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I built my own pc...about 10 yrs ago !

WinXP 5.1 build 2600
AMD 64 3000 MMX 1.8GHz
3072mb RAM
DirectX9.0

NVIDEA GeForce 8800GT
512mb


However in looking at purchasing Adobe Lightroom 4 and possibly upgrading Photoshop from elements to PS5/6 im gonna need Win7.

To do this im thinking its time to upgrade the pc but rather than buy the components and fiddle it about like i have done in the past i intend to buy a bare bones box with OEM win 7 installed - this should upgrade my operating system and my motherboard, RAMM, base HDD.

This seems to be the most cost effective route to upgrading and i reckon i can do this for under £400 (NZD $800) ?

What do you think of the following spec for running typical photo processing software.
(Adobe suite, PS/LR, photomatix etc)

My monitor and peripherals are all fine.


AMD A6-3500 Liano 2.4GHz Triple-Core Desktop APU with DirectX 11 Graphic AMD Radeon HD 6530D
Asus F1A55-M AMD Micro ATX Motherboard
4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory
Single AMD Radeon HD 6450 1GB DDR3 Graphics Card
Playtech Approved 420W Power Supply
Integrated 8 Channel Audio support
500GB SATA 6Gb/s 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 3.5" Hard Drive
24x Dual Layer SATA DVD Rewriter
Genuine Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit Preloaded
Microsoft Security Essentials Preloaded with Operating System


Dimensions: H390 x W180 x D360mm
Front Connections: 1x Audio, 1x Mic, 2x USB2.0
Rear Connections: 1x DVI, 1x D-Sub, 1x HDMI, 1x LAN, 2x USB3.0, 4x USB2.0, 1x Optical S/PDIF out, 6x Audio jack(s)
Windows Live Essentials 2011 Pack, Adobe PDF Reader and Nero Burning Software included when OS is Preloaded.

Estimate Assembly Time: 2 - 3 Working Days


A second question ....Do i go for 32 bit or 64 bit ???

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Canon 550D, Canon EFS 17-85 IS USM, Canon EF 75-300 IS USM, Canon EFS 10-22mm USM, Canon EF35mm F2.

Got some of the gear but really still no idea...

Hi.
I'm not the least bit techie, so can't help you directly, hence a thread I started a couple of months ago viewtopic.php?f=34&t=29835 asking for help. There might be a few pointers on there, if you don't get a direct reply on here?

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Nikon D700 & D7100 bodies + Nikkor 300mm F2.8 VR11, 1.7TC, 50mm F1.4G, 16-35mm f/4G VR, 105 F2.8 VR macro, 70-300mm lenses. A couple of filters, Giotto tripod & ballhead. Lowepro Slingshot 302 AW

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldcarlos/

Nowadays, I'd say go for Windows 64-bit unless you know of a specific must-have application or device that wont run on it. Generally speaking, that might be an ancient piece of hardware that doesn't have a 64-bit driver.

As for the rest of the spec, more never hurt but are you working on a tight budget? I'd suggest 8GB of ram since 4GB is not hard to fill these days, and the incremental cost is minor.

On the graphics card, it looks like the CPU has one built in, so the external one may not be necessary unless you want more performance. Further to that, check if any of your software can make use of GPU acceleration, and if so, which types are supported. For example, some of my software will only make use of nvidia only, so that could swing the choice.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Definitely go for 64 bit, RAM's so cheap these days that it's a waste not to. This RAM kit is highly rated on Newegg, and comes in at only $85 for 16 GB. With photo editing suites, it's generally important to have the most RAM possible, so don't skimp in that regard.

I myself am building a new machine, and I'm torn on the CPU, but I can tell you that if you want maxiimum performance an i5 or i7 Ivy Bridge would be the best choice. They're quite a bit more pricey than the AMDs, but if you want no-compromise performance they're the way to go.

You should also consider a SSD to install the OS and all of your software onto, it makes a big performance difference.

Obviously this will bring the cost up quite a bit, but I'd say it's worth it. Swap out the 4GB for 16GB and change out the AMD for an i5, and the performance difference will be substantial.

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-Evan

Gear: 7 Nikon Nikkor AI-S and AF-S lenses, SB-700 flash, Nikon D7000, Nikon FM, variety of accessories

"There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs."
- Ansel Adams

hi
well i threw as much cash as i could muster at it and in the end went for

AMD true quad core processor + new motherboard - as opposed to the triple/dual
16gb ram
new 550gb HDD
new 500 watt psu

I know the AMD isnt as high a performer as the intel series but its still pretty sweet.
I kept my old nvidia 8800 GT card and run two monitors on DVI with super HD graphics as this out performs the on-chip radeon graphics.

put win 7 on it (64bit version) and cleaned up my old sata HDD and piggy backed those as storage drives to the new hdd..which just holds the OS and installed programs.

Currently installing lightroom and CS 6

multi tasking and multi screen is awesome.

also i love the aero interface of Win7

only gripe so far - i hate with a passion...the default folder icon in win 7 !!!! ggrrrrr

so if anyone has a folder icon i could adopt that would be great...i am currently trawling the internet for an alternative.

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Canon 550D, Canon EFS 17-85 IS USM, Canon EF 75-300 IS USM, Canon EFS 10-22mm USM, Canon EF35mm F2.

Got some of the gear but really still no idea...