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[F1 9LFG]

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

[cem_devecioglu]

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..

[cem_devecioglu]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/asrock-z68-extreme4-asus-p8z68-v-pro-gigabyte-z68x-ud3h-b3,2939.html

[F1 9LFG]

thank Cem, still unsure what is best though   

[tunnie]

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 

Try doing that with a 4 year old Windows PC 

[cem_devecioglu]

thank Cem, still unsure what is best though 

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..

[F1 9LFG]

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 

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

[cem_devecioglu]

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

[F1 9LFG]

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!

[cem_devecioglu]

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!

there are much better models , but aint cheap..

[F1 9LFG]

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!

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! 

[cem_devecioglu]

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..

[tgm147]

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.

[TheBoy]

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.

[Kevin Wood]

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.