Ok, I am trying to spec up a new pc for my dad. He is a photographer and finding his computer is getting a little bit too slow. So I'm looking at about the 4gb mark for ram, and going to suggest the q6600 (it seems daft not to!) I've never built an Intel system before and looking at the motherboards I'm slightly wary. There seem to be plenty of socket775 boards for 20 or 30 quid so I'm wandering what the board needs on there (chipset version?) to work with a Q6600. Now the main part is that it doesn't need any frills. This is a work machine, that will not be overclocked, it will not be used for games (onboard graphics a plus although must have two outputs), and fancy audio is not important. Neither is dual/gig lan or wireless needed. So what I'm basically asking is what is the right chipset and what is the cheapest/most bog standard board that is in that range. Thanks Nick
this board here (Asus board, iG31 chipset, 52£ inc) might be a good choice, or the gigabyte here with the iG33 chipset for 62£... generally your looking to get a p35, g33, ig31, ig33, 965 or 975 chipset from intel or a via p4m900. p35, iG33, p33, 965 should be the first choice though. also i'd suggest you drop the idea of using integrated graphics and atleast get a cheap graphicscard, even the ultra cheapest cr*p gpu will be better off than a integrated one.
You may want to think of what software you are using for photo processing. Some makes full use of quad cores, hence it is worth getting a quad. However most software does not, in which case may I suggest a E6750. You are right about the 4Gb of ram, you may need it for photo processing. Make sure you use x64 OS. I like the Gigabyte P35 and G33 motherboards, they will work with the Quads and the new dual cores E6x50's. Older boards like 945/965 will not work with E6x50. I just picked up a G33 for £60 for a file server, very nice... I agree with the other post. Drop the intergrated graphics and get a OK graphics card with dual DVI. I will make some difference if you are using Vista. Hope this helps.
Brilliant. Thats a great help. It has also helped me find a page listing all of those with dates and features. Will probably go for the gigabyte with the ig33 due to the 4 ram slots. a 4gb quad core machine for £350?! madness!
Darkone, Well, its mainly photoshop, some automating/batch/manipulating software that I have written, and dvd authoring of slide shows. He spends a lot of the time waiting for different applications to resize/reprofile/reencode. Being able to do more at once is a definate bonus and multiple applications are usually on the go. We already have a copy of 64bit vista for him and will most likely be getting a seperate graphics card. From what I've seen and the price of it, it seems daft not to go for quad core, especially when we aren't on that tight a budget. Cheers
Consider this as essential if you are going for a "colour managed workflow". I have never had a lot of success calibrating systems with on board graphics, always had better results with separate graphics cards.
