and I'm back...

Hey folks,

Well, long time no see, I'm back with a new challenge from a friend of mine, she's requesting a computer for her photo editing, but has some general conditions that made it difficult, here they are:

1. couldn't be a dell or an iMac.
2. she didn't want to build it herself.
3. Needs a good monitor.
4. she doesn't have a keyboard or mouse.
5. needs and CD burner.
6. wireless capabilities.

around 1500 bucks for all of it.


she primarily uses Lightroom, CS6, photoshop elements.

I was like, ok yeah this can't be that hard... but then I started to think about it.

I don't have a clue about photo editing. I've been doing some research but figured I'd come to the guys who helped me build my first CPU, which is still a big success by the way!

So far, this is what I got:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($228.00 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($88.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($67.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($299.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($96.50 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($93.75 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus PB279Q 60Hz 27.0" Monitor ($688.44 @ B&H)
Total: $1837.43
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-05 03:55 EDT-0400

If you guys have a pre-built computer or company you suggest I look at *other than dell or apple* please by all means let me off easy

No prebuilt will give you any sort of value at that level.

Any particular reason she needs a 700$ 4k monitor?

I know very little about monitors to be honest, color accuracy was important to her, 4K would allow her to look at it closer I suppose.

It seemed a good option considering it's one of those things she won't be upgrading in the next few years (in my ignorant opinion)

I'd honestly look at a nice IPS panel 1080p monitor at this budget. Also, if there's no gaming being done, you can drop the GPU down to a 960 or even 950. You can take the savings and put them into an i7, and probably still have enough money left over for a decent KB/mouse setup. This would be my recommendation, though I admittedly don't know much about monitors. Feel free to pick that apart.

Can save a few hundred and get a very nice Dell IPS monitor that comes pre-calibrated: http://www.amazon.com/Dell-UltraSharp-27-Inch-LED-Lit-Monitor/dp/B00P0EQD1Q that runs at 1440p. If you need 4K then you picked a nice monitor, just quite expensive.

Agreed with Dlaw to drop down to a 960 as well for cost savings, the adobe applications can still use the 960s cuda cores but I doubt the performance would be noticeably better on a 970 vs 960 for photo editing and not gaming.

Dlaw said:

I'd honestly look at a nice IPS panel 1080p monitor at this budget. Also, if there's no gaming being done, you can drop the GPU down to a 960 or even 950. You can take the savings and put them into an i7, and probably still have enough money left over for a decent KB/mouse setup. This would be my recommendation, though I admittedly don't know much about monitors. Feel free to pick that apart.

Click to expand...

I agree with this. The most important component, the difference maker in performance, will be having as strong a CPU as possible.

In my experience at work, we have had more problems with the HP brand PCs. We've had about a 7% failure rating on those which is well above the 2% or less on our Dell's. YMMV as always.

Just for curiosity's sake, why not a Dell or Apple?

The 4k monitor will probably be a good choice for photo editing. 1080p is going to involve a lot of scrolling if she is editing high resolution images.

Switch the Seagate to a Western Digital Black or Red.
Overkill on the PSU, you're easily good with a quality 450-550W unit.

If you want a good compromise between money, panel quality, and resolution then look at the Dell U2515H.
Also, if you're wanting quality in a monitor for photo editing then you can't beat a Dell U-Series.