grahamc Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 This my current home PC: HP computer HP Pavilion A1429.UK, 14" widescreen monitor AMD 64 Processor 3200+ 1.99Ghz 1GB Ram Onboard graphics I am looking at doing photo editing and have been thinking about upgrading this PC. Just not sure what to get video card wise and monitor wise. Saw one of these last weekend, and it was very very nice! However, I have never used macs, they are very expensive and I get 99% of MS software for free on my works MSDN license. 4GB memory? 21/22" screen? Ideas and thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahamc Posted February 14, 2009 Author Share Posted February 14, 2009 What about this screen? http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152548 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamanC Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 4GB Ram - Yes! but I bet your motherboard wont take any more than 2GB 22" screen - Yes, dirt cheap for the size. I was just about to point you to the one you linked. Video card - Tricky subject here. Technically you do not need a dedicated Video card for photo editing, as far as I am aware nothing out there uses the GPU although it is being developed. You should be able to get away with onboard graphics providing its got at least a 32MB GPU. If your on board video is naff then you should stuff the cheapest Nvidia/ATI has to offer in there, although you would need to find out what graphics card interface your motherboard has. If you can find your motherboard model, I can tell you what you can and cant do. You may find that it might be worth in the long run getting a new custom built rig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahamc Posted February 14, 2009 Author Share Posted February 14, 2009 4GB Ram - Yes! but I bet your motherboard wont take any more than 2GB 22" screen - Yes, dirt cheap for the size. I was just about to point you to the one you linked. Video card - Tricky subject here. Technically you do not need a dedicated Video card for photo editing, as far as I am aware nothing out there uses the GPU although it is being developed. You should be able to get away with onboard graphics providing its got at least a 32MB GPU. If your on board video is naff then you should stuff the cheapest Nvidia/ATI has to offer in there, although you would need to find out what graphics card interface your motherboard has. If you can find your motherboard model, I can tell you what you can and cant do. You may find that it might be worth in the long run getting a new custom built rig According to this: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00654417&cc=uk&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_UKEN The board will go up to 4gb memory max, so a little bit of luck there. And the chipset is ATI Radeon Xpress 200 Your thoughts? Thinking about it, arent most new video cards are aimed at gaming and movement? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colsoop Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 If your editing lots of raw photos then a large hard drive too. I would also keep some money aside for print / monitor calibration software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahamc Posted February 14, 2009 Author Share Posted February 14, 2009 If your editing lots of raw photos then a large hard drive too. I would also keep some money aside for print / monitor calibration software. Hard drive space, now thats something I have PC has 1x200gb, 1x300gb and I have wired NAS, with a RAID1 setup with total storage of 500gb. With the option of adding another 500gb What software is this? I have a basic photo printer.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colsoop Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Hard drive space, now thats something I have PC has 1x200gb, 1x300gb and I have wired NAS, with a RAID1 setup with total storage of 500gb. With the option of adding another 500gb What software is this? I have a basic photo printer.... Basically it calibrates the colours of your monitor and or printer (assuming you are printing from home)so that what you see on your screen is what you see in hard copy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahamc Posted February 14, 2009 Author Share Posted February 14, 2009 Basically it calibrates the colours of your monitor and or printer (assuming you are printing from home)so that what you see on your screen is what you see in hard copy. hmm, will have to have a look for that. Will be doing some printing at home, not sure how much, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamanC Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 According to this: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00654417&cc=uk&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_UKEN The board will go up to 4gb memory max, so a little bit of luck there. And the chipset is ATI Radeon Xpress 200 Your thoughts? Thinking about it, arent most new video cards are aimed at gaming and movement? That graphics card will be fine most, if not all ATI/Nvidia are for gaming, its just the ram part of it you want. Order two of these: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/55295 Old RAM is bloody expensive!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRalphMan Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 PC Pro have a large round up of 22/24" monitors this month. Looks like they like this one - http://www.morecomputers.com/extra.asp?pn=9H.Y3VLN.IBE&referer=Froogle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahamc Posted February 14, 2009 Author Share Posted February 14, 2009 That graphics card will be fine most, if not all ATI/Nvidia are for gaming, its just the ram part of it you want. Order two of these: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/55295 Old RAM is bloody expensive!!! It is damn expensive... Will this stuff do? http://www.ebuyer.com/product/114484 PC Pro have a large round up of 22/24" monitors this month. Looks like they like this one - http://www.morecomputers.com/extra.asp?pn=9H.Y3VLN.IBE&referer=Froogle Thats a nice looking monitor, and we use that brand at work, so I might be able to get a better price Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamanC Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Yes it would although you run a higher risk of it being incompatible, you could return it though. The stuff I linked has the best chance of it running, and also has lower timings and probably lifetime guarantee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angarak Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Graham, Just a FYI regarding the memory, if your using Windohs XP it only makes use of 3GB max, so getting 4GB and running XP will be a waste. If your running Vista then 4GB wouldnt hurt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahamc Posted February 15, 2009 Author Share Posted February 15, 2009 Windows 7 beta hopefully! MSDN is free a download for me, thanks to my work MSDN license. Yes it would although you run a higher risk of it being incompatible, you could return it though. The stuff I linked has the best chance of it running, and also has lower timings and probably lifetime guarantee. I will drop them an email. I will also see if I can get it cheaper through work, since we run all HP servers and desktops We also run all BenQ monitors, so might be worthwhile, having a look at that as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahamc Posted February 15, 2009 Author Share Posted February 15, 2009 going to give 3gbs of memory a go at first, and spend the extra cash on the screen... so now looking at 24" !! Thoughts? http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149979 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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