I've Never built before, should I? - $1k Photoshop

[Abouna2]

Well my aging Dell 8400 is acting up. I had planned on a new system anyhow, but this has me on the fast track.

My first question is whether I should really be considering a home built. I'm very tech savvy but have never done a build and am a bit apprehensive about it (I'll need a very clear step-by-step). Should it even be considered in this price range? Should I just simply go the pre-built route?

I just don't know.


APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: sooner the better!

BUDGET RANGE: $800-1000

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Photo Editing mostly. NO GAMING. Very good sound card a must.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: I only need the computer itself. All peripherals will be reused.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Not picky

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: I'm in the US, or is this asking about the parts origin? In which case I don't care.

PARTS PREFERENCES: None

OVERCLOCKING: No

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1200

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Quiet would be nice. Mostly I'm just looking for very fast photo processing. Don;t care about bling. Care more about room in the case! I think I'd also like to try dual boot XP/Win7 for some of my legacy software.

 

[phibaman]

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: monitor, keyboard/mouse

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg, tiger direct, amazon.

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA (california)

PARTS PREFERENCES: CPU Intel i5 750. Asus motherboard. ATI or Nvdiagraphics. Western Digital hard drive.

OVERCLOCKING: No

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1200

I am in the same situation as Abouna2. My laptop just gave up and i am considering building a new pc for $800 - $1K. I have never built a pc either but I should be tech savy enough to figure it out. What kind of tutorial would I need to review to build system to can do some minor web development work (PS and Dreamweaver) and gaming (Starcraf2, MW2, Etc).

I ran across this at tiger direct and wondering if it is a good deal.

Asus P7P55D Pro Motherboard and Intel Core i5 750 Processor and Corsair Dominator PC12800 RAM Bundle

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5550834&CatId=4139

If so, what kind of case, cooler fan, heatsink, hard drive, graphics card, etc. would you recommend.

Please advise. Any suggestions is highly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[cadder]

For photo editing you don't need a very powerful computer. You need a lot of ram but only average as far as cpu power. You can buy a pre-built computer with these qualities for as cheap or cheaper than you can build one.

You should build your own, IF:
1. you are interested in doing it as a hobby.
2. you want better quality parts than what the manufacturers use.
3. you want performance qualities that pre-builts don't offer.

(To some extent I can answer yes to all 3 of these.)