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Desktop PC choice

richandfleur
Posted 06/09/2014 - 06:06 Link
Just as an aside, watch for how the likes of RAM is actually delivered to you. If you have 4 RAM slots and your 8GB is provided as 4x 2GB sticks, then you'll have to drop the lot to upgrade to 16GB. If the same 8GB is provided as 2x 4GB sticks then it's easy to buy just 2 more to fill up the empty slots.

The numbers above are indicative, but the concept may be important depending on where you want to jump in initially and what you may want to upgrade in the future.
Algernon
Posted 06/09/2014 - 08:23 Link
Your not supposed to mix Ram even from the same manufacturer.
So if you have 8GB and want 16GB it's normal to sell the 8GB
and buy 16GB The sticks have a version number on the
label, but even that doesn't guarantee that they are identical.
Revisions are usually drastic and often involve using chips
from another manufacturer.

This list is out of date but it shows how often
manufacturers change chips. They also change other
components and the circuit diagram.
http://ramlist.i4memory.com/ddr/

It also seems better to only use 2 slots in a 4 slot machine.
The memory forums are riddled with posts about people getting
BSOD's with 4 slots filled.

More ram seems to bring problems. On previous systems I had
4GB and never had any problems.... now with 8GB I've had errors
copying a large group of files once and burnt my first DVD
coaster in about 10 years

--
Half Man... Half Pentax ... Half Cucumber

Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff

Algi
Edited by Algernon: 06/09/2014 - 08:29
fritzthedog
Posted 06/09/2014 - 08:33 Link
Rataegeoff wrote:
Thanks for all your inputs. As Algi said it's the real world performance that matters and so I feel I now have that from you all. Self build is very tempting but then so is the John Lewis 2 year warranty. I wonder if upgrading the ram or adding a second hard drive would void such a warranty?

Geoff

Geoff - there is of course another option - and that is - get a company to do your self build for you!

In case you are interested - there is a very good company up here in Yorkshire that I have bought all my components from for years. They build quality PCs to order and you are able to have virtually any components you want included - and their price includes a 3 year 'collect and return' warranty!

Company is called CCL Computers (based near Bradford).

If for instance you have your heart set on an i7 CPU - you can get a PC with an Intel i7 3.6GHZ CPU, 16gb RAM, gigabite motherboard, 1TB hard drive and windows 8.1 including 3 year 'collect and return' warranty and free delivery - for £669 - and you can totally customise - see here

link

If you wanted to spend less (as I did) an AMD A8 5600 CPU based system with 8gb RAM, ITB HD and Igb graphics card - can be yours for under £400

Have a play on their web-site but be warned - 'customising' their base PCs can be a bit addictive

Carl
No matter how many lenses I have owned - I have always needed just one more
stub
Posted 06/09/2014 - 09:32 Link
I built a new one earlier this year. Just don't consider one that dosnt have SSD. The difference is remarkable..
K-1Gripped K-1 ungripped K-5ii K7 Various lenses

Stuart..
Algernon
Posted 06/09/2014 - 10:18 Link
The best site for seeing completed builds and comments is
PCPartPicker ....although they are heavily game based.
Some prices are USA ones.

They also track component prices and compare prices.
This is the ram I bought....

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cml8gx3m2a1866c9r

--
Half Man... Half Pentax ... Half Cucumber

Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff

Algi
Edited by Algernon: 06/09/2014 - 10:23
BarryE
Posted 08/09/2014 - 13:05 Link
Could do worse than have a look at Chillblast (http://www.chillblast.com/).

They've earnt a host of awards and in my experience they are well deserved. They are primarily a gaming PC manufacturer, but they supply photo pcs too. I bought one last year and it's been excellent, as has their service.

As an aside I've been surprised about how much Photoshop (CS5) uses the scratch disk, even when there's plenty of ram. So increasing the RAM to avoid unnecessary disk access may not always be the answer. (I've yet to work out why this is ...)
Algernon
Posted 08/09/2014 - 13:47 Link
You could probably set up a 4GB Ramdisk and put a scratch disk
on that.

--
Half Man... Half Pentax ... Half Cucumber

Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff

Algi
BarryE
Posted 09/09/2014 - 13:51 Link
Thanks Algi, I'll look into the Ram disk option.
Algernon
Posted 09/09/2014 - 14:46 Link
Algernon wrote:
The best site for seeing completed builds and comments is
PCPartPicker ....although they are heavily game based.
Some prices are USA ones.

They also track component prices and compare prices.
This is the ram I bought....

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cml8gx3m2a1866c9r

--

Memory prices are rising. If you drag the vertical
bar across the graph it shows the price at each date.

An image BUP is essential when building a PC so that you can
go right back. http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx is
excellent and fast as well as free. Create a Linux recovery
CD/DVD from it after the 1st BUP. You don't need the MS
version which involves a 170mb download and you don't
need to know anything about Linux.

Recovery is easy and fast and takes about 10 mins from
booting the CD/DVD.



--
Half Man... Half Pentax ... Half Cucumber

Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff

Algi
Edited by Algernon: 09/09/2014 - 14:50
Posted 16/09/2014 - 10:52 Link
A bigger disk and more memory will be a better investment than the fastest CPU.





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