my desktop power supply fan is shot and the computer turns off constantly because it gets too hot

it is about 10 years old now, so instead of buying a new power supply Im going to just buy a new PC

anyways, this computer is used exclusively for photography, so I am wondering which resources are going to be the most important to efficiently run lightroom 1.x and photoshop cs2

I would love to get an imac, but its just not gonna happen

since this is a photo-only hobby computer, and a PC to boot, Im going to spend $400 max (base only, I already have monitor, etc)

so which hardware components should I look out for? CPU? RAM? vid card (photography only, no video)?

thanks in advance

look for an intel cpu with core i7 or the new core i5. these cpus are really fast and unbeatable in image, audio, video editing. in your case, the more ram the better so at least 4 gigabytes. the cpus above use ddr3 which will give you a large bandwith for memory transfers. also, get a pc with windows 7 or at least vista with a free upgrade to windows 7. i'm assuming your apps will run on the os above, otherwise you may have to stick to windows xp. since you're not playing games on this pc, i don't think an expensive video card will be necessary. a radeon 4850 will probably suffice. on the other hand, check if you can upgrade your apps to ones that can take advantage of gpgpu processing. this will make your applications run so much faster. i know there are a few image editing software that can. if that is so, then opt for an nvidia video card such as gtx 260. here is a link that can help you.

http://www.computerpoweruser.com/editorial...mp;bJumpTo=True

i'd focus on ram and processor over graphics card. the computer doesn't really have to do anything fancy to display a static image, so that's the one place i'd skimp on a photo-specific rig.

CPU and RAM...personally I dont think you need to buy anything crazy. Ram is CHEAp 4gb can be had for under 100bucks.
I have a Core2Duo 2.6ghz and its about 2years old and i have no issues with speed really. I mean it can always be faster but its nothing i would call slow.

are you building or buying?

Big and fast hard drive too.

FTW:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...mp;Sku=B69-1112
+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...61287&nm_mc

eh.. it's $100 more than what you wanted to spend.. but oooooh so worth it.

I thought about building but I never have before and don't have any reason to believe that I would know how to (although I have replaced components many times before in my dying PC)

thanks for the suggestion Mike, but I dont think that system includes an OS, which will add even more to the cost (although I might still have my original xp disc on hand, if I have that then I think I will be set for OS - are you allowed to install your own copy of windows on a new/different PC? obviously I understand that its wrong to share with others)

if I were getting a computer to actually use for other stuff, I would not have the lower budget, but I only use this machine for editing photos w/ lightroom, photoshop, photomatix, and ptgui

wait till windows 7 comes out.

have you thought about getting a laptop and just connecting your monitor?

I think Windows 7 sucks....I actually liked vista alot better.
Been running 7 for some time now and I am thinking of going back to Vista

cuboy, I already have a macbook for normal computer use, I was just looking for a desktop to leave in my office to work on pics

If I were to go with a notebook, I'd only consider a macbook, which would violate the $$$ rule and IMO would not give me appropriate HDD and other hardware configurations