Need recommendations for possible new desktop

Camera Fun

Senior Member
Our desktop (which is around 7 years old) is really showing it's age so we are considering replacing it. What options would you suggest (brand, speed, storage, memory, etc.)? I may very well subsequently go to photoshop/lightroom also as view nx2 has become problematic. We also use the desktop for a lot of internet, email, word processing, etc. Not gamers so that's not an issue.
 

nikonpup

Senior Member

I went with a Dell 5675 (gamer) win 10 512 SSD 3.2 GIGAHERTZ 32 GB MEMORY
8 TB EXTERNAL HD. I figured more is better, image processing software is not getting any smaller, camera memory is larger so...
 

Andy W

Senior Member
Try to get one with a solid state drive (SSD). That made a huge difference in performance when using Lightroom.
 

Bengan

Senior Member
Brand is less important. Get one with at least 16GB of RAM, SSD and a separate graphics card. Like Nikonpup suggests, going for a gaming rig is not a bad idea. Graphics is graphics. If you're buying a new screen as well, put a little extra money in to that. A good screen makes all the difference.
 

nikonpup

Senior Member
​graphics card 4 gb - monitor dell 32" my old eyes really like the large monitor, easier now to see the lightroom info on screen.
 

wade7575

Senior Member
I fix and build PC's as a side thing and from what I have found for performance and longevity ASUS is the best your going to find.

I don't know if you have the skill's to build a PC and that's what I have done for my last 3 PC's and you can get a better and much faster PC,I know when I was first looking for a friend 2 years ago who wanted a factory made fast PC ended up getting me to build him one with better component's and it had a much faster CPU and better graphic's card and ram with lifetime warranty 1200.00 and the PC that he wanted that was slower costed 2600.00

If you have the skill's to build a tower but are not sure what CPU or motherboard to get and stuff like that send me a PM and I'll make you a list of stuff to get,also if you can find an ASUS already tower and it does not have an SSD look at the SamSung or Sandisk SSD's you can go wrong with either of their high end model's.

Be careful on what brand you buy and I'm going to mention names but some of the biggest maker's of PC's also make low end model's witch are crap.
 
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Camera Fun

Senior Member
Definitely not someone who can build my own; that would be a scary endeavor. Based on the replies, my initial plan is to look at a gaming computer with 32mb of ram, an SSD, separate graphics card. Need to do some more on-line & local shopping; and recover from Christmas spending. Some better weather (no snow, ice, or bitter cold) would be nice for store shopping I also want a newer & larger monitor but I can live with our current monitor for a while.
 

wade7575

Senior Member
I was going to mention that as well about the 32gb of ram and that is you can be certain you will not need 32gb of ram 16gb should be plenty,the biggest thing's you need to be concerned with are getting a system with a SSD and for a CPU if you want real speed look at an i7 quad core or even a 6 core.

I know a lot of people who own Lenovo towers and really like them and they are built fairly well and they don't give you to many problems,look at the tower the in the link although it only has 8gb of ram they are still well priced even if you got a 2 8gb sticks of ram to replace the what's already in the tower it would still be a good deal seeing it's a 6 core i7,I would purchase new ram for it rather then leaving the stock ram that's in it and adding more,sometimes different brands conflict with each other and most times they do not but it does happen.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAE4N7ZV9371&ignorebbr=1
 
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Camera Fun

Senior Member
Got the computer. We've had good luck with Dell and Dell had some Presidents' Day specials so we picked an option and modified it for our needs and budget. Got an XPS 8930, went ahead and upgraded to 32GB (wanted to ensure that it would serve us for years with my photography, my wife's music files/downloads, etc.), 512GB SSD and 1TB HD, 4GB graphics. Got a 27 inch Benq monitor from Staples. After a quirky issue with getting Office Home and Business 2019 up and going (Dell support is awesome and they even worked with Microsoft), we need to start getting files copied to it from our external hard drive. Now I need to look at Lightroom/Photoshop; figured it's time to make the change from the old Nikon software. Feel like we've gone from a poor running model T to a high performance Cadillac. Our previous computer was even locking up more often since my original post; but lasting 7 years through us and 2 kids is pretty good.
 
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