Help needed. It's time for a new pc

[DigitalPhotography]

I will probably buy a Dell Dimesion desktop I have have used one at work for years and like it. What I like to know is what processor speed, RAM and graphic card memory would you suggest I need to run Adobe PS2, Bibble or Nikon Capture without having to experience hiccups (extreme processing slowdown or lockups)? The machine will also have the standard MS programs, McAfee suite of products for internet security and QImage.

Your suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[jfrancho]

So, price is no issue? A top end $$$ amount will dictate the configuration. At a minimum, 1 GB RAM, as fast a processor as you can afford, the fastest FSB you can afford. I'd look to a network storage device rather than tons of harddrive space. 250 - 500 GB should be fine with a anther 2-3 TB external.

[jfrancho]

Look at the Precision series, much better stuff. Here's one I cam up with, it's a "stripped down" unit:
Dell Precision 380
Intel® Pentium® 4 630, 3.0GHz/800MHz/2MB L2 cache, HT edit
Chassis Configuration
Tower - Optical drives mounted horizontally in Mini-Tower orientation edit
Operating System
Genuine Windows® XP Professional, SP2 with Media edit
Graphics Card
128MB PCIe x16 ATI FireGL V3100, Dual Monitor VGA or DVI/VGA Capable edit
File System
NTFS File System edit
Intel Hyper-Threading
Hyper-Threading feature preset to ON Can be disabled/enabled in BIOS edit
Memory
1GB, 533MHz, DDR2 SDRAM Memory, NECC, (4 DIMMS) edit
STORAGE AND DRIVES
Hard Drive Configuration
C1 All SATA drives, Non-RAID, 1 drive total configuration edit
Hard Drive Internal Controller Option
None edit
Boot Hard Drive
500GB SATA 3.0Gb/s with NCQ and 16MB DataBurst Cache™ w/out RAID
CD-ROM, DVD, and Read-Write Devices
16XDVD AND 16XDVD+/-RW w/Roxio Creator Dell Ed, DVDit! SE,CyberLinkPowerDVD

$1300.

[Blinky]

John's right, the Precisions are excellent machines. I'm using 3 Dell Precision Workstations that I bought in 2001 and they are still good performers after five years of full-time use... I do a lot of image editing on one of them, routinely working with 130MB files. I'd like to have more RAM in them but otherwise I see no need to replace them anytime soon.
Both of the Dimemsion computers we bought at the same time have had hard disk failures and one has lost a graphics card twice... they're the kid's computers now.

There is no substitute for RAM... get 2GB... or more.

Chip

[metalstorm]

Originally Posted by DigitalPhotography

I will probably buy a Dell Dimesion desktop I have have used one at work for years and like it.* What I like to know is what processor speed, RAM and graphic card memory would you suggest I need to run Adobe PS2, Bibble or Nikon Capture without having to experience hiccups (extreme processing slowdown or lockups)?* The machine will also have the standard MS programs, McAfee suite of products for internet security and QImage.

Your suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

If I were buying now I would be getting the ConroeCore2 processor and not deal with any P4 or current dual cores. The Core2s have been proven to stomp anything that stands in their way so far.

[dc2]

I have a Dell so would also like to make one suggestion make sure you get the invoice emailed to you before you agree to buy.
I say this as its what I did and the invoice was not as agreed [or as good ]
I phoned them back and got them to resend it corrected.

[DigitalPhotography]

I have a budget of $2,100 to work with. *I will look at the Precision series.

[DigitalPhotography]

Originally Posted by dc2

I have a Dell so would also like to make one suggestion make sure you get the invoice emailed to you before you agree to buy.
I say this as its what I did and the invoice was not as agreed [or as good ]
I phoned them back and got them to resend it corrected.

Good idea. Thanks!

[jfrancho]

Originally Posted by DigitalPhotography

I have a budget of $2,100 to work with. I will look at the Precision series.

That'll leave a ton of money for a really decent mid level LCD. Don't forget the hardware/software calibration bundle. I got an Alienware dual core 3.6 Ghz, 4 GB RAM, 2x250 GB HDD (set to RAID 1), various other monster specs...for about $2400 with a $700 rebate. You should be able to do pretty well with that budget. Remember, if it's purely imaging power, skip the bells and whistles, a simple DVD-RW, sound, video is all you need. Those items can really drive the price upwards. One last tip, whatever you end up getting, look for good USB ports on the front of the case - these come in handy for card readers, remote camera capture, Wacom tablets, thumbdrives, etc.