Wanting To Buy A PC That's Good For Photo Editing

[kiwi68]

Hi
current PC is a bit on the slow side so would like to purchase a PC that that is very good for photo editing - budget of approx $1500 (no monitor).
Any recommendations/sites to visit would be much appreciated.

New Member

Kiwi68

[ameerat42]

Hi Kiwi68.

May we know what computer you already have (some specifications)?

Also, what camera are you using?

Am.

[Grant S]

Also what software do you intend to use for editing? What other uses do you need it for? i.e.; do you do any video/audio editing? Do you want to play 3D games etc? You can pick up a PC that runs very quick for just photo editing for much less than your budget so what else you use it for might have a bearing on what you need to pay. Why we need to know what sort of camera you have will have a bearing on the size of the images you are planning to edit. What peripherals are you using for editing? Do you have or want a editing tablet/penor or just a plain boring mouse and keyboard? What sort of monitor will you be running? DVI, HDMI, RGB? This will have a bearing on the video card outputs you need which may change the cost a bit.

Additionally do you plan to do large volume batch editing or large volume image stacking for macro or astro photography? These can eat processing power and memory so if you intend to do a fair amount of that sort of work you'll need to spec some grunt.

There are a lot of sites around and a quick bit of googling will give you some results. PC-Case Gear, MSY, D-Comp and GR-Tek are all pretty reliable suppliers that I've used in the past for parts and builds. Do you want to build your own or have it assembled for you? What sort of operating system do you want to use? Windows, Linux or Mac, which is just another sort of Linux ;)

As you can see there are a lot of variables so the more specific you get around what you are using it for makes it easier to make suggestions that will satisfy your needs.

[Kym]

Build your own...


Configure it using WP as a guide https://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/rmp_sg_whirlpoolpcs_multi_tasking_configs
Get MSY to supply the parts and do the build for $70 www.msy.com.au

[ricktas]

and add a hardware monitor calibration device into the costings, cause even if you do not need a monitor, you need to calibrate it.

[JJM]

I agree with Kym, get one custom built to your budget by a decent computer store or buy the components and build it yourself if you are confident.
MSY & Computer Alliance are a couple of stores you could get to supply and build. There are a number of other stores like Gocomp who you could get the parts from if you wanted to build it yourself.

Spec wise I'd look at

i5 or i7 processor
16GB RAM
Dedicated Graphics (2GB seems the norm these days)
250GB SSD Drive for Operating system and software
7200RPM SATA Hard drive for storage


I'd say you should be able to go well bellow your budget of $1,500 based on the last few builds I have done recently.

[kiwi68]

Hi
thanx for the reply,camera I have is a Lumix FZ1000
As for PC it was one that was made for me approx 3 yrs ago, have no brand name. Seems to have gone a lot slower the last few months
Am no expert with computers
RAM is A4 - -5300 with Radeon HD Graphics, RAM is 4GB, System Type 64 bit Operating System, Windows 7
PC was made by IT Australia

Cheers
Kiwi68


I did read that Laptops aren't so good for photo editing - new to all this but keen to give it a go.

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Hi
would be using Elements 13 at this stage, but will probably get something else as well. Only interested in using PC for photo/video editing, did read that Laptops weren't as good for for editing. At the moment I have Elements 13/Cyberlink Power Director 13
Camera is a LUMIX FZ1000
As for monitor hadn't given it any thought but a HDMI one would be fine.
Mouse/keyboard is fine.
No astro photography and a little bit of macro from time to time - bulk of photography will be landscape as travel overseas on a regular basis. Will also be some sports photography.
Had checked out PC-Case Gear but they recommended a gaming PC - will look at the others.
Won't be building as no expert when it comes to building one, nor will it be assembled as would know what to ask for.
Will be using Windows.
Your reply is much appreciated - thanx
Cheers
Kiwi68

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thanx for reppy, much appreciated

[ameerat42]

Well, thanks for that info. I checked the specs of your camera, and I reckon that computer - though you did not say what processor, but I suspect
a Core I5 or equivalent - should be more than capable of handling the tasks you indicate. You say it has slowed down of late. This happens for various
reasons, mostly because of demands on the CPU from increasingly installed programs and the fragmentation of the HHD.

I think a reorganisation of the OS and installed programs (and a registry clean) would go a long way to getting it back up to scratch.

I'm writing this on a laptop - my now main computer which I use for ALL my image processing. That's the output from a 15MPx camera. It has a 2.2GHz
Core I7 CPU and two SSDs. It also runs Win 8.1. That's just BTW if considering laptops for the task. Expect to pay in the $1500 ballpark for a such.

Lastly, STAY TUNED here for more technical replies from some of our savvy members (count me out).

Am.

[ricktas]

Install Glary Utilities, free download and give it a run on your computer, Do the one button check and let it repair everything it needs to. Then run the registry cleaner and registry defragment options that Glary offers and you might well be surprised how good your current computer will work after that.

[Grant S]

Looking at the spec as AM has said, you probably don't need a new PC. I'm assuming from what you've posted the Processor is an AMD A4 - -5300 with Radeon HD Graphics which has more than enough grunt for photo and video, unless of course you are getting into high end stuff, such as >20 image stacks or high end video rendering (Talking about full HD or 4K feature length movie stuff here). I'd get someone to take a look at your motherboard spec and you might be better off with a RAM upgrade to 8 or 16MB if you are looking for a cheap speed boost. I'd also run some utilities like Glary or CCleaner to get rid of any junk that might be hanging about causing your PC to slow down.

[Mark L]

Install Glary Utilities, free download and give it a run on your computer, Do the one button check and let it repair everything it needs to. Then run the registry cleaner and registry defragment options that Glary offers and you might well be surprised how good your current computer will work after that.
Rick beat me two it, so I'll provide the link ..... http://www.glarysoft.com/glary-utilities/

[kiwi68]

thanx, will do so

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thanx for your help, will follow up on your advice

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thanx, much appreciated

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thanx for the tip