Camera Labs

Btw you might wanna consider running 2 harddrives in raid 1, just for the safety of you photos.

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Jake

Canon EOS 400D + EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS + EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS + EF 50mm f/1.8
My Photos - My webpage (danish)

Wow popo i'm impressed! it was indeed the pre-64 Athlon. You really know your machines!

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Canon 40D + 70-200mm f/2.8L IS + 50mm f/1.8
Manfrotto 055CX3 + 496RC2
www.thomaslowe.com

Hi podgeorge,

This is my Pc build guide for you. You don't need the fastest and latest processors to make your computer fast. It's an headache when you try to pick the right one, and you run into so many different kinds of them... You have Intel's dual core, core2 duo, core 2 quad then come AMD's Athlon x64 dual core, Phenom etc. Well, you shouldn't be after the speed(High frequencies) that much, there's a much more important thing -the Cache Memory. It's the same thing as the camera's buffer memory. The more buffer, the more pictures u can take without waiting your camera to write those images on to you memory card. Get a mother board with integrated graphics, most of them go up to 256 MB shared memory(You can always upgrade your graphics buy buying a non-integrated graphics adapter). Shared memory means that it uses a percentage of your RAM. 2Gb of RAM is enough for almost everything. Windows XP uses about 300MB RAM including anti virus programs. You have 256MB RAM used by the VGA (the option is adjustable from 32MB up to 256MB), leaving you approximately 1.5 GB of free RAM for the rest of the programs or games. Depending on what you'll be working, you'll find your own requirements. You need to be sure you get DDR2 working on 667 or even better -800Mhz. DDR3 is working on higher frequencies but isn't cost efficient. If you're a movie or game fanatic you will need a higher capacity HDD, i would say 250GB are enough. Be sure to have proper cooling for your PC, you don't want it to overheat cause the system can be damaged permanently. Last things you need is an ATX power supply 450W or more, a Pc case and an optional DVD burner. It's not difficult putting the components together. Just follow the instructions, you're given with the MB you purchase. After you put all the components together be sure to add an extra fan for more efficient cooling. I got these components: AMD 4200+ 64bit dual core + COOLER, 160GB HDD, 1GB RAM 800Mhz, Asus MB with integrated GA for 180euros 5 months ago. So be sure to make a good check for prices since they're descending every day. Hope a was helpful to you.

One additional comment to all the great advice given here is to consider the noise-level of the PC. If you are anything like me, you can get a little tired after a few hours of intense work on the PC after having to listen to noisy fans.

There are a few ways to deal with this, that may be worth considering:
- Larger fans (14-inch instead of say 10-inch for example) have a lower pitch of noise and are therefore less irritating to listen to.
- You can get (somewhat more expensive) "quiet" fans.
- You can get a thermostat-regulated fan-control that so taht the fans will move slower if they don't need to cool as much (if the PC is near an open window for example or is only working very little).
- Liquid cooling can be less noisy than fans - although they do require a little more maintenance. They also cool more effectively if you are a crazy gamer at the very edge and overclock a lot.

Cheers

Now is a really good time to build a PC. Everything is really cheap now! I recommend you find a motherboard with the features you need, then build your computer around that. I have been building PCs for over 10 years now, and I highly recommend Gigabyte motherboards. You can download their motherboard manuals from their website for instructions on how to build your PC. Here is a link to their website:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_List.aspx?VenderType=Intel&CPUType=socket+775

Newegg.com is one of the best places to buy PC components, they are cheap, fast, and reliable. They stand behind their products, and are easy to deal with.

http://www.newegg.com/


A few good websites to look at for more information and build guides are:

AnAndTech

http://anandtech.com/

and Tom's Hardware

http://www.tomshardware.com/us/#redir

Also, stay away from water cooling!!! With today's 45nm processors, you can get away with using the supplied heatsync and fan, which is pretty quiet. The secret to quiet fans, is to run a large fan at low RPM. Water cooling is expensive, and requires maintenance, as you will be regularly topping off the water supply.

If you would like any advice on selecting components, send me a PM.

these days being self proclaimed "technical" doesn`t qualify anyone to build a computer. its mostly one step above lego, plug and play. the hardest part is picking out what components you want. there is a common misconception that you`ll need a soldering iron and a bunch of diodes and resistors and a backgound in electronics to build a computer.

the real tech side is in hardware and software development and design.

Hi kaptain howdie,

May I wish you a warm welcome to the CameraLabs forum.

Your post takes me back to the days when I designed and built a microcontroller based interface board to get two commercially available computer mainboards (pre IBM PC days) to talk to each other. During the design phase I was agonising over line delays as short as one nanosecond.

But taking on a build of a PC for the first time is still fraught with difficulties and is to be admired, especially when funds may be tight and the cost of a mistake may mean delaying completion by several months.

Ed, there's good advice above but pay attention to detail. One gotcha I narrowly avoided just a few days ago was falling in love with a case which took full-sized ATX boards. It was only when I looked really closely that I discovered that it wouldn't take some of the longer graphics cards.


Just how huge is your computer? I've just ordered a case with 14cm fans and I thought they were pretty big.

Good point, though. There are a number of companies out there with a good reputation for quiet fans and it's a comparatively small investment for what can be a significant gain.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

DDR3!!!!!!!!!

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D60 - SB-600
18-55VR
50mm f/1.8
90mm f/2.8

The prices of DDR3 is coming down lately, it's a good time to buy IMO. DDR3 and a core i7 and you'll be set for a good while. And don't sweat it, building a pc is so easy. You just plug stuff in. Oh, and if you're a gamer you can get a really decent video card for about $200 now. It's a steal if you ask me.

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yeah i would say essential i have a coolermaster cosmos not the best but a massive improvement over my last one , my processor cooler is also quiet it also as a remote so i can turn the speed up when and as required when doing anything heavy on my pc .

for some ideas http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/home

the cooler i use http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/produc ... zt-nirvana

but remember your building a system that you want start putting together what others say then ask yourself is this for you?? or for them

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Nikon D90 / 55 - 200 VR / 50 - f1.8 / tammy 90 / SB - 400

On the other hand, my PC sounds like a vacuum cleaner. You get used to the noise after a while, and I can actually estimate the load and temperature, just listening to the sounds

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

Further to Bob's 'gotcha', also watch out for tall coolers - I like the Zalman range, but some are quite tall and may not fit in smaller cases.

yeah i have the zalman 9700 and its a beast but it allowed me to overclock to run stable at near the maximum rating of my processor its a E6600 that runs @ 2400 MHZ stock but i have it running @ 3500 MHZ with just the FSB and VCORE voltage tweaked

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Nikon D700+Nikon D-80 + Nikon SB 900 Flashgun+Lumiquest Ultrasoft softbox + Nikon 50mm F 1.8 + Tamron 28-75mm F 2.8 + Sigma 12-24mm F 4.5-5.6 + Sigma 70-200mm F 2.8 + Sigma 150-500 F 5-6.3 Manfrotto 190XPROB tripod+Manfrotto 3265 Joystick Head+Gorillapod SLR-Zoom+Crumpler 7 million dollar home bag+ Crumpler Karachi Outpost Backpack
http://www.kristymacleodphotography.com/

Guys this is my specialty I have a great idea...

Case: Antec 300
PSU: Corsair TX750
Motherboard: EVGA 750i FTW
CPU: Intel Q9450 or Q9550 (or low power version) If on a tighter budget then get a Q8xxx series
RAM: 4GB of just about anything DDR2 I reccomend OCZ Gold, Or corsair XMS2
GPU: I would go for an EVGA GTX260 because its great for photo editing a great card overall and its under $200 now
Hard Drives: I would go with 2 Western Digital 1TB or 640GB in RAID 1 for relability ( I have mine in RAID 1) I can also give you a step by step on a how to RAID
Optical Drive: Anthing really thats cheap like under $30 with 20x DVD-R
OS: Go Vista or Windows 7 RC1

That certainly seems like a nice setup, but i am afraid in the end, i ended up buying a Pre Built PC, with similar spec to that, although not quite as good!
From memory:

Q8200 @ 2.33Ghz
3GB @800Mhz
640GB HDD
ATI HD 3650

Maybe one day i might build myself an i7 rig, or the equivelent in a few years time

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Ed


Canon 40D + Grip | Sigma 10-20 EX | 17-85 | Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 EX II | 50 F/1.8 | 430 EX II + Other Stuff
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