lightroom2 cpu

[micpu12]

Looking to purchase a custom pc for lightroom2. Not sure if this config looks good or will a quad be better. And as far as win7 being right around the corner would it be worth it to wait so i don't have to the upgrade/reinstall?

Case: Lian-Li Lancool PC-K7B Black

CD / DVD Rom: Pioneer 22X DVD-RW SATA (black)

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 (3.0 GHz, FSB1333, 6 MB L2, 65W)

CPU Cooling: Gelid Silent Spirit

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB

Motherboard: Asus P5Q Deluxe

Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit OEM SP2

Power Supply: Corsair TX 650W Power Supply

Ram: 4 x Kingston ValueRAM DDR2-800 2048MB

Video Card: XFX GeForce 9400GT 1GB Silent

[basroil]

W7 is worth it, but whether or not it's worth it is up to you.

I say swap out the dual core for quad like a q6600. Other than that, it's as good of a machine as the iMac everyone raves about, so it'll do LR2 just fine regardless. And for under $750, not a bad rig at all.

[tim]

Right now I wouldn't go for the Core2 series, the i5/i7 are are lot faster and the prices are coming down. If you do go with Core2 quad is a better idea.

[micpu12]

Thanks for the quick help. Problem is putting it together for that$750 price you mentioned. I dont know how to build my own computers so I would need a company to put it together for me. One place looks really reliable and great reviews but this config would cost me $1300 put together through them. I like the trust factor of the company but hate to overpay when there are other options out there. Any options?thanks

[tim]

If you can't put it together, or have a friend do it, buy a Dell. They have good specials occasionally.

[gcogger]

Does Lightroom make good use of multi-core processors? I thought that was one of its limitations, but I could be wrong...

As to the PC spec, you could save some money on the PSU. I have a similar rig, but with a much more power-hungry graphics card (GeForce GTX 260), and it runs fine on a Corsair VX450 PSU. I'd also look carefully into whether you need the Deluxe version of the Asus P5Q - a different version may well do everything you need for less money.

[Moppie]

Does Lightroom make good use of multi-core processors? I thought that was one of its limitations, but I could be wrong...



Under Windows it will use as many cores as you can throw at it.
So when it comes to importing, converting and exporting files quad cores can literally be 1.5-2 times faster than dual cores.

A Q8400 costs about the same as the E8400, but will perform better for when running LR, Photoshop etc.

[gcogger]

Oh well, I said I could be wrong :) (I wonder where I got that idea from?)

[basroil]

If you can't put it together, or have a friend do it, buy a Dell. They have good specials occasionally.

Oh well, I said I could be wrong :) (I wonder where I got that idea from?)

You got that idea from the mac side. By some glitch, LR2 in OSX will use only about 1.5x number of cores if you look at the tests.

[micpu12]

Great thanks for the input. Ill probably get a quad if its not much more. Not a big dell fan from all the bad reports of little nagging problems with things failing. Maybe I am hearing all the negative and not any positives. Im going to continue shopping looking for a good computer company.

[basroil]

Great thanks for the input. Ill probably get a quad if its not much more. Not a big dell fan from all the bad reports of little nagging problems with things failing. Maybe I am hearing all the negative and not any positives. Im going to continue shopping looking for a good computer company.

I've had 6 dell in more than a decade, one lasted 9 years before the first major issue (only HDD broke, cost more to replace it than it was worth), other I have is 6 years old and only had a dvd drive issue (this was THE machine back in the day, LCD screen, dvd burner, geforce ti4400, 800mhz ram, it was a beast. dvd burner broke down, i just replaced it with a $30 8x burner, now acts as a home server). Laptops have been half and half (average of about 3 years before a problem, two needed mobos replaced, one due to a spill, other because it was using nvidia graphics that went bad, both issues that are common on laptops), but that's what you get for using them in a high dust/humidity environment and with little kids.

Plenty of good companies beside the major consumer ones like HP, dell, acer, etc, but usually carry a slight premium over them as well.