ComputerSteve

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Oct 20, 2010
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I wish to purchase a new pc soon and I'm doing my homework.

I have been out of the hardware arena for about 7 years now and I wish to know which CPU will be the appropriate CPU.

I have searched google and bing but I cannot seem to nut out what is the lastest CPU's and which one will be right for me.

Can anyone assist me in some literature or advice?

I know this is a basic question but I don't go out and buy anything without ascertaining!
 

ComputerSteve

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Oct 20, 2010
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the budget is variable as will purchase what is right for what I will use the computer for.

I will be Installing Windows 7 Ultimate, Microsoft Office 2007 or 2010, Adobe Creative Suit 5 Master Collection (Which apparently requires a 64bit processor and Windows 7 64 bit OS)

There won't be much game playing on the computer, I don't have time for that!
 

damasvara

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Jul 20, 2010
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That means your profile usage is office works, am I correct?

With moderate demand of processing power and graphics muscle, the appropriate CPU for you would be a mid-range Quad-core. I suggest an i5 from Intel or Athlon II from AMD for the starting point of your selection. The speed is not really an issue for your profile. A moderate 2.8 GHz should be sufficient. The point of having more cores is to handle several tasks at one time seamlessly.

That's the big picture. As for details, I need to ask whether you have any specific preference? Since the definition of "the latest" is a little vague, you can wait for the Llano or Sandy Bridge to be launched for that purpose. But I think it will be an overkill for your PC usage profile.
 

dEAne

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Dec 13, 2009
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So like desktop publishing - How about this: (For photo, video editing)
Processor: core i3
Motherboard: gigabyte GA-H55N-USb3
RAM: g.skill eco 8gb
Graphics Card: Radeon HD 5970
Well you can choose a matrox editing card but it is very expensive.
Hard Drive: Western Digital 640Gb Black Caviar for OS + program
Western Digital 1Tb or 2Tb for Storage
Case:coolmaster elite 330
Power Supply: antec 430watts
 
A 5970 and an i3 for video editing? Switch those two around and drop in an nVidia card to get the best performance. Im just going to ignore the fact that you have a 430W PSU with a 5970 that draws 300W by itself.

I would go for an i7 950, 6GB of ram, and a GTS 450, along with a PSU that can handle it like a Corsair 550VX, it will give you much better performance since photo and video editing are much more CPU intensive than GPU intensive. The 450 is still plenty strong for anything that needs some GPU acceleration, but wont eat up a ton of the budget.