Build for photographer/photo editing

T

tgabe213

2[H]4U
Joined
Aug 27, 2007
Messages
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1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Photoshop/Lightroom for photo editing.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Range been 500-800 (budget is tight).
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
US. Milwaukee, WI
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Case, mobo, cpu, ram, hdd, video card, psu
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Existing lcd monitors will be reused for now
6) Will you be overclocking?
No
7) 7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
2x22". 1680x1050
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Right away. 30 days max
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
The typical newer features of 6Gb/s & eSata would be good. I presume a board with 6Gb/s will have USB3.0
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
W7 64-bit

Additional note, on a regular day after a photo shoot, about 50GB of pictures are transferred from memory cards into lightroom to be edited, then transferred off to an external for storage. I'd like to fit in probably a 128GB SSD (M4?) to run the OS & the 'current import' of pictures.
 
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Meh too tired to do zee IB spiel:
$190 - Intel Core i5-2400 CPU
$100 - Intel BOXDH67BLB3 Intel H67 mATX Motherboard
$105 - G.Skill Ares Series 2 x 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$130 - Asus ENGTX550 TI DC/DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$85 - Hitachi 7K1000.D HDS721050DLE630 500GB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$48 - Antec NEO ECO 400C 400W PSU
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite White with Black Front Trim ATX Case
---------
Total: $708 shipped.

EDIT: Did not see your edit there. Hmmm.....
 
Danny Bui said:
Meh too tired to do zee IB spiel:
$190 - Intel Core i5-2400 CPU
$100 - Intel BOXDH67BLB3 Intel H67 mATX Motherboard
$105 - G.Skill Ares Series 2 x 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$130 - Asus ENGTX550 TI DC/DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$85 - Hitachi 7K1000.D HDS721050DLE630 500GB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$48 - Antec NEO ECO 400C 400W PSU
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite White with Black Front Trim ATX Case
---------
Total: $708 shipped.
Click to expand...

Thanks Danny...I just made an edit before your post about having a 128GB SSD (possibly the M4). Can that fit in anywhere in here? I'm checking with the friend to see what he currently has for internal HDD's that could be re-used as secondary drives.
 
tgabe213 said:
Thanks Danny...I just made an edit before your post about having a 128GB SSD (possibly the M4). Can that fit in anywhere in here? I'm checking with the friend to see what he currently has for internal HDD's that could be re-used as secondary drives.
Click to expand...

If you don't mind losing 32GB of RAM capability, drop the RAM down to this:
$38 - G.Skill Value Series F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM

Adding the 128GB Crucial M4 would bring the total to $801 shipped.
 
Thanks! I may be able to reuse existing internal drives and drop off the Hitachi bring the price down a little.

This is a great build. Thanks a lot!
 
History States

Each history state, or snapshot, of an operation that affects the entire image increases the amount of scratch disk space that the file needs. Photoshop creates a copy of the original. So, for example, if you apply a Gaussian blur to a 500-KB image and create a snapshot of that edit in the History panel, Photoshop requires 1 MB of scratch disk space for the image. If you apply a Levels adjustment, a Noise filter, and an unsharp mask to a 5-MB image and save a History snapshot of each state, the image needs 15 MB of scratch disk space.

(If you create a history state of operations that affect only part of the image, such as paint strokes, only the tiles affected by the strokes are added to the image size.)

You can save scratch disk space and improve performance by limiting or reducing the number of states that Photoshop can save in the History panel. Photoshop can save up to 1,000 history states; by default, it allows you to save 20. To reduce that number, click the History States pop-up menu in the History & Cache area of the Performance preferences dialog box, and drag to a lower value.
--------------------------------------

1. Above is from Adobe Document. If you are using Photoshop
2. Irrespective of how much RAM you have, some history states operations will write to scratch disk area.
3. If you are using SSD, and you have serious-level of history states writes during daily image editing operation, some SSD users want to explore ways to minimize that write to their SSD by reassigning scratch area to RAM disk. If RAM disk is desired, 4x4GB=16GB.

4. Obviously it is up to individual as some assess it differently, and perhaps for other the actual write per history states is reasonable so they do not see any special treatment needed for Adobe Photoshop scratch disk assignment.
 
Trying to trim some dollars to fit in a 1TB drive...I've dumped the Hitachi, added the M4 128GB. I'm wondering if the video card isn't a bit overkill? I think the majority of light room is dependent on CPU & RAM. Graphics requirements aren't even listed on the system requirements for LR4.

Perhaps this?
$80 - ZOTAC 1GB GT 430
 
tgabe213 said:
Trying to trim some dollars to fit in a 1TB drive...I've dumped the Hitachi, added the M4 128GB. I'm wondering if the video card isn't a bit overkill? I think the majority of light room is dependent on CPU & RAM. Graphics requirements aren't even listed on the system requirements for LR4.

Perhaps this?
$80 - ZOTAC 1GB GT 430
Click to expand...

I wouldn't trust anything from ZOTAC to be honest. Not to mention the CUDA acceleration will be better with the 550 Ti.

Quartz-1 said:
Since this is a non-gaming build, would not a Quadro 400 or 600 be more appropriate?
Click to expand...

Not worth the money honestly. The major difference between the Geforce and Quadro series are in the drivers anyway, both have CUDA cores and Photoshop can take advantage of both.
 
Already have an 8600GT I think we will roll with initially and see how it goes. Can always upgrade if needed.

Forgot about this card otherwise I would have mentioned it.
 
Then go back with the RAM Danny originally recommended since it will allow you to upgrade to 32GB later.
 
Quartz-1 said:
Since this is a non-gaming build, would not a Quadro 400 or 600 be more appropriate?
Click to expand...

In this case, no: Both of those GPUs are much slower and are more expensive than the GTX 550 Ti. And although some programs take advantage of the special features of the Quadros, neither Photoshop nor Lightroom is one of those. In fact, both of the programs that you're planning to use rely almost entirely on the raw performance of the GPU for those GPU-accelerated functions.
 
Skillz said:
Then go back with the RAM Danny originally recommended since it will allow you to upgrade to 32GB later.
Click to expand...

I actually never switched them out. I was planning to keep them in specifically for that reason. Also, I just noticed these have a 20% coupon code right on the product page. $21 off! Excellent.

Also, since no one addressed the 8600GT video card, I'm going to assume it should be sufficient for the current needs.
 
It will work, but the card Danny recommended will perform better. The 8600 cards are on the low end and I'm not even you'll benefit using it as an accelerator in Photoshop. Looking at Adobe's list it doesn't seem to be complete, since it only seems to list the top tier cards for each generation. (IE: It doesn't list the 550 Ti or the 560 Ti, when I know both of them will benefit)
 
tgabe213 said:
I actually never switched them out. I was planning to keep them in specifically for that reason. Also, I just noticed these have a 20% coupon code right on the product page. $21 off! Excellent.
Click to expand...
Note that it expires on the 11th. So make sure you buy it ASAP. Someone else might notice it and put it up on Slickdeals or our own Hot Deals subforum. It'll sell out faster after that.
tgabe213 said:
Also, since no one addressed the 8600GT video card, I'm going to assume it should be sufficient for the current needs.
Click to expand...
If it has 1GB of VRAM, that 8600GT is a possibility.
 
Danny Bui said:
Note that it expires on the 11th. So make sure you buy it ASAP. Someone else might notice it and put it up on Slickdeals or our own Hot Deals subforum. It'll sell out faster after that.

If it has 1GB of VRAM, that 8600GT is a possibility.
Click to expand...

It doesn't...It's at 256MB. Any other alternatives to the $130 card? Anything in the $60 range?

Thinking this guy:
$70 - EVGA 01G-P3-1431-KR GeForce GT 430 (Fermi) 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
 
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I can't vouch for that card as I'm not sure how it'll perform.
 
Just stick with that 8600 for now. Then later when you have more budget to put towards a better GPU, get one then.
 
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