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Building a computer for crafting

  • 09-10-2025 06:03PM
    #1
    pauly58
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 331 ✭✭


    My wife's hobby is crafting ie. making cards & her old computer is coming to the end of it's life & we would like to build one to suit her needs. All the info we have seen is for gaming computers, she would need a lot of storage as she uses large files & has a good few of them. I'd be grateful for any suggestions with CPU & motherboard ideas.



Comments

  • #2
    Spear
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Help & Feedback Category Moderators Posts: 26,515 CMod ✭✭✭✭Spear


    Any particular software in mind? And what range of storage are you considering? It's almost all nvme drives now, and they're nowhere near as big as old fashioned hard drives can be.



  • #3
    pauly58
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 331 ✭✭pauly58


    The software she uses is MyCraft Studio, she says it's mostly jpegs & pdf's in files, large ones. I was thinking of 1TB M.2. Most info out there is gaming related & what she wants is of course different.



  • #4
    Spear
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Help & Feedback Category Moderators Posts: 26,515 CMod ✭✭✭✭Spear


    The requirements for that are absolutely minimal. Just about anything bought today would be overkill for it. What's wrong with the old PC?



  • #5
    Deja Boo
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,324 ✭✭✭✭Deja Boo


    Surely she will need something compatible with the software for whichever die cutting and embossing machine she has (or wishes to get)?



  • #6
    pauly58
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 331 ✭✭pauly58


    We reckon the computer was built by my son about eighteen years ago to do gaming, it was well used. It has an AMD FX 4350 CPU so pretty old. It was given to my wife when our son left home

    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123892767#Comment_123892767

    & has done well. Last week there was a loud crack from it & no signal, she went through a few checks as my son suggested but no luck, he said to unplug everything & leave it overnight, lo & behold, next morning it fired up fine. The worry is, it will do it again & not start up. So we're looking at different options. She has everything backed up on an external hard drive as a lot of files are irreplaceable. Her die cutting machine isn't linked to the computer, the Scan & Cut is operated in the cloud, really it's files, very large ones & lot's of them. She doesn't use photoshop.



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  • #7
    Spear
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Help & Feedback Category Moderators Posts: 26,515 CMod ✭✭✭✭Spear


    A loud crack suggests something popped, possibly a capacitor. So yeah, time to back up everything and stop using it.

    You could look at mini PCs as an option. They're cheap, quiet and can easily handle her needs. There's a bunch of brands like GMKtec, Minisforum etc you could have a look at.



  • #8
    K.O.Kiki
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,029 ✭✭✭✭K.O.Kiki


    FX 4350 is around 12yo and uses quite a bit of power so well overdue a replacement.

    PCPartPicker Part List: https://ie.pcpartpicker.com/list/dGQJcx

    CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3200G 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor (€62.21)
    Motherboard: Gigabyte B550M GAMING X WIFI6 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (€124.78)
    Memory: Lexar THOR 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (€91.62)
    Storage: MSI SPATIUM M461 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€92.78)
    Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive (€69.99)
    Case: Asus Prime AP201 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (€69.05)
    Power Supply: Corsair RM650e (2025) 650 W Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€87.97)
    Total: €598.40 - all prices from Amazon.ie
    Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
    Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-10-10 17:30 IST+0100

    (CPU is weak & PSU is overkill, but I can't see good deals on 5600G & cheaper reliable power units)

    Alternative: Get a prebuilt / used PC, e.g. this Paradigit model. Add more storage/RAM as needed.



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