New PC build for web designer, thoughts please

[badstar82]

If you get to 25 posts here on hexus you will qualify for free delivery to

wow, that's pretty good! I want to get it all pretty soon though so doubt i'll make 25

Thanks for the info anyway!

[badstar82]

The today only offers on scan look good, picked these out. less cost than my original choices from ebuyer but is it better or worse? are the western digital drives pretty quiet? thats one of my main criteria.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750, S775, 2.66 GHz, 1333MHz FSB, Conroe Core, 4MB Cache, Retail - £110.44
Abit IP-35E, iP35 Express, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 667/800, SATA II, ATX - £59.34
2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-5400 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12 - £27.01
256MB Asus 7300GT PCI-Ex16 Silent Mem 800MHz GPU 400MHz 8Pipes D-Sub/DVI-I/S-Video Passive Cooling - £29.36
160 Gb Western Digital WD1600AAJS Caviar SE, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 8MB Cache, 9 ms - £29.36
Samsung SH-S203/BEBN 20x DVD±R, 16x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, SATA, Black, OEM inc. Nero + 5 Pack Mi - £16.44

TOTAL £279.12 (inc VAT / delivery)

[Thorsson]

The latest WD drives are pretty quiet, can't vouch for older ones.

[staffsMike]

I have the AAJS in "my system". Not silent but pretty quiet. The AAKS is silent when used in something like the antec P182.

[MSIC]

Modern hard drives (ie within the past year to 18 months) are quite remarkedly quieter than drives from 3 - 4 years ago, and i'm not just talking about drives that have worn out. Samsung and Seagate used to be particularly the ones to look out for regarding noise (ie were good) but Western Dig and to a lesser extend Hitachi have also followed suit now.

Still, within that there is still one thing that can make any drive noisier, and that's more platters (physical spinny thing). Thanks to the wonders of modern shrinkage, you can now buy a 250GB drive with one platter (can't find the link now sorry). Or 500GB over 2 platters .... etc
I'd personally avoid the largest capacity hard drives because a) they cost alot more per gig and b) they have the most physical platters in, so are noisier and hotter.

Read more

[badstar82]

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750, S775, 2.66 GHz, 1333MHz FSB, Conroe Core, 4MB Cache, Retail - £110.44
Abit IP-35E, iP35 Express, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 667/800, SATA II, ATX - £59.34
2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-5400 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12 - £27.01
256MB Asus 7300GT PCI-Ex16 Silent Mem 800MHz GPU 400MHz 8Pipes D-Sub/DVI-I/S-Video Passive Cooling - £29.36
160 Gb Western Digital WD1600AAJS Caviar SE, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 8MB Cache, 9 ms - £29.36
Samsung SH-S203/BEBN 20x DVD±R, 16x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, SATA, Black, OEM inc. Nero + 5 Pack Mi - £16.44

Any good?

[staffsMike]

That looks good

If the pc will be used for any HD media playback then something like the Ati 2400pro or Nvidia 8400GS would be better choices for your graphics card and they fall into the same price bracket.

[dancingmatt]

Speaking as a graphic designer...

...you're going to need a monitor on that list

And if you're planning to use the one you've got in your "My System", a 15" TFT will not be very helpful with running lots of applications, or even one web application and its multiple palettes, page views, site map, etc.

I think you need to budget for a better screen, and then a 2nd one. If you've never used 2 screens, you will be really surprised how incredible useful a 2nd one is.

If you're doing lots and lots of video then by all means get Quad and 4GB on RAM, but even if you're just doing a little bit for online viewing and no heavy editing of hours and hours of footage then you just won't need it. I'd get a good value Core 2 Duo not Quad, and 2GB RAM - look in the Current Bargains thread, there's some fantastic GeIL 2GB DDR2-800 going for about £35 from Overclockers (and some people will tell you to avoid buying from them but I've never had any problems and bought the same stuff from them for £130 last year).

SCREENS!

And presumably you've got or separately budgeted for software?

DM

EDIT - Should've said I appreciate that getting a new monitor (or 2) isn't going to fit in your budget of £300. I just wanted to mention that if you haven't used (m)any graphic design applications, you're going to wish you had more room on screen than a 15" TFT. So if you can't afford it now, fair enough - and the spec you've posted above looks good - but you will probably want to consider budgeting for a new display in future... and of course you could use it alongside the one you have...

[badstar82]

You're right about the monitor, it's a nightmare using programs like flash / dreamweaver on a 15" screen. I've used dual screens at Uni and they do make life easier for sure.

I was planning on upgrading in 2 stages. First I need a new PC but have a rough budget of £300. Once that's built and up and running i'm going to sell the parts on my existing PC to raise the money for a new monitor. Should get around £100+ on eBay so a good bit towards a new screen.

For a monitor I was thinking of a 19" widescreen but havn't looked that far into it yet. dont want anything too big as i have limited space in my room!

[MSIC]

I used to advise 19" widescreen monitors, but check out Scan's absolutely stupid price on an LG 20" widescreen (1680 x 1050 resolution)
Today only £122.
Now, you can argue specs all you like (and arguably never get the cheapest possible) but it's a baseline to work from. a 20" resolution is significantly better than a 19" resolution.