Newb here - need help to spec a desktop for photo editing - only have £500 though.

[dazzlingboy]

Hi Guys - go easy on me please as I'm not super techie!

I need a desktop (only the "main unit" - I have everything else) which I will mainly use for photo editing (mainly Lightroom) and printing. I'll also want to do some low level video editing (Go Pro type footage) but nothing fancy - photos are the main job.

I was tempted (despite myself) to get one of these but my gut feel tells me that with proper advice you guys will be able to spec one for me that outperforms this system.

My budget is a super strict £500 - not a penny over unfortunately.

Hope you can steer me in the right direction so I can get the most bang for my buck!

Many thanks.

 

[mantadog]

I would get this....


Case
COOLERMASTER ELITE 310 BLUE CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD BULLDOZER SIX CORE FX-6100 (3.30GHz/6MB CACHE/AM3+)
Free Item
FREE DIRT3 GAME with any AMD FX Processor!
Motherboard
ASUS® M5A78L-M/USB3: M-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 3.0Gb/s
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
512MB NVIDIA GEFORCE 210 - DVI,HDMI,VGA
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
750GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD7502AAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
350W Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £503.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/amd-bulldozer-top-spec-pc/

The processor probably isn't miles better to be 100% honest, i would put them on about the same perfromance level. However it will be more than capable for your needs with the budget you have.

8GB of RAM is plenty so i have added the same to your spec. The main upgrade their is the HDD, it will be much faster than the drive contained in your spec which will make the PC feel much faster overall as you don't need to wait for things to load quite so long. Slightly lower capacit but unless that would cause you huge problems i would get the Caviar black, i have one and it's an amazing drive.

Also have a very slightly better GPU as it is an upgrade from the integrated GPU on the machine you linked to, so it will still play back full HD movies etc very very easily.

The rest of the spec is pretty much the same, on a fairly low end build you wont see a massive leap in performance for the same money buying from PCS as you might for £1,000+. However thats not a reason to buy from the highstreet instead, as from PCS you will get much better service than any of the big boys seem to be able to manage. For the same price as you could get from the highstreet, and certainly no worse of a computer at the end of the day!