Build a Computer for Photo Editing
If you are into photo editing and other processor-intensive activities, you may find that the computers for sale at your local big box store are simply not up to the task. One of the best ways to get what you need at a price you can afford is to build your own PC from the ground up. By choosing the best components you can afford, you will be able to create a computer that excels at photo editing and other high-end tasks.
Instructions
1. Choose the case design that best suits your needs. There are a number of PC cases on the market, from slimline cases that will fit just about anywhere to large tower cases capable of holding multiple hard drives, optical drives and other pieces of hardware.
2. Select a motherboard that will fit the case design you have chosen, and make sure the motherboard comes equipped with a fast processor. Photo editing is a processor-intensive task, so it is important to choose the fastest processor you can afford. Both AMD and Intel make excellent processors for photo editing computers. No matter which brand you choose make sure you have plenty of speed. Dual core processors are widely available these days, and choosing a dual core processor will help your computer perform to its full potential.
3. Choose the largest hard drives you can afford. If you will be doing photo editing you will likely be storing a lot of graphics files in uncompressed format, and those files can take up a great deal of hard-drive space. When choosing hard drives for your system, buy a bigger hard drive than you think you will need. For a photo editing machine, the minimum hard drive capacity you should consider is 500GB. A drive with a 750GB or 1TB storage capacity is even better.
4. Install as much memory as the motherboard can hold. Photo editing software packages will use up a great deal of memory, so it is important to max out your RAM. This is especially true if you want to perform other functions on your PC while your photo editing software is processing an image.
5. Make sure you install a standalone video card--the video card built into the motherboard will simply not be able to handle intense photo editing tasks. Look for a video card with at least 128MB of on-board memory, and also consider a video card with dual connections. This will make it easy to connect two monitors to the photo editing workstation. Many professional photo editors, and even some home users, find that dual monitors provide a real productivity boost.
6. Choose a high-end photo editing software package for your computer. Adobe Photoshop is the gold standard in the industry, but it can be quite an expensive option. If your budget is more limited you could try a mid-range product like Photo Deluxe or Photo Elements. It is helpful to work with each product you are considering, so look for free trial offers. The learning curve on photo editing software can sometimes be steep, so you may want to stick with the product you already know when you build your new PC.
Tags: photo editing, editing software, photo editing, hard drives, photo editing software