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Lightroom Workstation

N

notsane

Gawd
Joined
May 23, 2007
Messages
583
Hi All,

I have a lot of raw photos from my 5DIII (200,000). When I told Lightroom 4 to render standard size previews at 2048 high quality it took 2 whole days... Maybe it is time for an upgrade? I notice LR4 seems to use all of the cores and memory usage is up. CPU Performance is spiking like a heart monitor on all cores, so it seems I may be RAM limited or hard drive transfer is too slow (esata). I know I can OC my 920, but I am not really willing to sacrifice stability on long renders (I ran my other 920 at 3.6 for a year and it was fine, I know..anyway, I doubt that it would have shaved much time off my render).

Is it better nowadays to buy a Xeon W3680 Westermere and upgrade the RAM to 24GB or just build something on a new platform (I have not been paying attention to the platform change for the last year or two). I will keep everything for now and just upgrade the CPU, RAM and possibly the motherboard (if a new platform is needed). New GPU is lower priority and could come later, but I may want to do this now. I could always just shut up and use what I have :)
Another idea is to sell the current PC intact, but I am not sure I could get much for it.

I would like to have a dedicated SSD for boot and another for LR catalogs. See hardware I have below.


Thanks in advace!

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? Etc
Lightroom 4 and 5 , Gaming is a lower priority, but I would like some good power at 25x16 with an nVidia GPU (Battlefield 3, Diablo 3 etc)

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Not specified

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Seattle, WA

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.
Not sure, thinking of upgrading CPU and RAM maybe motherboard too or the whole PC.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Asus P6T Deluxe, Core i7 920 (thinking of replacing with Xeon W3680 Westmere), Coolermaster V8 CPU cooler, 6GB Corsair RAM 1600 CL8 (thinking of replacing with 24GB kit from G Skill), Intel 520 cherryville 120GB (boot or lightroom catalog disk) (bought last year but never used), various 7200rpm drives for storage 500gb, 640gb, 1tb etc) Zalman 1000 watt power supply, Antec p180 case, XFX ATI 5870, Samsung SATA DVD, USB3.0 PCIe Card

6) Will you be overclocking?
Not critical, nice option to have

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
Samsung 305T 2560x1600

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within a week

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.
Not Sure if I should buy a motherboard/CPU/RAM or just CPU/RAM.. or nothing. Would like USB3.0, SLI etc.


10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
I have Windows 7 Pro x64 and can buy Windows 8 Pro (any version) through the MS Alumni Program

One note is that I will be buying everything at newegg
 
Not worth upgrading that system as is with the options you've mentioned: The Xeon W3680 is $616 and the G.Skill 24GB RAM is $205 from Newegg. Both are a bit overpriced as is since you can get the significantly faster Core i7 3930K for $570 and 32GB of RAM for around $220. Add in another $250 to $325 for a 8 DIMM socket 2011 motherboard ( I recommend the Asus Sabertooth X79 for longevity) and you end up with a platform that's faster, has more RAM upgrades (64GB of RAM max), and more up-to-date features. So I highly recommend just upgrading the CPU, mobo, and RAM.

As for SSDs, use the Intel for the catalog disk. Grab the Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD and you should be set there.
 
Thanks Danny!

If I go the route you suggest, what nVidia card do you reccomend and what should I do with my old CPU/MOBO/RAM/Video Card? Craigslist? Any idea of the current value?
 
GTX 760 at a minimum. GTX 770 if you can afford it. As for your old setup, turn it into a backup server if you don't already have one. Or as a backup PC in case Lightroom still uses up the full performance of the new PC. Can't give you a value as that's against rules 16 and 26 of the [H]Forum Rules.
 
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Thanks again Danny!

If I turn the old stuff into a server, should I just leave it intact as is and buy a new case, power supply etc etc? Do a full build or just buy a cheap case and small power supply etc and re-use the old zalman 1000 and Antec p180.
 
notsane said:
If I turn the old stuff into a server, should I just leave it intact as is and buy a new case, power supply etc etc? Do a full build or just buy a cheap case and small power supply etc and re-use the old zalman 1000 and Antec p180.
Click to expand...
Cheap replacements:
$43 - NZXT Source 210 Elite White with Black Front Trim ATX Case
$80 - Seasonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W Modular PSU
 
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Is there any point in upgrading to a less expensive platform like the 3770k or 2700k?
 
Thanks Danny!

I have built multiple raid 5 systems in the past and I see where this could be a if help. I often run into this lag when going through photos, but it is minimized when I pre-render previews at 2048. What is the best raid controller and external enclosure setup nowadays? I used to like the high point stuff, but I bet there are better options now. I will also dig around in the storage sub forum.
 
x79 is the better choice for your needs.
Sabertooth is a good choice.
I would go different on memory. I recommend Quad channel 8 stick kit to get the most benefit from x79. This set is readily available "Kingston HyperX 32GB (8 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model KHX1600C9D3K8/32GX" at $310.

If you think you might want 64Gb you should get it now as Asus x79 does not tolerate mixed sets well under the best conditions. Good 64Gb kits are in the $500 to $600 range. 1.65v memory is fine on x79.

You will need a better cooling solution. I just ordered a H100i for $80 which would be a good choice for cooling if it will fit the case you choose. If that sale is not available to you then a refurb H100 goes for the same price and cooling wise is just as good IMO.

I have a 3930k that i was considering upgrading to 3970x that could save you some $$, pm if interested
 
notsane said:
Thanks Danny!

I have built multiple raid 5 systems in the past and I see where this could be a if help. I often run into this lag when going through photos, but it is minimized when I pre-render previews at 2048. What is the best raid controller and external enclosure setup nowadays? I used to like the high point stuff, but I bet there are better options now. I will also dig around in the storage sub forum.
Click to expand...

Highpoint has dropped down in quality from what I can tell over in the Data Storage subforum. Areca is pretty much the go-to new RAID controller to go for. However, a lot of the Data Storage subforum people are going the used route with Dell Perc 6/i or IBM cards as well as the new route with LSI.

However, check the above thread again, apparently you don't need a RAID card after all: Onboard might be sufficient.
 
I will look into this. I may just upgrade my storage to a nice array and add ram. Even video card. I bet it is my storage that is my #1 bottleneck based on these articles. I can OC my 920 with the cooler I have. Would like a faster machine, but not sure I could swing everything at once.
 
The V8 is a good cooler but it does not have the hardware to mount to the 2011 socket.
 
Hi Danny,

Weighing the cost vs impact and decided to go for 4 2-4 TB drives on the integrated controller in RAID 5 and just do a clean install on the intel drive. This may solve my issues and can upgrade everything later. What 24GB ram kit to you reccomend for some OC and which 2-4TB drives should I get. The array does not need to break any record (integrated intel controller in te P6T Deluxe V1 anyway).

May also add a bigger boot drive, but I am living on a 60GB vertex now.

If I still need more power, I can upgrade everything else.

Am I being crazy? Should I just upgrade the CPU and mobo instead?
 
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notsane said:
What 24GB ram kit to you reccomend for some OC
Click to expand...
I can't recommend any 24GB RAM set at this point in time since they're just too expensive for what they are. If they were like $150 to $160, maybe they'll be worth it then. But higher than that? Not worth it due to the pricing of current 8GB RAM sticks. Not to mention that it may limit your future RAM upgrade capability to 16GB with newer Intel platforms. Remember that most 24GB sets are 6 x 4GB sets. Intel's current mainstream LGA 1150 motherboards only have 4 RAM slots. So if you were to upgrade to Intel's mainstream platform, you would effectively be throwing away two 4GB RAM sticks and limiting yourself to 16GB of RAM.

With that asid, Intel's socket 2011 motherboards do have 8 RAM slots. However, those cost on average of $300 for just the motherboard alone. In addition, it seems very silly to populate a socket 2011 setup with 24GB of RAM using six of those RAM slots when it can go up to 64GB of RAM easily. In other words, kind of expensive for that little RAM.

So in other words, I can't recommend a 24GB RAM set. Too pricey and too limiting for future upgrade capability.

I'll get back to you on the hard drives later.

EDIT: The RAM that Tom_S recommended may not be the choice since it has relatively tall RAM heatsinks which may interfere with the your current HSF.
 
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Now back to the hard drives:

From reading through the Data Storage Subforum, it appears that large RAID 5 arrays of 8TB or more are no longer recommended due to the fact that the large amount of data that could be potentially lost in the event of two drives dying. Then there's apparently issues with bit-rot and URE being more commong with RAID 5. As such, it's generally recommended to go with a RAID 6 array for that much storage. Unfortunately, the ICH10R does not support RAID 6. Thats why for actual storage, people have been setting up actual file servers and using a variety of free software RAID items or cheaper and just having relatively fast RAID 10 in the PC itself.

Anyway, if you stil want RAID 5 or RAID 10, at most, I recommend only using 2TB drives and to keep that RAID aray under 6TB or so.
 
Oh man, this is not an easy choice. Seems like just a raid 0 set for editing that is backed up would be sufficient. I may go back to just getting the new CPU, mobo and ram and raid 0 two 2TB drives I already have. The ram issue for trying to fix my current PC is a waste of money as you say, so upgrading the current system is less appealing.
 
Decided to get an AMS 4 in 3 drive bay $79, 4x 2TB 7200 seagate drives $400 and 24Gb 1600 vengeance $200. I know that the ram won't carry forward, but with W8 on the intel 120 SSD, 24GB ram and an internal 6TB raid 5 array it will be a decent computer for a year or two more until it gets turned into a server or HTPC. Thanks for all the help!

Will report back on if this solves my LR5 performance issues!

FYI, plan on automatic cloud backup of the array.
 
I went with the 8x4GB G- Skill 1866 memory so I can use 24GB with the current setup and upgrade to a 3930 K later. Will be on the lookout for 3930K+MOBO deals or a future Sandybridge E proc at a lower price point.

Thanks again Danny and everyone!
 
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