[dmfw]

Search for "barebones pc" on Amazon. You can get a Shuttle unit for under $200.

Also consider a local PC builder.

[joebob]

NewEgg also provides reviews from users including configurations of their equipment. It was very helpful in steering me away from problem motherboards and hard drives.

[photolady95]

Shuttle units don't leave much room for upgrading because of their small cases.

Reviews on newegg should sometimes be taken with a grain of salt, as some review givers aren't computer literate enough to give a good review of the product in question.

[Colbyt]

With a 5 year old machine I would have to ask:
is the hard drive SATA or IDE?
Vid card is PCI? or AGP? both are a little out of date for a new board.
Memory is most likely DDR and that is not going to work with a new board.

Chance are with a 5 year old system the mouse, monitor and keyboard are about the only reusable parts.

I type this on my 1984 IBM keyboard. I keep it for the quality and I love the key clicks.

[cats_five]

Chance are with a 5 year old system the mouse, monitor and keyboard are about the only reusable parts.

And the CD burner - maybe.

CPUs and their sockets have moved on, so has RAM, video cards are PCI express rather than AGP (and there were several flavours of AGP), HDDs are usually SATA these days (and faster and bigger) so that tends to leave you needed a new motherboard, CPU, cooler, memory, video card (if you don't use a built-in one) and usually a new HDD as well, plus the power supply might not have the right plugs on...

BTW the build-in video card in my Abit motherboard is more than adequate for web surfing, Photoshop and office applications.

On the plus side a bargain basement modern PC, so long as it has enough RAM, will easily out-perform most 5yo PCs for most tasks - I hesitate over a dedicated gaming machines as it's outwith my experience, but suspect a modern entry-level PC will do as well as a 5yo one.

[Aknot]

@Photolady
Thanks, I think in the past it was more evident on the page that they had barebones. I hadnt been there in a bit.

@Cats5 & Joebob,
Do you know the Motherboard and chipset for the video card? Thats good to hear that onboard video can churn out enough umph to do photo editing.

After a little reading I was incorrect. Apparently the order is:

• Fast (but not super-fast) CPU
• Lots of RAM
• Plenty of storage
• Fast storage
• Ability to burn CDs/DVDs/Blu-ray

Some of the sites I have read suggest a 1gig Video card for photo editing. In reading around I wouldnt even go above 500.

Dual core then Quad core processor being the first thing. RAM and more RAM being the second thing then storage.

Being the computer nut I am I would KEEP the old machine (clean it up) and make it a network storage device.

I think the issue you are going to run into is the RAM. I think 4 gig should get you by. If so I think you are good. (dont forget to utilize that 4gig you need a 64 bit OS)

Its a lot to crunch I know. In building all of my machines I always second guess myself, hem and haw, etc.

Have you given any thought of cleaning the old machine up? I dont think you really mentioned the issues you have with the machine. You say its dying yet that could mean a few things in computer speak.

A complete wipe and reinstall plus a stick or two more of ram may just be all you need. (possibly a new OS depending on the RAM/CPU)

[photolady95]

You say its dying yet that could mean a few things in computer speak.

Arknot is correct. It's pretty hard to kill a CPU, that's the processor inside on the motherboard. It could be you have a dying hardrive which is easily fixed by buying a new harddrive, or if a ram stick is bad it would give you BSODs (blue screen of death) and testing ram there are a couple of ram testers around that would verify the ram is bad or not. I'd check these things before condemning your old computer.

What's the model number and name on your present computer?

[cats_five]

@Cats5
Do you know the Motherboard and chipset for the video card? Thats good to hear that onboard video can churn out enough umph to do photo editing.

Motherboard is an Gigabyte GA-MA770-DS3 (Socket AM2 / AM2+)
Build-in video chipset is ATI Radeon HD 3200
CPU is a Phenom 9750 quad-core.
4GB RAM - can't remember what exact spec but it middle-of-the-road when I brought it.
Two SATA Samsung Spinpoint HDDs
Windows Pro x64

Most of the hardware is now obsolete, yet it's only a couple of years (or so it seems) since I last rebuilt it.

IMHO photo editing isn't very much work for the graphics card, though AFAIK video editing is. Lots of RAM is a must though, hence I've got an x64 OS so I can add more if necessary.

[photolady95]

Since that motherboard supports and has a PCI-e slot, I'd add a standalone Video card. I'd also get rid of Windows XP x64 and get Windows 7 x64 instead. XP x64 never was very good. You could also replace the cpu if you think you need it. That board supports AMD Phenom II X4 940 3000MHz. But in my opinion getting rid of the onboard video (because it uses part of your RAM) you'd probably see a difference in how it runs.

To test your ram/memory and harddrive, download and burn this .iso to a cd and run it. It has all the utilities you need for testing hardware:

UBCD

[joebob]

Mine is an Intel DG41TY with an E5300 Dual Core CPU. The onboard video is Intel G41. I also got a Samsung Spinpoint SATA drive, a case and power supply. You can look it up here. Support for the Intel Desktop Board DG41TY
While none of this is obsolete, some is on it's way out. There are likely better boards with better onboard graphics (and sound) available.

This is my 3rd Intel mb in 10 years. Intel is boring. There are no bells or whistles compared to many other mbs. But Intel is stable and bullet-proof. All 3 systems are still working fine with a mix of Windows and Linux.

[cats_five]

Since that motherboard supports and has a PCI-e slot, I'd add a standalone Video card. I'd also get rid of Windows XP x64 and get Windows 7 x64 instead. XP x64 never was very good. You could also replace the cpu if you think you need it. That board supports AMD Phenom II X4 940 3000MHz. But in my opinion getting rid of the onboard video (because it uses part of your RAM) you'd probably see a difference in how it runs.

Not quite sure who you are replying to - if me (the post just above) then it has Windows 7 Pro - I missed the 7 out - and everything else works more than well enough including the inbuild video card. And I would prefer to spend money (if I was going to which I'm not) on more RAM, not a video card.

[Deiberson]

Here's what I got....will this suffice? I'm only worried about the video card. It was suggested that I go to a 5000 or 6000 series. Will the 4200 drive the system with K5 raw files, photoshop and lightroom?

# VISION Premium Technology by AMD
For every detail to jump right off the screen when you're viewing high-definition movies and videos, playing games, converting MP3 tracks or video chatting online.
# AMD Phenom™ II quad-core processor 840T*
True multicore processing for extreme multitasking performance. Cool'n'Quiet™ 3.0 and CoolCore™ technologies and Dual Dynamic Power Management™ for efficient energy usage.
# Direct Connect Architecture
Delivers overall system performance. HyperTransport™ technology, AMD Balanced Smart Cache and AMD Wide Floating Point Accelerator for quick access times and improved performance.
# AMD Memory Optimizer Technology
For multithreaded software performance, and AMD Virtualization with Rapid Virtualization Indexing to help virtualization software run securely and efficiently.
# 8GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM
For multitasking power, expandable to 16GB.
# Multiformat DVD±RW/CD-RW drive with double-layer support
Records up to 8.5GB of data or 4 hours of video using compatible media. Also supports DVD-RAM and LightScribe direct-disc labels using compatible LightScribe media.
# 2MB L2 + 6MB shared L3 cache memory
For efficient system processing.
# 1TB Serial ATA hard drive (7200 rpm)
Offers spacious storage and fast read/write times.
# ATI Radeon HD 4200 graphics
For lush images.
# 15-in-1 media reader
Supports SmartMedia, xD-Picture Card, Secure Digital, miniSD, CompactFlash I/II, Microdrive, MultiMediaCard, Reduced-Size MultiMediaCard, MultiMediaCard mobile and MultiMediaCard Plus formats.
# Also supports Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick PRO Duo formats.
# 6 high-speed USB 2.0 ports
For fast digital data transfer and easy peripheral connectivity.
# Built-in 10/100Base-T networking interface
For a quick and easy wired Web connection.
# Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit operating system preinstalled
Provides a stable platform for word processing, Web navigation, gaming, media storage and more.
# Software package included
With Cyberlink DVD Suite Deluxe, HP MediaSmart Software Suite and more. Also includes Microsoft Office Starter 2010 (product key card required for activation; sold separately).
# AMD, AMD Arrow logo, AMD Phenom, Cool'n'Quiet, HyperTransport and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

[Aknot]

Here's what I got....will this suffice? I'm only worried about the video card. It was suggested that I go to a 5000 or 6000 series. Will the 4200 drive the system with K5 raw files, photoshop and lightroom?

From what I have understood the Video card is not as important as the CPU and Memory.

IMHO that should be just fine. What you can do is double check and make sure you can if you want upgrade the video card at a later date.

Reason being I can tell you right now it will almost 99% be faster then what you have and right of the box you will love it....

Then in about 6 months you are going to start to question the speed. Not for any particular reasons.... However the machine will slow. Especially if you dont take care of it and keep it tuned.

However if thats sub $500 and all you are doing is light office work and photoshop I dont see an issue. What version of PS?

[Aknot]

hmmmmm

"like the Radeon HD 4200 that can cause even the fastest CPUs to choke and stall."

You may want to bump up that video card if it is in your price range.....

Or wait for someone else to chime in.

[reeftool]

Recent onboard graphics on new motherboards are more than enough to handle photo editing and just about anything else with the exception of some high end games. The direction of the industry is towards integrated graphics and soon, the graphics card will become a thing of the past. One can easily upgrade an older tower for a couple of hundred bucks if you already have some components like a hard drive and dvd drive. As long as your case will accept an ATX or micro ATX board, then a new motherboard, processor, memory, and an OEM version of WIndows. If your old power supply isn't up to snuff, maybe an upgrade for that is a good idea. Newegg runs some pretty good daily deals. Get on their email list. Just today there are decent deals like 4 gig memory for $44, several mobo's under $100, and deals on AMD processors. I upgraded my last tower in December with just about everything for under $400. There are some awful good deals on new towers right now for under $500 too.