A PC for my mother, Basic photography needs

KpsCowley

Hi Guys,

I really appreciate the great community on here. Last year I put together my first PC from a list I found here on this forum, I would have been lost without it!

My mother has been hounding me to buy her a computer over the past few weeks, and I thought what better excuse than this to go tinkering around with computer parts again.

She is into amateur photography, but currently uses an old Dell monitor from 2001, 3Gb RAM (2xsticks), ATI Radeon HD 4200 (not an independent card) and an AMD Phenom II 905e. She wants to keep this PC so it can't be used for parts, just wanted to give an idea of what she currently has.

Anyway:

1. What is your budget? [aprox €1000 - 1100]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Photoshop/Lightroom]

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [Yes]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? No

5. Do you need a monitor? [Yes] (I have no idea on resolution/gamut etc)

5a. If yes, what size do you need. Aprox 20" (can swing on this to fit budget)

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? Yes - Mouse/Card Reader/Speakers

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? No

8. How can you pay? Bank Transfer/Credit Card/Laser

9. When are you purchasing? Within two weeks

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? I am ok with the building side.

I would be very grateful if anyone could suggest a build. I have looked through the forum posts, but it has been awhile since anyone has looked for a build of this type.

Best regards,
Kevin.

KpsCowley

Sorry about the bump, but any help would be much appreciated

Redfox25

What exactly does she need it to do?
For that budget you could build a pretty strong system.
What software is she planning?
Will it ever be gamed on?

KpsCowley

Hi Redfox25,

The PC will only be used for photo editing/Graphic design. The programs she runs are the latest versions of Photoshop/Lightroom/InDesign.

The PC won't be used for gaming.

The budget will need to include a monitor and a number of peripherals as detailed above.

I was thinking something like this: (posted by 'SterlingArcher' last month)

''
Cpu. Intel Xeon E3-1231v3 Box, LGA1150
246,16 €
Motherboard. ASRock H97 Pro4, Sockel 1150, ATX
80,77 €
Ram. 16GB Kit Crucial Ballistix Sport Series DDR3-1600, CL9
125,03 €
Ssd. crucial 120 gb 64,51 €
Hdd.Seagate Barracuda 7200 1000GB, SATA 6Gb/s
51,98 €
Psu.be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 7 400W - bulk -
41,88 €
case. antec one ATX, ohne Netzteil
45,08 €
Card reader 13 euro
Total
6,99 € plus shipping 675 €
''

But to also add a monitor and peripherals.

What do you think?

KpsCowley

Any thoughts on this build?

B0X

I'd think something like an i5 4970 would be better bang for your buck. You're also missing a graphics card which the Xeon does not provide but the i5 would (Though it may be better to get a dedicated card)

To be honest, if this PC is for photo editing I think one of the most important things will be the monitor.
Don't cheap out and buy some ****e Samsung 20" just so you can get bump up the CPU, get a decent 24" IPS panel.

Serephucus

Swap the Xeon for an 4690K or similar, change the motherboard to a Z97 chipset, bump the SSD to a 250GB (at least), and maybe something like a U2414H or U2415 as a monitor.

I'm not all that familiar with Adobe's use of GPU acceleration in their suite, so maybe a low-ish GPU (750 or similar) might be of some use, though probably not worth it value-wise.

KpsCowley

So something more like this:

CPU
Intel Core i5-4690K Box, LGA1150
€242.43

MOBO
Gigabyte GA-Z97-HD3, Sockel 1150, ATX
€99.74

RAM
16GB-Kit Crucial Ballistix Sport XT Series DDR3-1600, CL9
€145.58

SSD
Crucial SSD 250GB BX100
€96.24

HDD
Seagate Barracuda 7200 1000GB, SATA 6Gb/s
€55.11

PSU
be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 7 400W - bulk -
€39.86

CASE
Antec one ATX, ohne Netzteil
€54.90

CARD READER
LogiLink USB 2.0 all-in-one Card Reader, für 3,5" Einbauchschacht
€3.99

LOW END GPU
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 750 1GB DDR5 128 bit
€112.34

MONITOR
Dell U2414H
€217.32

DVD RW
Samsung SH-224DB schwarz
€12.07


SATA cables
3 x LogiLink e-SATA Anschlusskabel mit Sicherungslasche, 1m
3 x €2.99 = €8.97

OS
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit (SB-Version)
€88.81

Basic MOUSE
Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse for Business (weiß) OEM
€8.99

Basic KEYBOARD
Logitech K120 OEM Keyboard - black
€8.99

Basic SPEAKERS
Logitech Speaker System Z313
€30.54

Total = 1225.88 + approx €19 shipping = €1244.88

This put me a bit over budget. Could you tell me if all these parts will fit together ok, all socket 1150 as far as I can tell.
Im guessing that the stock case fan and stock CPU fan will be enough to keep the system cool? I could probably pull some additional fans from old old computers.. maybe even a DVD drive..

Can you guys see any way of pulling this build back into budget?

Thanks

P.S. Unfortunately I can not post the product URL's as I am a 'new' user.

Serephucus

Cheaper RAM, swap the SSD to the MX100. It's €1 cheaper, and you get 6GB more space. Beware of keyboards from HWVS as well - They'll be German layout (grab a cheap one on Amazon or something)

As for the budget in general, go to geizhals.de and paste in each of the items, then click on the one with the HWVS logo, it'll bring up the item in your basket at the cheaper price. You usually save around 5% overall.

SterlingArcher

Get your windows of reddit. This will save you 60 euro which would cover more ram.

In this case don't really know if you should swap out the Xeon for i5.

Can't see your mam overclocking, it will be left to you. Need a dedicated cooler.

be cheaper just to go xeon.

That said it does require a dedicated gpu.

Start with serpecus advice above and get the windows of reddit.

Serephucus

It's the difference of about €30 for the cooler, and a little for the Z97 board (H97 is basically the same board with the OC switch flicked off).

Might as well have the option. It's not like your average "heavy duty" consumer tasks would ever come close to matching enterprise or even workstation workloads, so the "cream of the crop" factor doesn't really apply.

Better off having something his mother can use now, and call the son in a couple of years if she wants to do more advanced stuff. Comes over, bumps CPU to 4.5GHz in ten minutes, job done.

KpsCowley

Hi guys, thanks for all the comments

I think that the build is looking nice now.

Although there is one thing I could not figure out... How do I get a Windows key from reddit? I googled, and looked through the different sub reddits but couldn't find what you guys were talking about.

Thanks

KpsCowley

How about this Cooler?
Thermalright HR-02 Macho Rev.A (BW)
€39.99

hardwareversand.de/en/Intel+AMD/67114/Thermalright+HR-02+Macho+Rev.A+(BW).article

jayo26

KpsCowley wrote: »

Hi guys, thanks for all the comments

I think that the build is looking nice now.

Although there is one thing I could not figure out... How do I get a Windows key from reddit? I googled, and looked through the different sub reddits but couldn't find what you guys were talking about.

Thanks

Hi mate this is where you need to go

https://www.reddit.com/r/microsoftsoftwareswap/

Good luck with the build.