Gaming Need help with parts for first PC build.

[tajio]

Hello tempers,

So for my birthday I'm planning on buying computer parts to build my own custom PC. I'll want to use it for Graphic designing (Photoshop CS5, Illustrator CS5 etc...) and also to watch movies (HD content), listen to music etc... I'll want to multi-task eg; Firefox + Photoshop + MSN + Windows Media + Something.

Problem is my budget is £300 ...

I'm 17 and that is what I only have at the moment.

I have a monitor and accessories, just need the actual computer.

The OS I'm planning on using is Windows 7 Professional because I'll be getting a legal copy for free as I'm a student.

I'm hoping for 2gb or 4gb ram as I'm on a £300 budget.

Anyone recommend a cheap site with parts (based in the UK). I was thinking of www.ebuyer.com ...

Thanks

 

[Scorpei]

Okay there will be lots of suggestions below here I guess. However what you are describing isn't really multitasking, you won't be doing all those things at once. Also as you are stating no gameing use, you can easily get a nice PC for that money. OH btw, grafics designing, depending on what you will really be doing, you might want to look into a REAL monitor that matches real life colours and such

.

 

[tajio]

Okay there will be lots of suggestions below here I guess. However what you are describing isn't really multitasking, you won't be doing all those things at once. Also as you are stating no gameing use, you can easily get a nice PC for that money. OH btw, grafics designing, depending on what you will really be doing, you might want to look into a REAL monitor that matches real life colours and such

.

Already have 22" HD moniter

. I want to build my own PC but I recently found this >>> LINK Should I get this? Or can I build a better one for less?

EDIT: I might use the computer for, say like, 10 - 15 hours day ... would I need couple of more fans?

 

[Scorpei]

You completely missed my point on the real monitor, but you might have a proper 22 inch screen of course. Anyway, that PC isn't that bad. Really ugly case if you ask me, you can btw count up the numbers yourself to see if you can buy a better one cheaper (he pretty much gives you all the specs). Personally not a fan of ECS btw. I do have one ECS running right now but that is because I found it rather then bought it and I'm not gonna invest in an x2 5000+ 1 gig ram box as long as the motherboard still functions (or in general really).

Extra fans shouldn't be needed

 

[Originality]

I won't comment on the rest of it, but I can at least recommend a site that I find better than eBuyer - Scan.co.uk. Overclockers, Novatech, Lambdatech and Dabs are also good if you're hunting for prices, although beware about dabs - they may just be another front for the BT shop, but their product descriptions aren't always adequate. Still a good place to look though. I also tend to use those sites as references when trying to get a good deal out of the local Computer Fair. A lil bit of negotiation tends to save me £30-100 any time I try for a full system.

Graphic design work tends to need a lot of memory, so definitely get 4GB of RAM, if not 6. You'll also want to look for a nVidia graphics card with as much memory as you can afford, especially if you're working with bigger pictures. Otherwise, you'll find the system crawling. CPU strength doesn't do much for graphic design, so AMD CPUs are the best choice - lower power, but low cost.

You might want to consider getting a motherboard with built in graphics and saving up until you can afford a real graphics card, since that's what's going to do all the work for you. You might also want to think about looking into graphics tablets, since they're much better to work with than a mouse.

My final words... a £500 budget is much more sensible for a graphics workstation, or at least if the workload is anything like how it was in Richmond College. By going for a budget system, you will feel the system struggling to cope with bigger pictures or more complicated designs, especially in the later versions of Photoshop.

 

[tajio]

Thanks. I guess I'll just get the one on ebay but I'll see if I can find the parts seperatly and build it on my own. Thanks for the site suggestions originality.

 

[Joe88]

the one you linked too is pretty decent
it will fit your needs

 

[playallday]

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