Need help w/ new high-end build for pro photo editing (300,000+ photos) under $6,000

[whitepony]

(Sorry ahead of time for a pretty detailed, lengthy post)
I'm a professional photographer in desperate need of a new desktop computer and am hoping to get some help with a custom build. I've got literally hundreds of thousands of photos that I've shot with my Canon 5D Mark II (as well as HD videos) that have been piling up over the last few years because my computer can't keep up with the editing/processing and I haven't been able to afford a new machine until recently now that I've saved up some money. I made a thread here last summer about this but the technology is different now and I've got a list of specific components I'm wondering about.

These are the specs of my current 4.5-year-old machine. The biggest problem is that using any of my photo editing/managing software (Photoshop CS5, Adobe Bridge CS5, Photomatix Pro 4.2, Lightroom 3.6) will often result in a crash, even when run alone with nothing else open. Here's an example of what I run into on a daily basis with this computer. That's a screenshot from earlier today while I was researching PC components, none of my photo editing software was open during that, but that's the sort of thing I get all the time while using Photoshop etc.

Even besides the crashing, the computer I've got now is painfully slow at everything. Turning it on and fully booting up takes nearly 6 minutes, loading a folder of 480 photos in Adobe Bridge takes 7 and a half minutes and my scores with the Photoshop benchmark tests are pretty terrible (94.4 seconds on this test while most others seem to be getting results between 9 and 19 seconds, and 343.5 seconds with this one that most seem to get results between 135 and 165 seconds with). With hundreds of thousands of photos to edit and process, in addition to hundreds of 1080p HD videos from my camera that I can't even come close to editing or viewing, I need something *MUCH* faster, which is why I need a new machine and am willing to shell out a fair amount for one that's quality.

I'm looking for a build that will be ultra reliable, last a long time and will be as fast and effective as possible for my needs (primarily professional photo editing/processing/management, HD video editing and generally being able to efficiently handle terabytes of DSLR photo and video) while keeping the total cost of everything under $6,000 USD -- including a professional level monitor since mine is pretty aged at this point, but I'll leave that for another thread. Unfortunately I'm not all that knowledgeable with custom built PCs or technical specs...after meeting with a company that builds custom PCs and doing plenty of online research on my own I've got a list of components and a vague idea of what I need but I still need help, especially before dumping all of my savings on this stuff. Here's what I've come up with so far; what I'd like to know is whether or not these components will be enough (or possibly too much) and if there are any better alternatives available.
---
1. Processor
Intel Core i7-3930K Sandy Bridge-E 3.2GHz Six-Core Desktop Processor: $569.99

This is the processor I've seen most recommended and seems the best suited of anything out there (under $1,000) to handle the massive amounts of photo and video editing work I've got for it. The selection for many of the other components is based off of this.

2. Motherboard
Asus Sabertooth X79: $329.99
-or-
Asus P9X79 WS: $364.61
-or-
Asus Rampage IV Extreme: $429.99

I found these to be the three most recommended motherboards for the 3930K processor but am still unsure which of the three would be best suited for my needs. The custom PC builders I met with gave me a quote that included a different motherboard (the Intel BOXDX79TO) which is cheaper at $210 but the reviews for it are pretty bad and I didn't see any recommendations for it anywhere.

3. Memory
CORSAIR Vengeance 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory Model: $199.99

Without knowing much about RAM (other than I need a lot of it) this seemed to be the best choice and the most recommended online. The custom PC company's quote was also for 32GB of RAM but was for this model instead, which is double the price and doesn't have any reviews anywhere online: (4x) Crucial Ballistix 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

4. SSD
Intel Cherryville 240GB Internal Solid State Drive: $269.99

I've consistently heard people recommend a SSD for installing the OS, applications and caches and 240GB should be plenty of space. I don't know if this particular 240GB SSD is better or worse than any others, but it's the model that was included on my custom PC quote. If there's a better option out there, definitely let me know.

5. Graphics Card
EVGA 012-P3-1570-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card: $259.99
-or-
EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1572-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card: $259.99
-or-
EVGA 02G-P3-1568-KR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card: $249.99
-or-
EVGA SuperClocked 02G-P3-1469-KR GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card: $179.99

I got pretty lost when it came to researching graphics cards; I'm aware these are all "mid-range" and I could do better but I don't know how necessary a better graphics card would be for me. Also, I can't tell the difference between the first two cards and the second two cards...the specs seem to be the same, and for the first two they're the same price, but for the second two the "SuperClocked" version is $70 less, so if someone could tell me what the difference is and which would best fit my needs that would be great.

6. Internal Hard Drive
(2x) Seagate Constellation ES.2 ST32000645NS 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive: $479.98 ($239.99 each)

Right now all my terabytes of photos and videos are on a variety of old-ish USB 2.0 external hard drives and I'd like to get them all in one place and on something significantly faster and more reliable. This is what the custom PC company recommended. Again, if there's a better alternative please let me know. Also, could someone tell me what exactly the difference is between that model and this one? Other than the $10 price difference they seem identical.

7. Optical Disk Drive
LG Internal Blu-Ray Writer BH14NS40: $103.99

I need something to read and write CDs and DVDs and play Blu-Ray movies; again, this was the custom PC company's recommendation and although the reviews are mixed for this one, I'm not sure what a better option might be or how much it matters.

8. Computer Case
Antec SONATA IV System Cabinet with 620W Power Supply: $142.23

I've never built a PC before so I'm pretty clueless on what case is needed for all of this to work in. This was the model I was quoted but I'm open to other suggestions.

9. OS
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit: $119.99

Pretty straightforward.
---
The total cost of these 9 components is $2,396.14 if I go with the least expensive options or $2,576.14 if I go with the most expensive. However, that's if I buy them myself online -- the custom PC company quoted me roughly $100 more per component for a total cost of about $1,000 more than if I ordered them online, but their price would include putting it all together as well as a 1-year warranty on everything and technical support, none of which I'd get if I ordered it myself. So roughly $2400 - $2600 if I get it myself or $3400 - $3600 if I let the custom PC guys do it for me.

But there are still other things which I wasn't quoted, namely:
A.) A professional level monitor with calibration software: $500.00 - $1,500.00
B.) A 3TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive for back up: $160.00 - $200.00
C.) Software: ~$150.00 - $500.00
D.) Decent speakers: $270.00 - $350.00
E.) Sound card (if necessary): $80.00 - $200.00
F.) Other necessities: (???)

I won't get into those since this post is long enough already, but that's another $1,080 on the low end or $2,750 on the high end, bringing the grand total for the least expensive options (without any help from the custom PC builders) to just under $3,500 and the grand total for the most expensive options (assembled by professionals + warranty & tech support) to just under $6,000. Ideally I'd rather not have to pay the $6k price tag, but that's the max amount I've got set aside in case it's absolutely necessary.

So, this is what I've come up with so far, but I'm in no means an expert so I'd really appreciate some feedback on this set up and what I can or should do differently. If I'd be better off with different components, please let me know which ones and why. Thanks in advance for any help, info and advice!

[silvrr]

Please don't spend all that money on the components and put an unknown PSU in it. That is the heart of your system and you don't want to go cheap on it. It really depends on if you end up with one of the 2011 chips or a 1155 chip and which GPU to decide on the power supply. People often overbuy for what they need and get something crappy. Get the power you need and good quality and it could save you $$ and frustration in the long run.

32 GB of RAM isn't really needed unless you know what you are going to use it for.

As for the case make sure you watch the board you get. That WS board may not be standard ATX size and could cause issues. I think some of those boards are ATX length but wider.

The HDDs seem really overpriced (possibly Seagates Enterprise line). You will mainly be using these for storage so look at Western Digital Greens or the seagate equivalent to save some $$. I work off my SSD and then when I am all done move the folder to my storage HDD and it doesn't matter how long it takes as I just walk away or work on something else.

As for the GPU I thought I remember seeing that there was not a good ROI when you went up in GPU power. The process is still processor limited. Ill try to find that. Something lower powered may be all you need for right now.

I would pull facts and figures for you but don't have time right now. There is a lot of benchmark data out there that will show you how much a system will draw for you to determine a PSU output and info on CS5 benchmarks so you can see what the 2011 vs. 1155 platform will get you.

[-dave-m-]

Unless you plan to overclock the Asus Rampage IV Extreme is overkill, the Sabertooth will do fine. 32 Gigs of Ram is more than enough and should be so for a few years, if in the future you need more you can fill the other four slots for 64 Gigs.

The one thing I would change in your build is the case, unless you are space restricted, that case is a little small for the hardware you have listed. A more roomy case with some good airflow will keep everything cool, heat causes problems. Bigger fans push more air at lower noise levels. Also look into an aftermarket cooler for that processor, stock coolers are just OK, you can get better performance with less noise.

Photo Editing is not really graphics card intensive, anything you have listed would be quite adequate or you could step down some to save a few dollars. Also look at the just released GTX 660, the latest mid line generation from nvidia, can be had for 300 and should be a little more future proof.

I would also shop around and find the best prices on all the parts, then assemble the system myself. It's not difficult, just take your time, most connectors are keyed to fit or labelled. It's not worth paying extra for parts/labor to get it built for you.

[danpass]

With the overkill I would consider that a good 7yr computer. 8gb ram = 4yrs, 16gb=5.5yrs that type of thing.

I did mine DIY, no problems. What you have seems like a decently researched build. I'd echo a great power supply with more wattage than needed and the larger case, stay with Antec.

Photo editing is processor intensive and video is graphics card intensive so go ahead and go whole hog there as RAWs and HD are only getter larger and heavier in bitrates.

[Hen3Ry]

Originally Posted by danpass

With the overkill I would consider that a good 7yr computer. 8gb ram = 4yrs, 16gb=5.5yrs that type of thing.

I did mine DIY, no problems. What you have seems like a decently researched build. I'd echo a great power supply with more wattage than needed and the larger case, stay with Antec.

Photo editing is processor intensive and video is graphics card intensive so go ahead and go whole hog there as RAWs and HD are only getter larger and heavier in bitrates.

+1.

Those drives are enterprise drives, which are, on average, significantly more reliable than desktop drives like the Caviar series. For the equivalent or better WD drives, you would pay more for Velociraptors, except the WD drives would be 2.5 inch drives built into heatsinks that spin at 10K instead of 7.2K. In either case, the odds of *not* losing data are significantly in your favor. There's no significant difference between the two drives you asked about, but their published specs are listed differently, so they can't be compared directly.

If you have the money, get the fastest stuff you can, realizing that it will be replaced with faster technology in 18 to 24 months. I'd say you want to be slightly behind the bleeding front edge of whatever's out there.

I'd get a better case and and, if you really are going to spend that much on PC speakers, get a silent power supply and fans. I use a fanless power supply and water cooling in a music studio, and there is literally no sound above ambient generated by the PC.

Modern motherboards can be had with built in graphics and sound, and if you add a high end video card, you should be able to run four to six monitors, depending. I hear that's good in the video world.


Think about putting it together yourself. It's very simple thing to put together, and plugs generally plug into an obvious spot, and are color coded and labeled. I'd say that if you can manage a complex camera, you ought to be able to put a new PC together yourself. There are tons of instructions on the internet, and it will probably pay for a monitor or two.

Oh yeah - I really like NZXT cases.

Check it out.

[rcfury]

Modern motherboards can be had with built in graphics and sound, and if you add a high end video card, you should be able to run four to six monitors, depending. I hear that's good in the video world.

Well in his original post he says has a lot of videos to process too.. When you are dealing with video editing thats when you need to start looking into higher end video cards and more memory.


anyway, looks like you did some research on your hardware list. i would stick with the ASUS p9x79-WS the rampage is too much board for what you will be doing with it. You could get away with the next level down from asus to save some money. I myself am a EVGA fan as ive been using their motherboards for my last few builds.

If you are doing video editing as i said above you might start looking into video cards. Without going into professional cards like the nivdia Quadro's (big $$$) you would be great with the gtx570. Adobe premerie loves the open GL architechure of the gtx 570.

While i think your hardware list is quite good for what you are doing you might want to look into the prices. Im sure you could get some very good memory for cheaper than you quoted just need to look around.

[-dave-m-]

If I was building a photo/video editing PC(not an all out professional rig with 10 bit graphics card) today I would probably go with the just released GTX 660Ti. Costs about 30 - 40 more than a GTX 560Ti but early reports show it to be the best bang/buck card right now.

[whitepony]

Thanks for the replies, they've been very helpful. After reading the responses and doing some more research I've altered my list a bit and come up with a few more questions. I think I'll stick with the 3930K processor and go with the Asus P9X79 WS for the motherboard since the consensus seems to be that the Rampage IV Extreme is overkill. As for the other components...

Memory -- Might stick with the Corsair Vengeance or go with the cheaper G.Skill Ripjaws Z Series instead since it's $30 less and has about the same number of positive/negative reviews as the Corsair. Thoughts? Any appreciable difference between the two?

SSD -- Another chance to save some money ($60 - $70) would be to change from the Intel 520 ($269) to either the Crucial M4 ($209) or the Samsung 830 ($199). Intel has the longest warranty and seems to have the best performance, but is it worth the extra 60 - 70 bucks over the other two SSDs which seem fairly comparable and have reviews as good as or better than the Intel 520?

Graphics Card -- The GTX 660 Ti has been recommended a few times in this thread, and for $40 more than the GTX 570 but with notably superior specs (and more future proof as -dave-m- said) I'm leaning towards the MSI N660 Ti PE 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card for $299

Internal Hard Drive -- It seems that the Seagate Constellation ES drives might be a bit overpriced/overkill. After doing some research I found this review which compares the WD Caviar Black, the WD RE4 and the Seagate Constellation ES and, despite the Seagate being the most expensive of the three, it seems to have the worst performance overall. Also, here's another comparative review that shows the WD RE4 beating out the Seagate Constellation overall. The WD Caviar Black is $179.95 and the WD RE4 is $201.41 (found it cheaper on another site) vs $239.99 (plus shipping) for the Seagate Constellation ES. So, as of now, I'm leaning toward two 2TB WD RE4s for my internal drives, but if I should go for something else let me know.

Case -- Looks like my previous selection for the case was the biggest issue. I'm still pretty clueless about what cases might be better (i.e. roomier with more airflow) but, looking through the best reviewed cases on Newegg these three seemed like good possibilities: Antec 1200 V3 Full Tower ($174.98), Cooler Master HAF 932 Full Tower ($154.98) and Antec 900 Mid Tower ($79.99). Would these work with the components I've selected? Could I get away with a mid tower like the Antec 900 or would I be better off with a full tower like the Antec 1200 or HAF 932? Also feel free to recommend any other model out there instead, I'm not sold on any of these three models by any means.

Power Supply Unit -- I really have no idea what PSU would be best for my needs...assuming I need something between 700 and 800W (and that's pretty much just a random assumption -- please tell me if I need more or less), and looking at only models with good reviews on Newegg, there are still tons of choices and I'm having a hard time telling the difference between a lot of them. For example, there's the ENERMAX Platimax EPM750AWT 750W for $229, the Corsair CORSAIR CMPSU-750HX 750W for $134, the CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W for $109 or the Diablotek PSUL775 775W for $55 and I don't have any real sense which would be best suited for me or how much it really matters. Any help on this, especially recommendations of specific models, would be much appreciated.

Thanks again for the help!

[-dave-m-]

Originally Posted by whitepony

Thanks for the replies, they've been very helpful. After reading the responses and doing some more research I've altered my list a bit and come up with a few more questions. I think I'll stick with the 3930K processor and go with the Asus P9X79 WS for the motherboard since the consensus seems to be that the Rampage IV Extreme is overkill. As for the other components...

Unless you had planned to do some heavy overclocking the Rampage IV is total overkill, so dropping down here is a good place to save some money.

Memory -- Might stick with the Corsair Vengeance or go with the cheaper G.Skill Ripjaws Z Series instead since it's $30 less and has about the same number of positive/negative reviews as the Corsair. Thoughts? Any appreciable difference between the two?

Pretty much the same here, unless you plan to overclock no need to pay extra for RAM, any decent RAM will do fine at stock speeds.

SSD -- Another chance to save some money ($60 - $70) would be to change from the Intel 520 ($269) to either the Crucial M4 ($209) or the Samsung 830 ($199). Intel has the longest warranty and seems to have the best performance, but is it worth the extra 60 - 70 bucks over the other two SSDs which seem fairly comparable and have reviews as good as or better than the Intel 520?

I have three different PC's runing a SSD as the primary drive, all three run different models. I have an older Patriot Pyro, a Patriot Inferno and an OCZ Vertex 2. The Pyro and Vertex 2 have been rock solid since day 1. The Inferno was brand new to the market when I bought it and suffered from some firmware issues. I never lost any data on it but would get random lockups that required a complete power down to recover from. Firmware has fixed this and haven't had a problem since. Many use the same controller and chips, do some research and buy a brand you feel comfortable with.

Graphics Card -- The GTX 660 Ti has been recommended a few times in this thread, and for $40 more than the GTX 570 but with notably superior specs (and more future proof as -dave-m- said) I'm leaning towards the MSI N660 Ti PE 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card for $299

IMHO this is a no brainer. I will probably be picking up a 660Ti soon enough for my main PC.

Internal Hard Drive -- It seems that the Seagate Constellation ES drives might be a bit overpriced/overkill. After doing some research I found this review which compares the WD Caviar Black, the WD RE4 and the Seagate Constellation ES and, despite the Seagate being the most expensive of the three, it seems to have the worst performance overall. Also, here's another comparative review that shows the WD RE4 beating out the Seagate Constellation overall. The WD Caviar Black is $179.95 and the WD RE4 is $201.41 (found it cheaper on another site) vs $239.99 (plus shipping) for the Seagate Constellation ES. So, as of now, I'm leaning toward two 2TB WD RE4s for my internal drives, but if I should go for something else let me know.

All my critical data is backed up to Archival Grade DVD's, other than that I have a mix of WD Blue and Black and Seagate drives. Nothing special. I have never had a WD drive fail on me, but that's just luck.

Case -- Looks like my previous selection for the case was the biggest issue. I'm still pretty clueless about what cases might be better (i.e. roomier with more airflow) but, looking through the best reviewed cases on Newegg these three seemed like good possibilities: Antec 1200 V3 Full Tower ($174.98), Cooler Master HAF 932 Full Tower ($154.98) and Antec 900 Mid Tower ($79.99). Would these work with the components I've selected? Could I get away with a mid tower like the Antec 900 or would I be better off with a full tower like the Antec 1200 or HAF 932? Also feel free to recommend any other model out there instead, I'm not sold on any of these three models by any means.

I'm probably a bad guy to get advice from on a case. I have a couple monsters. My main system is in a Cooler Master HAF X, my secondary system is in a Thermaltake Xaser VI. If you have space I would go for the Cooler Master HAF 932 or the Cooler Master HAF XM Mid. Good cases that can use 200mm fans. 200mm fans give good airflow at low noise. Both cases draw air up the bottom through the PSU, so be sure you have good airflow if it's placed on carpet.

Power Supply Unit -- I really have no idea what PSU would be best for my needs...assuming I need something between 700 and 800W (and that's pretty much just a random assumption -- please tell me if I need more or less), and looking at only models with good reviews on Newegg, there are still tons of choices and I'm having a hard time telling the difference between a lot of them. For example, there's the ENERMAX Platimax EPM750AWT 750W for $229, the Corsair CORSAIR CMPSU-750HX 750W for $134, the CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W for $109 or the Diablotek PSUL775 775W for $55 and I don't have any real sense which would be best suited for me or how much it really matters. Any help on this, especially recommendations of specific models, would be much appreciated.

A good PSU is like a good case. It doesn't have to be a onetime build and done. I have an Enermax Infiniti 720 that's in it's third build. My main PC has a Corsair AX850, but I'm running dual graphics cards and watercooling. Something like the Corsair HX650 or HX750 should be lots. I would definatly go with a modular PSU. It makes cable management a breeze.

Thanks again for the help!

These are just my opinions, others will vary. Good luck with your build and feel free to ask more questions.

[Evan Idler]

Originally Posted by whitepony

Thanks for the replies, they've been very helpful. After reading the responses and doing some more research I've altered my list a bit and come up with a few more questions. I think I'll stick with the 3930K processor and go with the Asus P9X79 WS for the motherboard since the consensus seems to be that the Rampage IV Extreme is overkill. As for the other components...

Memory -- Might stick with the Corsair Vengeance or go with the cheaper G.Skill Ripjaws Z Series instead since it's $30 less and has about the same number of positive/negative reviews as the Corsair. Thoughts? Any appreciable difference between the two?

SSD -- Another chance to save some money ($60 - $70) would be to change from the Intel 520 ($269) to either the Crucial M4 ($209) or the Samsung 830 ($199). Intel has the longest warranty and seems to have the best performance, but is it worth the extra 60 - 70 bucks over the other two SSDs which seem fairly comparable and have reviews as good as or better than the Intel 520?

Graphics Card -- The GTX 660 Ti has been recommended a few times in this thread, and for $40 more than the GTX 570 but with notably superior specs (and more future proof as -dave-m- said) I'm leaning towards the MSI N660 Ti PE 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card for $299

Internal Hard Drive -- It seems that the Seagate Constellation ES drives might be a bit overpriced/overkill. After doing some research I found this review which compares the WD Caviar Black, the WD RE4 and the Seagate Constellation ES and, despite the Seagate being the most expensive of the three, it seems to have the worst performance overall. Also, here's another comparative review that shows the WD RE4 beating out the Seagate Constellation overall. The WD Caviar Black is $179.95 and the WD RE4 is $201.41 (found it cheaper on another site) vs $239.99 (plus shipping) for the Seagate Constellation ES. So, as of now, I'm leaning toward two 2TB WD RE4s for my internal drives, but if I should go for something else let me know.

Case -- Looks like my previous selection for the case was the biggest issue. I'm still pretty clueless about what cases might be better (i.e. roomier with more airflow) but, looking through the best reviewed cases on Newegg these three seemed like good possibilities: Antec 1200 V3 Full Tower ($174.98), Cooler Master HAF 932 Full Tower ($154.98) and Antec 900 Mid Tower ($79.99). Would these work with the components I've selected? Could I get away with a mid tower like the Antec 900 or would I be better off with a full tower like the Antec 1200 or HAF 932? Also feel free to recommend any other model out there instead, I'm not sold on any of these three models by any means.

Power Supply Unit -- I really have no idea what PSU would be best for my needs...assuming I need something between 700 and 800W (and that's pretty much just a random assumption -- please tell me if I need more or less), and looking at only models with good reviews on Newegg, there are still tons of choices and I'm having a hard time telling the difference between a lot of them. For example, there's the ENERMAX Platimax EPM750AWT 750W for $229, the Corsair CORSAIR CMPSU-750HX 750W for $134, the CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W for $109 or the Diablotek PSUL775 775W for $55 and I don't have any real sense which would be best suited for me or how much it really matters. Any help on this, especially recommendations of specific models, would be much appreciated.

Thanks again for the help!

I just built almost the exact same system as you are building and love the
increase in performance over my old system which was a lonely Core 2
Duo system that I built 5 years ago, and was in need of replacement.

The difference from your build is I used the Asus P9X79 board, as I didn't
need any of the features of the PRO or WS version and the I7-3820.
The Board and CPU cost me $477.00 CDN on sale.

The CPU DOES NOT come with a heatsink so I used the Noctua nh-d14 se2011
which is a big beast, but runs very quietly and cool.

As for Memory, since the board has 8 memory slots I used all 8
with 2 HyperX Genesis 16GB PC3-12800 Quad Channel DDR3 Kits (4 x 4GB)
to save some memory as it was cheap at $89.00 a set.

For the case I used the Antec P280, which has great airflow
and more than enough drive bays. And the case is nice and
light with the polycarbonate side panels too. Cost $99.00

And for the power supply I used a Antec HCP-1200 as I picked them up
a few months earlier on sale for $169.00. I'm kicking myself now for not
getting a few more

I picked up some GeForce GTX 550 TI OC Edition 1GB PCI-E w/ VGA, DVI, HDMI
for $89.00 each, to hold me over for the new 680's to come out and drop a little
in price. But I'm quite happy with them as they are, so I'm in no hurry to upgrade
them yet.

Almost forgot the hard drives I've been using are the Hitachi 2tb deskstar 7k3000 sata iii w/ 64mb cache
which give me good performance and have been quite reliable for me. Not quite as
fast the WD RE4 but a heck of a lot cheaper too.

--Evan

[tim]

Thoughts:
- You don't need a huge graphics card, unless you're doing a lot of video work. A 610 or something like that would be fine for photography.
- SSD looks fine. You could get a second one to put the images you're working on right now onto, as spreading the load across multiple disks is best for performance. Spinning disks are fine for raw files generally, it'd just give you a tiny bit more performance.
- You don't need enterprize disks, get Seagate Barracua or Western Digital Black.
- Monitor - Dell LED with a Spyder 4 express.
- Speakers - Audio Engine 2 or AE5. They're compact and sound good, read up the reviews.
- Not sure the six core processor is necessary. Four hyperthreaded cores is plenty, and cheaper. My i7 2700K rarely gets over about 40% processor used, except for transcoding video.

[Bob_A]

Whitepony, what monitor(s) are you using?

If you have a NEC or Eizo you may want to get an ATI FirePro or nvidia equivalent graphics card (with DisplayPort and ability to take advantage of the 10 bit LUT). If you aren't using high end monitors such as those then 30 bit doesn't gain you anything.

I haven't found any non-workstation cards with DisplayPort that are 30 bit. NEC provides a small application to test if your video card is 30 bit at the bottom left of this page: http://www.necdisplay.com/p/desktop-monitors/pa241w-bk (Downloads tab then under Software, called 10 Bit Color Depth Demon Application).

Here's a pdf from the AMD site: http://www.amd.com/la/Documents/4810...Q_R5_Final.pdf

I have a NEC PA241W, and the next card I get will likely be something like the FirePro V4800 or V4900 that supports 30 bit and has dual DisplayPort (~$160 Cdn). I don't do gaming or video.

Edit: If you like nvidia, here are the cards that support 30bit:

GT200GL
Quadro FX 5800
Quadro FX 4800
Quadro CX
Quadro FX 3800
G94GL
Quadro FX 1800
G96GL
Quadro FX 580

[whitepony]

Originally Posted by Evan Idler

The CPU DOES NOT come with a heatsink so I used the Noctua nh-d14 se2011 which is a big beast, but runs very quietly and cool.

Is a cooling system absolutely necessary if I won't be overclocking? And would the added room and airflow in a full tower case like the Cooler Master HAF 932 Full Tower be enough to keep it cool or would I still need an additional cooler?

Originally Posted by Bob_A

Whitepony, what monitor(s) are you using?

If you have a NEC or Eizo you may want to get an ATI FirePro or nvidia equivalent graphics card (with DisplayPort and ability to take advantage of the 10 bit LUT). If you aren't using high end monitors such as those then 30 bit doesn't gain you anything.

I haven't found any non-workstation cards with DisplayPort that are 30 bit. NEC provides a small application to test if your video card is 30 bit at the bottom left of this page: http://www.necdisplay.com/p/desktop-monitors/pa241w-bk (Downloads tab then under Software, called 10 Bit Color Depth Demon Application).

Here's a pdf from the AMD site: http://www.amd.com/la/Documents/4810...Q_R5_Final.pdf

I have a NEC PA241W, and the next card I get will likely be something like the FirePro V4800 or V4900 that supports 30 bit and has dual DisplayPort (~$160 Cdn). I don't do gaming or video.

Edit: If you like nvidia, here are the cards that support 30bit:

GT200GL
Quadro FX 5800
Quadro FX 4800
Quadro CX
Quadro FX 3800
G94GL
Quadro FX 1800
G96GL
Quadro FX 580

I haven't yet decided on which monitor to get -- right now I've got a NEC LCD1990SXi that's getting pretty old but I think I'll still use it as a secondary monitor. For a new primary monitor I'm currently considering four models (but am still open to other suggestions):

• NEC P241W-BK-SV
• NEC PA241W-BK-SV
• NEC PA271W-BK-SV
• Eizo ColorEdge CG243W

Of those, only one isn't 10-bit (the P241W), so I'll definitely keep your advice in mind in case I get one of the other three. By the way, if anyone wants to help me out with a monitor choice here's another thread where I go over my needs and what exactly I'm looking for in a monitor (it's kinda long so I won't paste it all here).

Thanks again!

[Bob_A]

The P241W is standard gamut and the PA241W is wide gamut. The only 24" monitor that I know of that is as good as or a bit better than the PA241W is the higher cost Eizo. Here's some decent reading that may help:

http://www.imagescience.com.au/kb/qu...y+Imaging+Work

The information is good, but keep in mind that they sell NEC and Eizo, so it's also a bit of an advertisment My own conclusion from looking at different monitors, reading reviews, forums and specs was that there wasn't enough difference for me to justify buying the Eizo CG243W over the NEC PA241W. My NEC has been perfect. No dead pixels no backlight bleeding, nothing but goodness.

If you buy the PA series NEC be sure to get the SV model (with SpectraView).

[ceremus]

Originally Posted by whitepony

Is a cooling system absolutely necessary if I won't be overclocking? And would the added room and airflow in a full tower case like the Cooler Master HAF 932 Full Tower be enough to keep it cool or would I still need an additional cooler?

Every CPU has to have a cooling device of some kind. You don't need to install anything over the top like a water cooling system, but at a bare minimum you need a heatsink that is actively cooled by a fan.