Photo Editing/Gaming Rig

H

Hollow4

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 11, 2003
Messages
325
Hey Everyone, its been a long time since I built a new PC. August of 2007 to be exact. My current PC has been great, but is starting to show its age. I am having trouble with a flaky motherboard that is having trouble posting and waking up. As part of my lively hood requires me to use my PC to edit really large files I cannot afford to keep messing with this thing.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Photoshop (2-4 GB PSB file) and BF3

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Budget around $1500-1600 but flexible

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

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget?
CPU, RAM, Case, GPU, PSU, SSD/HDDs, Heastsink/Fan, mobo

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Blu Ray burner(cant remember Make/Model, bought in Sept), Screens - Dell 2405 (1920x1200) and Dell 2005 (1680x1050, Case fans and fan controller, keyboard and mouse, Wacom Tablet, 2x 1 TB drives for general file storage, Large printer

6) Will you be overclocking?
Not my thing

7) 7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1920x1200

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

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.
USB 3.0 and SATA 6GB

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
No. I have Vista :( I am thinking Windows 7

Most of my photographs are pano's and are in the 2gb to 4gb range and I only see those file sizes going up. I am struggling with the time it takes to apply filters, crop, and process for printing. My current PC is a Q6600 with 8 gb of ram. I imagine any Ivy or Haswell build is going to be significantly better than what I currently have and help me chew through those really large files.

I am really torn between getting an i5 or i7 series processor. Since I have been out of the build game for so long I am not sure if the i7 will give me a noticeable increase in processing horsepower in photoshop.Does anyone have any opinions on this?

Also I am thinking that at a minimum I should be looking for 16 gb of ram if not 32 ( though adding sticks in a year or so shouldnt be a issue).

I really like Antec cases am thinking the P280 is what I am going to get.

Any thoughts on a part list?
 
Most of the guides I've read on a Photoshop-centric system focus on the following:

- A fast quad-core is recommended (but there are some differences in opinion regarding the increased performance from Hyper Threading and/or more physical CPU cores)
- Get as much RAM as you can afford
- You should have multiple storage drives, with one being the swap disk and (at least) one storing your photos
- Get a good video card and take advantage of GPU acceleration

With that in mind, and considering what you already have, here's what I suggest:


$100 - Antec P280 (includes $10 discount promo code EMCXRTW42, expires 6/6)
$280 - Intel Core i5-4570 and MSI B85-G41 combo
$255 - G.Skill Ares 2x8GB DDR3 1600 and Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit OEM combo
$172 - Samsung 840 Series 250GB SSD
$300 - ASUS GTX660 TI-DC2O-2GD5 GTX 660 2GB
$90 - Seasonic M12II 650 Bronze 650W PSU
=====
$1197 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)

I don't know if the Core i7-4770(K) would offer better performance over GPU acceleration, so I stuck with the i5-4570 for the time being.

Likewise, I stuck with one 16GB dual-channel kit, though it was more to take advantage of the combo deal it had with the OEM copy of Windows 7 Professional. I went with a pretty fast SSD in the Samsung 840 Series 250GB SSD to serve as your primary/OS drive. I chose the GTX 660 Ti for a good video card, but if you're an AMD/ATI fan, you could go with the HD 7950. The Seasonic M12II is a good modular PSU that has more than enough power for your setup.

I left you with plenty of room in your budget to add one (or more) of the following optional items:

$25 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
$96 - Seagate Barracuda 2TB HDD
$119 - Seagate Barracuda 3TB HDD
$125 - G.Skill Ares 2x8GB DDR3 1600
 
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I really appreciate the quick response tiraides. How much improvement would I see if i bumped the video card up to EVGA GTX770? Is it going to be a major enough of an improvement to warrant 33% increase in the price of the card? If yes then I may swap that out over the 660 TI, if not then I may just sink the extra dollars into getting an i7.

Im not too concerned about harddrive space. I will most likely grab a 2TB drive to compliment what I already have, but having 10TB's in a Synology NAS running raid 5 and having two other servers running each running 2 - 1TB raid 1 solutions and several harddrives in safety deposit boxes for offsite storage and having stuff on the east coast I have my backups and storage needs covered for now.

Is the Cooler Master Hyper EVO Fan going to be compatible with the new 1150 Motherboards? And am I going to need some sort of Arctic Silver?

Thanks
 
Hollow4 said:
I really appreciate the quick response tiraides. How much improvement would I see if i bumped the video card up to EVGA GTX770? Is it going to be a major enough of an improvement to warrant 33% increase in the price of the card? If yes then I may swap that out over the 660 TI, if not then I may just sink the extra dollars into getting an i7.
Click to expand...
IM0, yes there is a large enough of a performance increase with the GTX 770 that warrants the extra cost over the GTX 660 Ti.

Hollow4 said:
Im not too concerned about harddrive space. I will most likely grab a 2TB drive to compliment what I already have, but having 10TB's in a Synology NAS running raid 5 and having two other servers running each running 2 - 1TB raid 1 solutions and several harddrives in safety deposit boxes for offsite storage and having stuff on the east coast I have my backups and storage needs covered for now.
Click to expand...
You still need a dedicated swap drive for optimal Photoshop performance. So I recommend getting a cheap SSD for a completely dedicated swap drive as that will massivly improve the performance of the PC:
$99 - Samsung 840 120GB SSD
Hollow4 said:
Is the Cooler Master Hyper EVO Fan going to be compatible with the new 1150 Motherboards? And am I going to need some sort of Arctic Silver?
Click to expand...
Yes the Evo will be compatible with the 1150 motherboards. The Coolermaster Hyper Evo already comes with thermal paste that's just as good as AS5 so no need to buy additional thermal paste.
 
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Hollow4 said:
I really appreciate the quick response tiraides. How much improvement would I see if i bumped the video card up to EVGA GTX770? Is it going to be a major enough of an improvement to warrant 33% increase in the price of the card? If yes then I may swap that out over the 660 TI, if not then I may just sink the extra dollars into getting an i7.
Click to expand...

The GPU generally performs better than the CPU in Photoshop. You should pour your extra money into the GTX 770. Also, grab another 16GB G.Skill Ares dual-channel kit and follow Danny's advice on buying a Samsung 840 120GB SSD for your swap drive.

Hollow4 said:
Is the Cooler Master Hyper EVO Fan going to be compatible with the new 1150 Motherboards? And am I going to need some sort of Arctic Silver?
Click to expand...

Yes, but since you're not overclocking, go with the cheaper Hyper 212 Plus. In this case, I don't believe that the EVO is $10 better.

Hollow4 said:
Im not too concerned about harddrive space. I will most likely grab a 2TB drive to compliment what I already have, but having 10TB's in a Synology NAS running raid 5 and having two other servers running each running 2 - 1TB raid 1 solutions and several harddrives in safety deposit boxes for offsite storage and having stuff on the east coast I have my backups and storage needs covered for now.
Click to expand...

Did you ever know that you're my hero?
 
So after looking over all of the suggestions I think I have a decent build put together. I am going to source all my parts from Newegg. I prefer the simplicity of ordering from one place, plus I dont have an amazon prime account.

Here is what I am thinking:
$109 - P280
$100 - Seagate Baracuda
$420 - EVGA GTX 770
$90 - SeaSonic 650
$120 - 16 GB G. Skill Ares
$190 - Samsung 840 250GB
$280 - MSI Mobo and i5 Combo
$20 - Cooler Master Hpyer+
$140 - Windows 7 Pro

Total is $1,503 before any discounts and rebates and after shipping

I am going to wait to add a scratch disk and the extra 16 gb of ram till July or August. I really need to get this thing up an running first before I have time to add on any other speed luxuries. I have shows coming up and I need to print . . . . . . a lot.

On the Ram, the original ram that was linked was out of stock. Is what I have listed a suitable replacement?

Are there any glaring errors or incompatibilities that I am missing? Feel free to tweak any of the components.

I appreciate the Hero comment. I take my back ups seriously. Since my photos are part of my livelihood I have always invested in storage and backups over new computers. My goal for the year is to have another 10TB Synology disk station located on the east coast at my folks house which will back up my diskstation every night.

Thanks Everyone
 
Slight Update: Asked IT Director if he could get me a copy of windows 7 through our corporate discount and he hands me a brand new copy. Score.

So do I add the scratch disk or another 16gb of ram?
 
Hollow4 said:
Slight Update: Asked IT Director if he could get me a copy of windows 7 through our corporate discount and he hands me a brand new copy. Score.
Click to expand...

Make sure that it's the Professional or Enterprise version. Windows 7 Home Premium limits you to 16GB of total system (including but not limited to RAM), whereas the higher-end editions support up to 192GB.

Hollow4 said:
I appreciate the Hero comment. I take my back ups seriously. Since my photos are part of my livelihood I have always invested in storage and backups over new computers. My goal for the year is to have another 10TB Synology disk station located on the east coast at my folks house which will back up my diskstation every night.
Click to expand...

Let's just say that I'm a huge fan of a good storage and backup configuration. (If only my bank account would agree with me....)
 
Just placed my order. I held off on the scratch disk for now but went with 32gb of RAM. Im pretty excited to get the parts and put the new machine together. My printing problems pushed me over the top last night. I was spooling 320MB printer files to my Epson 9890 and due to system instability a few prints were stopped half way through when Photoshop crashed which caused my computer to freeze which caused the printer to freak out.

Im looking forward to stability.

Thanks for all the help!!
 
Really shouldn't have held off on the scratch disk dude. That would have really helped out.

But good luck with the build!
 
I held off till I can do more research on SSD's. I just need to find that right balance between size needed and speed on a disk that will essentially be a "Photoshop" only harddrive. I like the idea of the 120 GB drive for Photoshop, but if 128 GB drive with faster read/write will give me a noticeable improvement in speed I will go that way. On the flip side, if having a faster OS drive will improve performance over a scratch disk then I will reallocate the SSD I bought and buy a new primary drive.

I just havent done enough research on my own to make that type of decision. Im thinking I'll make a decision next week or the week after.
 
If you really wanted faster read and write speeds, you should have went with the Samsung 840 Pro instead of the "plain" Samsung 840 Series. The 840 Pro is among the best in the current SSD market in terms of overall performance.

If you can afford to, replace your primary drive with the 840 Pro (and grab a second one for your scratch disk).
 
I agree that getting a scratch drive would probably be a good idea. Even if it was just a place to get your photos off of your media. It allows you a little space to get things organized before getting them ready for final storage, or just scratch space. The build looks awesome though, i just feel that 32gb might not be fully utilized.
 
Just wanted to give everyone an update. The parts arrived yesterday and of course I had to put them together. It took a little longer than I was expecting to fully assemble, had to shake off some dust in my brain to get it right. But the system posted on the first boot and with the exception of having a loose connection on my Blu-Ray drive everything went off without a hitch. The cables that are included with the Seasonic PSU are a little short and had to run some lines in a sub optimal way. If anyone knows where I can get Mobo 8 pin extension cable I would really appreciate it.

My first impressions are - WOW. I was really missing out with my old machine and having to nurse it along. Photoshop now loads in under three seconds vs the 1-2 minutes before. I did some stress testing last night on some large files and it handled them beautifully. I was accessing them over a network, so I wasn't expecting leaps in my access times.

I was able to play Battlefield 3 on ultra settings and keep frame rates above 70. While not a main reason why I built this, I will say its a nice side perk. Not having jittery lag deaths because of system speed is really nice.

Ill be adding more software and more drivers tonight. The big test will be in rendering Pano's in Autopano Giga. Thanks again for all the help in putting this together. Should I have anymore questions I will post them here.

Cheers
 
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