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11/07/2011 04:08:00 PM · #1 |
Well my OLD (6 yr) gateway with a kinda large graphic card n pentium 4, (and THATS all I know about computors..it's written on it) any how is about to shoot craps. I've got so many Photo graphics programs ie, CS5, Elements 8, all the topaz crap, Portrait pro, Photomatix, etc etc... Sooo my question I need something that will run FASTER... I've got all my pixtures saved on J drive and not to the actual tower, so I guess the programs are killing it.
Sugestions on what I need?? I also have to have Microsoft office and excel... (if that makes a rats ass) like I said I don't know about putors and am the perfect dupe to get taken!!!
Thanks for Suggestions!!
Katie |
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11/07/2011 04:31:50 PM · #2 |
Look for something with:
- Intel i7 (ideally i7-2600) processor
- 8GB of RAM minimum
- A fast, moderate-sized boot drive. Given the amount of software you have installed, you'll need about 200GB. A solid state drive would be ideal, but more expensive.
- A second, larger data drive
- A good graphics card. The best choice is a "workstation" type card, not the usual mainstream cards that are optimized for gaming. If you have to go with a mainstream card, though, don't sweat it.
- USB 3.0 and/or eSATA connectivity for external drives.
- Win7 64-bit Professional (or Ultimate, but there's no reason you *need* ultimate)
If you monitor is as old as the PC, I'd also recommend looking at a good 24" monitor with an IPS panel. There are good ones out there for very reasonable money.
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11/07/2011 04:37:38 PM · #3 |
I guess you are not gonna build it yourself, right? I can offer some general recommendations and biased opinion, but your budget will have a huge effect.
Processor: At least a dual core of 3.0 Ghz or faster. Intel's i3 and i5 are good all around chips, the i7 is the top of the line, but the i7 may be overkill. I've always built my own computers with AMD processors. I currently use a dual core AMD 3.2 Ghz machine I built 2 years ago. I may put together a 4 or 6 core machine sometime in the next year. I tend to stay about 18-24 months behind the bleeding edge and AMD always seems to offer me the best bang for the buck. Others don't like AMD chips. You know what opinions are like.
Memory: RAM is cheap right now. Get 8 Gigabytes. If your budget allows it, more is always better though.
-Hard drive: Get 2 hard drives. A smaller one (250-500Gb) for Windows and applications to run off of, and a larger one of at least a terabyte for your files. The advantage of this is if the boot drive goes out, you have not lost your personal files. If the data drive goes out, you can still operate the computer to try and recover the drive or files.
-Windows 7 64 bit. The only reason there is to get 32 bit Windows is if you have older peripherals that you are unwilling or unable to replace and they will never have 64 bit drivers written. I had to buy a new scanner when I built my last computer, as my 5 year old Canon scanner will never have 64 bit drivers written for it. I also bought a new printer, but the old one was circa 1998 and on it's final legs anyway.
How long do you think it will take for someone to jump into this thread chanting "Get a Mac"?
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11/07/2011 04:58:24 PM · #4 |
Build my own hahahahahaaaaa... Thats like putting a sign up saying I'm an idiot take my money....
 kirbic This year for my B-day hubs gave me a new monitor thats designed for photographers... Big ol thing too.. so I'm set there yay
I should mention my J drive is an External terabyte thing...bought it this year and ripped all the pix off the tower, which has helped.
Steve, whats a peripherals?? and kirbic what is A solid state drive, is it an extra internal drive? I thought all those boardy looking things were solid state inside ?? Notice the techinal knowledge there?
Ok sooo Is there a Name computor that has all of this??? like Gateway, Dell, etc... LOL
Get a MAC... ROFLMAO |
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11/07/2011 05:05:13 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by littlemav:
what is A solid state drive, is it an extra internal drive?
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Typical HDD(Hard Disk Drives) are just that. Discs. Inside the hard drive are metal discs (platters) that spin at a high rate of speed. In between the platters is a Read/Write head which reads and writes data to the platters.
A SSD (Solid State Drive) uses a newer form of technology that uses Solid State Chips to store your data.
The difference?
Solid State Drives: No Moving Parts.
Hard Disk Drives: Many Moving Parts.
The more moving parts, the more chances for something to break.
That being said, SSD's can be and usually are more expensive than your typical HDD.
A peripheral is any device attached to your computer. Mouse, Keyboard, Drawing Pad, Printer, WebCam etc...
All the green colored boards are PCB's, Printed Circuit Boards where all the components of the computer and any electrical device are wired to.
You're better off going to a company (I'm biased towards HP) and the same way you can build a Car on any car website, you can configure a computer the same way.
Message edited by author 2011-11-07 17:08:46. |
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11/07/2011 05:10:49 PM · #6 |
| SSD or solid state drive is a fast drive with no moving parts in it. They are very fast but cost quite a bit more than a conventinal hard drive for the same storage. Most pc like HP and Dell's thoose types wont have an SSD drive. You could go to a place like dell and probrably customize one with an SSD drive as the main drive and whatever storage for your second drive. You can get a decent i7 pc for $1,000.00 or less. I would say most are around 899 or there abouts. |
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11/07/2011 07:15:12 PM · #7 |
get an imac and either sell your new monitor ot connect two monitors for split screen editing, you wont look back....
so much easier and user friendly than PC's no viruses etc,
and i did read what yo-spiff said but its true, my background was PC's all the way till i worked for SUN doing unix servers, then i switched to mac's and never looked back. ive recommended a few not so computer savvy parental types onto mac's and they found them more intuitive and less hassle than PC's and more fun to work with
Message edited by author 2011-11-07 19:24:36. |
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11/07/2011 07:32:05 PM · #8 |
go here, and look at the last option on the right on this page -- 8300 xps
dell
That's just what I bought about 6 months ago. It sounds like we're very similar -- I have a tendency to buy only once every 6 or 7 years, so I try to get the best I can afford at the time so I don't end up growing out of it before I can afford a new one.
(there's 2 8300xps on that front page, I got the one on the right that has a better processor (i7). I also got a 1.5 or 2 TB drive instead of the 1TB that comes with it, just to hold more pictures.) If you click on customize, you can choose your size of drives, etc.
Message edited by author 2011-11-07 19:33:25. |
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11/07/2011 07:56:19 PM · #9 |
| Wow I know more about computors today than in my life! LOL Thanks everyone Great suggestions! Wendy have you had Dells before? My computor before this was a dell and it was horrid!! in the repair shop all the time! but hubs only has Dell laptops... Heading over to see what you got! |
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11/07/2011 09:13:32 PM · #10 |
| I'd probably go with a Dell, good company and solid products. Been using them for 10-years and never had any issues. |
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11/07/2011 09:31:21 PM · #11 |
| We've had at least 2, but I think 3, and haven't had issues, and they're easy to upgrade. |
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11/07/2011 09:38:04 PM · #12 |
| hire a local geek to build one for you, it will probably cost you more but if it breaks you can take it back to them instead of mailing it to god knows where. |
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11/07/2011 11:59:52 PM · #13 |
| So I'm guessing a Mac is out of the question, lol! :P |
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