs poorly.
No need to go for all the gay overclocked shit. Causes instability and long term reliability, for an unnoticable gain.
Any modern VGA card will cut it, even the onboard VGA on the i5/i7 chips have no trouble with 1080p playback at PAL/NTSC frequencies.
Hard drives are cripplingly expensive currently, due to the Thailand problems.
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Yep, no need for a fancy graphics card unless you're gaming. Spend the difference on a monitor with a decent panel which will render accurate colours. :y
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thank you all for your replys.
:y
So does anyone fancy building me a tower...?
::)
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As tunnie says, get yourself one of these mothers:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/43954633/31Y%2BP4ZpKPL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
Our iMac really gets the :y here, believe me! ;)
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sadly I don't want to go the Mac route, custom tower and windows 7 for me. just a personal thing, i'm very used to windows and like the idea of a tower I can easilly open up and add to/upgrade parts etc.
cheers :y
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thank you all for your replys.
:y
So does anyone fancy building me a tower...?
::)
I'm quite happy to put a rig together for you as I'm not doing anything other than watching breaktard TV when I'm not at the hospital, however I'm a good 60 miles from you which may be a bit much?
The days of the Mac being better than the PC at photo/video editing are long gone, Toms Hardware proved ages ago that the PC is just as good and in some cases better than the Mac at certain tasks.
As TB & Kevin have already stated, a decent i5/i7 CPU on a decent (Asus) board with a decent (Intel) chipset and 4GB of RAM will easily cut it in the editing/manipulation stakes for both photo & video.
As an example, my lappy (i5 480M, 4GB RAM, 256GB SSD) can transcode a 2 hour DVD to MPEG4 (Xvid AVI) in 27 minutes from start to finish. That may not sound impressive, but anyone who has done video conversion will confirm that is actually quite quick.
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thank you all for your replys.
:y
So does anyone fancy building me a tower...?
::)
I'm quite happy to put a rig together for you as I'm not doing anything other than watching breaktard TV when I'm not at the hospital, however I'm a good 60 miles from you which may be a bit much?
The days of the Mac being better than the PC at photo/video editing are long gone, Toms Hardware proved ages ago that the PC is just as good and in some cases better than the Mac at certain tasks.
As TB & Kevin have already stated, a decent i5/i7 CPU on a decent (Asus) board with a decent (Intel) chipset and 4GB of RAM will easily cut it in the editing/manipulation stakes for both photo & video.
As an example, my lappy (i5 480M, 4GB RAM, 256GB SSD) can transcode a 2 hour DVD to MPEG4 (Xvid AVI) in 27 minutes from start to finish. That may not sound impressive, but anyone who has done video conversion will confirm that is actually quite quick.
everyone likes Macs or Windows, each to their own.
so lets talk beer tokens...
tricky as i'm a customer who doesn't really know what he wants!
if you PM me your email address i'll send you what i'm after and if you could give me a total cost it'd be really grateful.
cheers Rob
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If you want mainstream brands:
http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=d006204&c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&model_id=inspiron-620& (http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=d006204&c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&model_id=inspiron-620&)
Seems reasonably good value with a decent spec, RAM and graphics card.
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Again mainstream, but slimmer and aesthetically more pleasing, bit more expensive:
http://www.dabs.com/products/hp-pavilion-s5-1020uk-slimline-core-i3-2100-4gb-ram-1-5tb-hdd-dvdrw-w7hp-7T3S.html?refs=43560000-56560000-50240&src=3 (http://www.dabs.com/products/hp-pavilion-s5-1020uk-slimline-core-i3-2100-4gb-ram-1-5tb-hdd-dvdrw-w7hp-7T3S.html?refs=43560000-56560000-50240&src=3)
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thank you all for your replys.
:y
So does anyone fancy building me a tower...?
::)
I'm quite happy to put a rig together for you as I'm not doing anything other than watching breaktard TV when I'm not at the hospital, however I'm a good 60 miles from you which may be a bit much?
The days of the Mac being better than the PC at photo/video editing are long gone, Toms Hardware proved ages ago that the PC is just as good and in some cases better than the Mac at certain tasks.
As TB & Kevin have already stated, a decent i5/i7 CPU on a decent (Asus) board with a decent (Intel) chipset and 4GB of RAM will easily cut it in the editing/manipulation stakes for both photo & video.
As an example, my lappy (i5 480M, 4GB RAM, 256GB SSD) can transcode a 2 hour DVD to MPEG4 (Xvid AVI) in 27 minutes from start to finish. That may not sound impressive, but anyone who has done video conversion will confirm that is actually quite quick.
agreed.. and even better than mac.. personally I dont see any advantage paying more money for a mac, other than its image.. :-\
besides , if I were you , I would first ask the question which picture , video editing software (sorry my mind started to work today ;D )
and then ask pros which hardware they use.. generally design and photo,video houses work with them..
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I find this link to be helpful
http://photo-editing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/ (http://photo-editing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/)
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2383523,00.asp
http://www.corel.com/corel/product/index.jsp?pid=prod4230172&cid=catalog50008&segid=4400004&storeKey=ca&languageCode=en
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http://www.squidoo.com/i7-motherboards (http://www.squidoo.com/i7-motherboards)
now,personally I recommend Gigabyte boards .. Ram units at least Kingston and if your budget permits you can go for ECC type RAMs but price will jump.. (ps: ecc rams and boards are generally used for servers)
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If you want mainstream brands:
http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=d006204&c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&model_id=inspiron-620& (http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=d006204&c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&model_id=inspiron-620&)
Seems reasonably good value with a decent spec, RAM and graphics card.
Again mainstream, but slimmer and aesthetically more pleasing, bit more expensive:
http://www.dabs.com/products/hp-pavilion-s5-1020uk-slimline-core-i3-2100-4gb-ram-1-5tb-hdd-dvdrw-w7hp-7T3S.html?refs=43560000-56560000-50240&src=3 (http://www.dabs.com/products/hp-pavilion-s5-1020uk-slimline-core-i3-2100-4gb-ram-1-5tb-hdd-dvdrw-w7hp-7T3S.html?refs=43560000-56560000-50240&src=3)
Both i3's really not going to cut it....
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http://www.squidoo.com/i7-motherboards (http://www.squidoo.com/i7-motherboards)
now,personally I recommend Gigabyte boards .. Ram units at least Kingston and if your budget permits you can go for ECC type RAMs but price will jump.. (ps: ecc rams and boards are generally used for servers)
Gigabyte used to make some seriously quick & stable boards, but they took a serious nosedive when they introduced the BX2000 and never really recovered from it IMHO.
My first choice these days is Asus, although I always read the reviews before making the final decision.
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http://www.squidoo.com/i7-motherboards (http://www.squidoo.com/i7-motherboards)
now,personally I recommend Gigabyte boards .. Ram units at least Kingston and if your budget permits you can go for ECC type RAMs but price will jump.. (ps: ecc rams and boards are generally used for servers)
Gigabyte used to make some seriously quick & stable boards, but they took a serious nosedive when they introduced the BX2000 and never really recovered from it IMHO.
My first choice these days is Asus, although I always read the reviews before making the final decision.
been using Asus for ages, and my experience prooved me Gigabyte builds more reliable boards although being a tad slower..
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If you want mainstream brands:
http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=d006204&c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&model_id=inspiron-620& (http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=d006204&c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&model_id=inspiron-620&)
Seems reasonably good value with a decent spec, RAM and graphics card.
Again mainstream, but slimmer and aesthetically more pleasing, bit more expensive:
http://www.dabs.com/products/hp-pavilion-s5-1020uk-slimline-core-i3-2100-4gb-ram-1-5tb-hdd-dvdrw-w7hp-7T3S.html?refs=43560000-56560000-50240&src=3 (http://www.dabs.com/products/hp-pavilion-s5-1020uk-slimline-core-i3-2100-4gb-ram-1-5tb-hdd-dvdrw-w7hp-7T3S.html?refs=43560000-56560000-50240&src=3)
Both i3's really not going to cut it....
The second gen i3's are pretty powerful. Unless your are into CAD or really need the extra processing grunt which I am not sure the OP needs. I use a mobile version of the i3 in one of our laptops and have absolutely no problem with raw photo or HD editing. Plus the dell can be easily upgraded to the i5 version for about £50 more.
http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=d006248&c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&model_id=inspiron-620 (http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=d006248&c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&model_id=inspiron-620)
The all in one is very nice but much more expensive:
http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=d0023203&c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&model_id=inspiron-one-2320 (http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=d0023203&c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&model_id=inspiron-one-2320)
Personally I find my mac much easier to use for photos/videos but as the Op clearly doesnt want to go down that route...
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For a desktop, a Sandy Bridge (or later, 3rd gen out soon) i5 is about minimum for heavy work. i7 may not see much extra benefit here, due to how hyperthreading works.
I don't recommenf Gigabyte any more. Mind you, nor ASUS ;D
I tend to stick to Intel motherboards for self builds, due to stability, reliability, and support. When I build a PC for someone, I don't want it to come back. Ever.
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For a desktop, a Sandy Bridge (or later, 3rd gen out soon) i5 is about minimum for heavy work. i7 may not see much extra benefit here, due to how hyperthreading works.
I don't recommenf Gigabyte any more. Mind you, nor ASUS ;D
I tend to stick to Intel motherboards for self builds, due to stability, reliability, and support. When I build a PC for someone, I don't want it to come back. Ever.
::) experince talks ;D but in my experience even intels can come back ;D :y
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must admit in the last 5 years very rare I see a pc come back.. but I dont do this everyday.. :-\
general problem inadequate cooling especially in summer..
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hows about this with an i5
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VIBOX-SFX-A4-1-INTEL-QUAD-CORE-i5-8GB-DESKTOP-GAMING-PC-/200601853991?pt=UK_Computing_DesktopPCs&hash=item2eb4cd6027
For that money would anyone be able to build it cheaper. not sure of the case but could live with it.
and i7
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VIBOX-SPEED-A4-1-INTEL-i7-QUAD-CORE-8GB-500GB-GAMING-PC-/200600003118?pt=UK_Computing_DesktopPCs&hash=item2eb4b1222e
Cheers
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hows about this with an i5
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VIBOX-SFX-A4-1-INTEL-QUAD-CORE-i5-8GB-DESKTOP-GAMING-PC-/200601853991?pt=UK_Computing_DesktopPCs&hash=item2eb4cd6027 (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VIBOX-SFX-A4-1-INTEL-QUAD-CORE-i5-8GB-DESKTOP-GAMING-PC-/200601853991?pt=UK_Computing_DesktopPCs&hash=item2eb4cd6027)
For that money would anyone be able to build it cheaper. not sure of the case but could live with it.
and i7
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VIBOX-SPEED-A4-1-INTEL-i7-QUAD-CORE-8GB-500GB-GAMING-PC-/200600003118?pt=UK_Computing_DesktopPCs&hash=item2eb4b1222e (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VIBOX-SPEED-A4-1-INTEL-i7-QUAD-CORE-8GB-500GB-GAMING-PC-/200600003118?pt=UK_Computing_DesktopPCs&hash=item2eb4b1222e)
Cheers
personally I dont believe on those ready built oem systems as the company needs profit.. and profit cant be made with high quality expensive parts :-\
so in my opinion you check the tests and decide on components.. anyway all parts come with some guarantee , in case shit happens you can change ..
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this may be helpful :y
http://www.buildeasypc.com/hw/mb.htm (http://www.buildeasypc.com/hw/mb.htm)
http://www.buildeasypc.com/hw/hardware.htm (http://www.buildeasypc.com/hw/hardware.htm)
http://www.buildeasypc.com/category/build-pc/ (http://www.buildeasypc.com/category/build-pc/)
http://www.buildeasypc.com/category/hardware/ (http://www.buildeasypc.com/category/hardware/)
http://www.buildeasypc.com/category/software/ (http://www.buildeasypc.com/category/software/)
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hows about this with an i5
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VIBOX-SFX-A4-1-INTEL-QUAD-CORE-i5-8GB-DESKTOP-GAMING-PC-/200601853991?pt=UK_Computing_DesktopPCs&hash=item2eb4cd6027
For that money would anyone be able to build it cheaper. not sure of the case but could live with it.
I have recently put together almost the same spec. for a machine at work. Without the graphics card, admittedly (not required in this case) and the gay blue LEDs and "chav me" case and 4GB RAM.
You can bet that they've scrimped on the power supply, fans and motherboard because they don't add to the initial appeal when they appear in the spec. They are the bits that will ruin your day if they turn out to be rubbish, though, and, in the case of the motherboard, RAM, etc. can also stunt the performance.
Anyway, this machine, with quality bits where it counts and budget bits where it wasn't important, came in at a shade under £500 inc VAT.
That's why I like building my own. I know exactly what I'm getting and can specify quality where I know it'll pay dividends, and leave out tat I'm not interested in.