Hi there. I'm looking to buy parts for a computer.
Primary purpose: Digital photography - processing 10 megapixel raw files in photosop CS3. Secondary purposes: net browsing, wordprocessing, other low-performance useage. I am not a gamer, so fancy 3D graphics and rendering is not required.
I'm looking to buy a case, motherboard, CPU, memory, hard drive, DVD burner, OS. By budget is $800 Canadian dollars. My preferred parts provider is Memory Express (www.memoryexpress.com). They have a shop just down the street.
I already have a keyboard, mouse, speakers, 24" high-end screen with 1920x1200 resolution.
I currently have a 2004 or 2005-ish vintage computer with an AMD Athlon 2500+ Barton processor and 1 gig of memory, Windows XP pro. It's been running just great but it's pretty slow processing 10 megapixel photos in CS3. Also, I often have multiple applications open at the same time (CS3, Adobe Bridge, windows media player playing mp3s, Firefox). My system then starts to swap a lot, and I could use more memory.
In the future I may be editing video - they are adding video to the new generation of DSLRs and I'm keep to play around with that.
I don't keep up much with hardware, and just with a bit of googling I came up with the following parts list:
- AMD phenom II X4 940 3 GHz with 8 Mb cache -CPU $230
- Kingston HyperX 4Gb PC2-8500 CL7 memory chipset $80
- Asus M3A78-CM w/ Radeon HD 3100, DualDDR2 1066, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, PCI-E board - $95
- Case with 380W power supply and fans, about $110
- Windows Vista 64 bit home edition, $130
- 1 terabyte SATA hard drive $100
- LG DVD burner $30
grand total about $790.
This is going the AMD route. I don't think there's money in the budget for an i7 or AM3/ddr3 system.
Will these components work together? What to expect? Better options for the buck?
Do I need a video card? My previous experience with onboard video hasn't been great but that was with 2005 vintage gear.
Advice and suggestions much appreciated!
Primary purpose: Digital photography - processing 10 megapixel raw files in photosop CS3. Secondary purposes: net browsing, wordprocessing, other low-performance useage. I am not a gamer, so fancy 3D graphics and rendering is not required.
I'm looking to buy a case, motherboard, CPU, memory, hard drive, DVD burner, OS. By budget is $800 Canadian dollars. My preferred parts provider is Memory Express (www.memoryexpress.com). They have a shop just down the street.
I already have a keyboard, mouse, speakers, 24" high-end screen with 1920x1200 resolution.
I currently have a 2004 or 2005-ish vintage computer with an AMD Athlon 2500+ Barton processor and 1 gig of memory, Windows XP pro. It's been running just great but it's pretty slow processing 10 megapixel photos in CS3. Also, I often have multiple applications open at the same time (CS3, Adobe Bridge, windows media player playing mp3s, Firefox). My system then starts to swap a lot, and I could use more memory.
In the future I may be editing video - they are adding video to the new generation of DSLRs and I'm keep to play around with that.
I don't keep up much with hardware, and just with a bit of googling I came up with the following parts list:
- AMD phenom II X4 940 3 GHz with 8 Mb cache -CPU $230
- Kingston HyperX 4Gb PC2-8500 CL7 memory chipset $80
- Asus M3A78-CM w/ Radeon HD 3100, DualDDR2 1066, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, PCI-E board - $95
- Case with 380W power supply and fans, about $110
- Windows Vista 64 bit home edition, $130
- 1 terabyte SATA hard drive $100
- LG DVD burner $30
grand total about $790.
This is going the AMD route. I don't think there's money in the budget for an i7 or AM3/ddr3 system.
Will these components work together? What to expect? Better options for the buck?
Do I need a video card? My previous experience with onboard video hasn't been great but that was with 2005 vintage gear.
Advice and suggestions much appreciated!