Imaging editing PC, help with spec

bren2002

Hi All

I'm looking at buying an imaging editing PC. I'm well versed in IT, but it's a long time since I looked at buying a home PC (I do large scale server systems).

I'm not married to Dell, but they are very flexible and I can get the most info from them rather than HP or a reseller.

I'd be looking for at least dual core, 4 GB of RAM, 500GB disk (going to get a large NAS probably RAID 0/1) for the home network so I can store photos, music and maybe movies on that.

My instinct tells me that the Dell monitors are not really what I want, so I'd especially welcome monitor recommendations.

Graphics cards too, 512 would seem enough for me?

Would be keen for the PC & monitor to come in under 1K.

Any ideas/recommendations?

(PS don't need a large amount of support, I'm happy to do that myself. So I'd consider buying from the UK)

ThOnda

I have DELL PC (Vostro 200 infused with memory and HDDs) and DELL display U2410 that is I think the best bit of the kit.

Creamy Goodness

a imaging editing pc needs three important things.

top of the range screen.
oodles of storage and backup storage (people often neglect the latter)
buckets full of ram. i'd even go as far as to say get more than 4gig's of ram, it's cheap as hell these days.

other than that a fast processor is a great help too, i'd go for at least a dual core, if not a quad core.

any money you have left spend on software packages and other stuff for your camera bag.

Promac

Don't cheapo the video card either. It's not hard to get a 1gb card these days.

I'd say get a quadcore cpu (a newer one - don't just grab a cheap older one because it says quad-core on the box), 1gb graphics card, 8gig of ram and don't worry about the local storage - store everything on the NAS and just load that with some big drives.

As said above, get a nice monitor too and put it all in a nice case with at least 2 fans to keep it all running cool.

bren2002

Can anyone actually recommend a monitor though?

melekalikimaka

http://blog.anands.net/2007/04/23/buying-a-lcd-monitor-for-photo-editing/

ThOnda

I can recommend the mine. It was one of the cheapest 24" widescreen LCDs you could get few months ago from overclockers.
You must be looking for IPS or sIPS screens. If it has TN technology, don't even think about it. Well, maybe like a second display to run your outlook.

pixbyjohn

Studio XPS 8100 DT StudioXPS 8100 - Intel Core i5 Processor 750 (2.66GHz, 8MB)




StudioXPS 8100 - Intel Core i5 Processor 750 (2.66GHz, 8MB) 1
Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate 64bit- English 1
Microsoft® Works 9 - English 1
1 year of coverage included with your PC 1
No Security/Anti-Virus Protection - English 1

Display Not Included 1
6144MB 1066 MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048 + 2x1024] 1
2TB Dual Hard Drive Non RAID (2x1TB - 7200rpm) 1
1GB NVIDIA® GeForce™ GT220 graphics card 1
16X DVD+/- RW Optical Drive (DVD & CD read and write) (Win 7 Only) 1
Dell™ USB Entry Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY) 1
Dell 2 Button USB Optical Mouse 1
Integrated HDA 7.1 Dolby Digital Audio 1
English - Documentation with UK/Ire Power cord 1
D01X8102 1
Studio XPS 8100 DT Order - Ireland 1
Datasafe Local 2.0 Basic 1
1 year of coverage included with your PC 1
One free Dell Expert call to help with your PC queries within 60 days of purchase 1
No Speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system) 1
Studio XPS 8100 Resource DVD 1
DataSafe Online Backup 2GB 1 year 1

Chorcai

And the one thing people forget is the motherboard, theres no point havin tons of ram/CPU/GFX if the board is ****e, start there then work your way up.

pixbyjohn

Chorcai wrote: »

And the one thing people forget is the motherboard, theres no point havin tons of ram/CPU/GFX if the board is ****e, start there then work your way up.

Couldn't agree more

TinyExplosions

The Dell monitors are actually damn good Samsung (I think) panels that have been rebranded -I'd have no problem recommending them -don't get the cheapest of the cheap, but they are all good screens -certainly very close to the Apple ones if not better

Valentia

There is no point having more than 4Gb of ram if you have a 32 bit operating system. 32 bit doesn't even use the full 4. Make sure you get Windows 7 64 bit otherwise the ram is a waste of money.

As Thonda says the Dell screens are as good as you can get but must be IPS or sIPS. I'd go for an i7 core. Will keep you going for years. The Graphics card is not that important as it will only be doing 2D stuff.

EDIT: Avoid wide gamut monitors like the plague. They are nearly impossible to calibrate.

Nforce

This notebook would be perfect for editing.