Looking to upgrade my PC

[northrop]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

- Primarily for photo editing (Lightroom, Photoshop, with additional other photo editing software). Might get into HD video editing (this is something I haven't experimented enough with, but given an option I'd like to be able to do it comfortably).
- Gaming. Nothing too fancy, Starcraft 2, Diablo, Witcher... some newer titles I haven't heard of yet.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

- $1500-$2000 (shipping and tax included)

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

- IL, USA

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, and everything that goes inside the case. CPU + HSF, RAM, Mobo, PSU, Video card, cables, sound card, DVD/Blu drive(s), fans.
FWIW, I like the look of Lian Li PC-9F case.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

- Monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard
- I do have an ATI 6870 which is adequate for whatever gaming I do now. Could possibly reuse that as well.

6) Will you be overclocking?

- No

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?

- 24" @ 1920x1200 (but the monitor is due for upgrade, possibly larger with larger resolution - separate budget).

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

- Planing on doing it this or possibly next month.

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)? etc.

- USB 3.0

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

- W7 Ultimate 64bit.

 

[Dangman]

- Primarily for photo editing (Lightroom, Photoshop, with additional other photo editing software). Might get into HD video editing (this is something I haven't experimented enough with, but given an option I'd like to be able to do it comfortably).

You're using Adobe CS5, correct?

- I do have an ATI 6870 which is adequate for whatever gaming I do now. Could possibly reuse that as well.

Do you want higher performance in your games? If so, you're looking at a new card or possibly even a second HD 6870.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
- Planing on doing it this or possibly next month.

Can you narrow down that time-frame any further? I ask because our hardware recommendations tend to change monthly and sometimes even weekly. In addition, if there's a possibility of you building next month, we might just recommend that you wait another month or so since Intel's new CPUs are supposedly due out in April.

 

[northrop]

You're using Adobe CS5, correct?

Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 2, actually. I tend to upgrade my software every other iteration, so when the CS6 and Lightroom 4 rolls out, I'll be upgrading.

To further elaborate on the software used, I also heavily use PTGui. While not a resource hog on its own, I do a lot of large format stitching. Currently I try to keep it under 60 files (10 Megapixels at ~12MB raw files), because my current system can't handle much more. I do however plan on upgrading the camera to a full frame 36megapixel at up to ~75MB raw files. This is why I'm looking to upgrade my PC, actually. I already know I won't be able to comfortably edit a single file, let alone stitch 20 of them together.

Do you want higher performance in your games? If so, you're looking at a new card or possibly even a second HD 6870.

The performance I'm getting with this card is excellent and I have no desire to upgrade it for the sake of a higher frame rate in games alone. However, if the upgrade will benefit me in Photoshop, then yes, I would be looking at upgrading it. I do prefer a single card solution, though.

Can you narrow down that time-frame any further? I ask because our hardware recommendations tend to change monthly and sometimes even weekly. In addition, if there's a possibility of you building next month, we might just recommend that you wait another month or so since Intel's new CPUs are supposedly due out in April.

With that in mind, let's make it the second half (or even a last week) of April. I'm not in a hurry with this upgrade, and if the new chips can offer something that I can benefit from, the wait is more than justified.

Thank you for the help.

 

[Dangman]

The performance I'm getting with this card is excellent and I have no desire to upgrade it for the sake of a higher frame rate in games alone. However, if the upgrade will benefit me in Photoshop, then yes, I would be looking at upgrading it. I do prefer a single card solution, though.

Since you're only using CS4, no need to get a new card. IIRC, it wasn't until CS5 when Adobe software really took advantage of the Nvidia's CUDA technology. So grab a new Nvidia card whenever you pick up CS6 and Lightroom 4 to get some performance improvements out of those applications.

With that in mind, let's make it the second half (or even a last week) of April. I'm not in a hurry with this upgrade, and if the new chips can offer something that I can benefit from, the wait is more than justified.

Thank you for the help.

Cool. Bump up this thread when the time comes.

 

[Deleted member 88227]

Actually Danny, I am pretty sure CS4 does make use of CUDA Tech. I think CS5 just automatically detects CUDA enabled cards.

edit
http://www.nvidia.com/object/adobe_photoshop.html

Just went and looked, Create Suite 4 is supported by CUDA. Therefore, Photoshop CS4 can make use of the acceleration.

 

[Dangman]

Actually Danny, I am pretty sure CS4 does make use of CUDA Tech. I think CS5 just automatically detects CUDA enabled cards.

edit
http://www.nvidia.com/object/adobe_photoshop.html

Just went and looked, Create Suite 4 is supported by CUDA. Therefore, Photoshop CS4 can make use of the acceleration.

I know that but I meant "take real advantage of it" as in there were noticeable differences.

 

[Deleted member 88227]

Ah yeah; that I do not know. I remember using CS4, but that was on my old laptop with a 7950GTX, then I upgraded my old desktop to a 9800GX2, then later built a new PC with a 470 GTX. Those were rocking CS5 though. Perhaps if I can find my CS4 discs I'll load 'em up and see what happens.