What do I really need in a PC?

01Ryan10 wrote in post #17685288
I will add my 2 cents for a LightRoom based computer...

Get the highest amount of cores and clock speed you can if you plan on exporting or batching a lot of pictures. An i7-4790K is great when you start Exporting or batching. You really won't notice the speed of this processor anywhere else. You could get a much "cheaper" processor and almost not notice a difference, but it's all about the Export and batch functions.

Primary/OS drive should be a SSD.

Secondary Drive can be as slow as a 7200RPM hard drive to store all of your RAW and exported pictures on is fine. When exporting, your processor will always be the bottleneck, not the hard drive, even at the old 7200RPM speed. Of course importing or copying to this drive from your camera's memory card will take longer, it won't have a speed affect once working in Lightroom.

This is true if you're doing large batches daily or at least really frequently, or need them done fast for jobs... but imo, not a good reason to dish out loads of extra cash.

My nearly 5 year old Phenom II 1090T with 8GB of 1333mhz RAM will import or export 800 shots (though admittedly 12mp shots usually since I use an a7S) in about 5-10 minutes (I've never timed it, because it's never been slow enough to bother me). I just click import/export and watch a Youtube video, then it's good to go... worth saving the extra $200+ imo.

Once again, thank you all for the responses!

Another question:

I am interested in the Dellast P2415Q 24" 4k monitor. What hardware do I need to run this monitor? What graphics cards??

birder_herper wrote in post #17686660
Once again, thank you all for the responses!

Another question:

I am interested in the Dellast P2415Q 24" 4k monitor. What hardware do I need to run this monitor? What graphics cards??

It's pretty simple, if your motherboard or GPU have a Displayport 1.2 connector in either the standard or mini variant, you'll be able to drive a 4K display at 60hz.

Whether your system will actually run smoothly at that resolution is another question, but for simple things like rendering the Windows desktop and program UI elements, I think that even the CPU's integrated graphics might be enough.

If you want, you can always throw in a cheap GPU with DP1.2 in case you want to be safe, the Intel integrated graphics aren't super reliable.

this card is 2160p/4K compatable
http://www.newegg.com …aspx?Item=N82E1​6814127851

Bleufire wrote in post #17686715
this card is 2160p/4K compatable
http://www.newegg.com …aspx?Item=N82E1​6814127851

Dual-link DVI - it'll run the display at 30hz. You absolutely positively need either Displayport 1.2 or HDMI 2.0 to run 4K at 60hz.

You might also check to see that the video card has dual Displayport outs, in case you ever plan to add a second monitor. I just added a second monitor and had to upgrade to a GeForce GTX960 for the additional out.

Also consider the real estate on a 16:10 vs. a 16:9 aspect ratio monitor. The difference between a 27" and 30" monitor is greater than I expected.

I would consider a Dell refurbished/scratch-dent unit from the Dell outlet. You should be able to get an Haswell i5 with 8 Gb RAM at the minimum, and likely an i7 with 16 Gb RAM if shop diligently within your budget. Sign up for Dell Outlet email coupons and watch for coupons on Twitter and Facebook too. These usually take about 25%-30% off (but I think they usually raise the prices a bit before the coupons go out). You will be unlikely to upgrade the CPU later since it will likely necessitate a motherboard change, so I would spring for the i7 if you can so you can get the most useful life out of your computer. You will probably have to add the SSD yourself, as most do not come with one ( a few do though). The SSD primarily affects boot up times for the computer, opening programs (Photoshop and Lightroom), opening images and saving images. While working on images, the processor speed and having adequate RAM is the most important.