Building a new PC

I am going to build a new PC.
Do you guys have some ideas for a reasonable system layout for working with Vista Premium, Photoshop CS2, Silkypix, etc.

Which processor? How much memory (2048 or just get to 4096 directly?)
Which vid card?

Harddrives will just be as big as I can get for a reasonable price, I will probably go for a 250GB for the Windows install and the apps and a 500 for data storage.

In my dreams I want a Mac but it is a little out of my price range...
I mostly build my systems myself so that normally gives you a lot of freedom in the components to use.

I want to have a good trade-off in performance vs. power consumption as well.

the Intel Core2 chips are the hot ticket for raw power at the moment, although AMD have just slashed the prices of the Athlon X2 chips so they are quite good value ATM.

You can never have too much RAM, but it's easily dropped in at a later date. If the budget is tight I'd go for 2G of RAM and get the other bits just right, then drop in some more RAM later if you need to.

Don't skimp on the PSU, many a fine system has been crippled by an unstable or underpowered power supply. Also a low wattage PSU running at its limits will be less efficient and therefore actually draw more juice than a higher rated unit working easily.

For what it's worth....
Add up the cost of all the components you intend to buy....
Then compare that to mac prices.
I saw some interesting comparisons that had a comparably equipped dell costing $1000.00 more than it's mac pro equivellent.
similar although less dramatic comparisons on an Imac and dell.
macs aren't as expensive as they used to be....javascript:emoticon('')
.and they now run windows.javascript:emoticon('')

the man has a point, if it's a mac you want then don't write it off until you have made sure you can't afford one, you might be pleasantly surprised.

I think that's an argument that applies generally these days, I mean you can buy a complete pc system today for £600 to £700 that is more powerful than one costing twice as much just a couple of years ago.

Building your own is nowhere near as cost-effective as it used to be and while Vista is undoubtedly memory hungry, any modern system with more than 512MB of RAM should be able to handle it.
Just make sure that you leave yourself with options to upgrade components as and when required.

May I be so bold as to recommend this site, for all matters computer related:
http://uktsupport.ipbhost.com/index.php?

....they're a helpful bunch!

I also build my own and the best major change I made was to buy double the number of hard drives and set them up as a Mirror RAID. This configuration can eliminate backing up, although I admit I still do some "crucial" stuff.

Also, don't forget to include the very best CD/DVD writer available - a real time-saver.

Ray.

with RAID, remember that it only protects against hard drive failure. It can't protect you against user error, virus damage or anything which results in the files being deleted as they will just be deleted off both disks.

It's always wise to have anything that really matters backed up in at least 2 ways, preferably in different places.

It's true that self builds aren't as cost effective as they have been in the past (and may yet be again, it tends to cycle). It does still have the advantage that you know exactly what goes in there.

From one who makes a living out of selling/maintaining PC's (yes, there are some of us left). We used to build our own, then we had them built to our spec. (build cost £35.00 - no brainer), now we buy ready made Acer. Muuuuuuuch cheaper.

And don't forget Windows Vista is awfull - windows XP is still the best until Vista release the service pack.

It struggles wit external HDD's and USB equipment.

If you are using Photoshop CS put in an additional HDD and set PS to use this as the temp drive - speeds things up no end

When asked by colleagues at work, I usually recommend them to buy the fastest processor they can afford, the most memory they can afford and the largest hard drive(s) they can afford, as you can never have too little of any of those things!

However I have been looking to buy a laptop, and am finding myself persuaded by Don's support for macs.

ammonyte
if you use it for editing or as a primary computer go macbook pro.
but if you use it primarily as a dropzone while in the feild, and do most of your editing on a home machine, you may prefer the macbook. (either way max out your ram).

I run aperture, cs2, elements and Iphoto for stills, and mix in Imovie, and Idvd for high def video on the road with my macbook and external firewire drives.



never a problem.

Don,

Thanks for the heads-up. It would be mainly used to browse the internet whilst sitting in my garden and other remote locations, so a macbook should suffice.


Or I could use my money to but one of the new DA * lenses.....................................................................................................
...........................................

One of the advantages of a PC is that you don't have to buy a whole new compuetr to upgrade the processor etc.

I've just moved from an AMD Athlon XP2500+ with 1Gb of DDR400 RAM to an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ (much faster with a dual core) with 2Gb DDR2 667 RAM. Okay, I had to get a new motherboard and Graphics card, but it cost me just £218 altogether.

My old RAM was dying, so rather than get some to replace that, I thought I'd boost the whole system, and give myself the potential of some 'future-proofing' with the latest CPU socket type.

Just had a look at the Mac Store, a similarly spec'ed Mac Mini (Intel 1.66GHz Core Duo, same RAM, 160Gb Disk (I have 440Gb)), for which I'd have to get new monitor, modem, keyboard etc, would cost £1,226.99.

For the time being, I think I'm sticking with a PC.

Dan

P.S. Quite nice to be typing this without wondering when the next crash is coming along.

My advice - do not throw the old one away. For a modestly small outlay it can be networked to act as additional storage and backup space. I have an old one still powered by W98 which supports six largish drives with room for two more if the PSU will stand it. (it has a PCI disc controller card that cost a tenner and can support the new serial drives)

Also, the debate over large versus ginormous HDDs is the same as for flash cards. When one goes down you lose everything on it. Maybe two smaller drives instead of one large one might be a better idea

The point on the shortcomings of Raid systems is well made as i know to my cost. I gave up Raid and used a Backup Programme to achieve the "mirroring" effect under my control. I just have to remember to run it

Also make sure the PSU has room for expansion!

But then you probably know that

Very sound advice, when I built my current PC about 2 years ago I debated whether to go for a couple of very large drives configured as a raid array but after weighing it all up I went for 6 160Gig drives, 4 SATA and 2 IDE. The 2 IDE drives are configured solely for backup purposes, I use XP's backup utility to do this twice a week.