Buying a new PC for photo processing, need some help.

It is time to upgrade my 8 year old slooow desktop. I would like to keep the purchase of a new machine on a reasonable budget, $1500 max but less than $1000 would be preferred. I am not interested in building a PC myself but would be okay with performing RAM or SSD upgrades myself. I recently purchased a decent IPS display, so I do not need to factor that into the cost. PC, no Mac. Limited video editing, mostly stills using Adobe CC. What would you guys say is the bottom I should be looking at for processor specs, processor core count, RAM and GPU, SSD size, but still be buying a decent machine I will not have to replace in the next few years? AMD vs Intel processor?

My laptop recently died, I do not really need one, but did think about buying a quality laptop for processing and keeping my archaic desktop for surfing, music, etc. Thoughts on a laptop vs desktop? I would use my monitor with the laptop for any serious editing. And I will restate that I do not really need a laptop (I use the wife's or my tablet), but thought it might be convenient to have the ability to view and process my images when I am away from home.

I plan on upgrading my camera in the next year or so, a 5dsr or A7rii, so I will be working with larger files sometime soon, if that makes any difference?

If the new hardware you are considering has a conventional hard drive, you are likely better off putting an SSD into your existing desktop. It is absolutely amazing the performance improvement you can get. Many people say increase RAM but in my experience the SSD is considerably better as an upgrade. Additionally, if you purchase with a migration kit, it is very easy to accomplish.

If the new hardware you are considering has an SSD, or a hybrid drive, then that is a different matter. Get the new hardware. You might stretch your dollars some by checking the Dell laptops that are in the outlet store. Check http://www.dell.com …us/en/22/campai​gns/outlet.

If you don't need a laptop then get an i5 or i7 desktop as you'll get a lot bigger bang for your buck. A desktop is also easier to upgrade.

Make sure it comes with a good SSD for the boot drive (~250 GB) and an HDD for data (at least 1 TB). If you don't run a lot of RAM hungry operations at the same time you'll get by with 8GB. RAM is so inexpensive now I wouldn't buy a machine with less than 16GB unless I was on a tight budget.

This Dell would work well. Basically, i7, 16GB RAM (32 is maybe nice but not necessary), and an nVidia graphics card. The one in that machine is midrange which is all you need.

Add a Samsung 850 SSD, evo or pro, 120GB is fine for OS and program. I suggest partitioning off say 80GB for OS and programs (mine is 40GB and that's fine), using the rest for cache, scratch, swap, and images. Actually what I do is have one entire drive for OS/Programs and another SSD for all those things, plus data that's currently being worked on. I do this so I can take compact backup of the OS using Macrium Reflect Free.

HP and Lenovo are also good brands.

Thanks for the great feedback.

I will stick with the desktop idea. Looks like an SSD is a must. I am not familiar with how to partition a drive, but I am sure I can figure it out. No mention of AMD processors in the responses, is Intel the way to go?

Thoughts on these? I do not have to purchase at Best Buy, but I have a large gift card I would like to use to help offset the cost a little;

http://www.bestbuy.com …19770993823&sku​Id=4575223

http://www.bestbuy.com …d=bb4294501&sku​Id=4294501

http://www.bestbuy.com …19756371239&sku​Id=4513605

The first one looks good, except AMD. Intel are much faster these days, though AMD are cheaper and solid. You don't need gamer spec, they put in huge graphics cards that don't help anyone else. i7 (ideally a 4xxx 5xxx or 6xxx), SSD, 16GB RAM, that's all that really matters. Not sure about quality of those machines, and I find lights and stuff annoying.

Third one is probably better than the first, after thinking about it for an extra ten seconds.

HighPlainsPhotographer wrote in post #17808724
Thanks for the great feedback.

I will stick with the desktop idea. Looks like an SSD is a must. I am not familiar with how to partition a drive, but I am sure I can figure it out. No mention of AMD processors in the responses, is Intel the way to go?

Thoughts on these? I do not have to purchase at Best Buy, but I have a large gift card I would like to use to help offset the cost a little;

http://www.bestbuy.com …19770993823&sku​Id=4575223

http://www.bestbuy.com …d=bb4294501&sku​Id=4294501

http://www.bestbuy.com …19756371239&sku​Id=4513605

I agree with Tim and would prefer Intel over AMD. Also I feel a 120GB boot drive for the 1st and 3rd is too small, especially if you run LR and keep your catalog files and previews on it (which is where they should be for speed). Try to get one with a 250GB SSD for a boot drive. The second choice doesn't appear to have a SSD and comes with a 2TB HDD instead.


Here's one from the same manufacturer you've been looking at from Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com …aspx?Item=N82E1​6883230099

Just wish it had 16GB RAM. You don't need a "gaming" computer though, although the only thing I see that's "gaming" with these are the lit up cases and possibly the keyboards.

Thanks for the continued feedback. I am leaning towards an Intel machine. I will add an SSD if the machine I buy does not have one, looks like I would be better of adding my own anyway as most of the machines in my price range have smaller SSD's.

I have a question about cache memory, what is it and is it important for CC use and how much do I want? I see machines with 4, 6 and 8mb of cache memory.

HighPlainsPhotographer wrote in post #17809288
Thanks for the continued feedback. I am leaning towards an Intel machine. I will add an SSD if the machine I buy does not have one, looks like I would be better of adding my own anyway as most of the machines in my price range have smaller SSD's.

I have a question about cache memory, what is it and is it important for CC use and how much do I want? I see machines with 4, 6 and 8mb of cache memory.

You can essentially ignore the cache memory. While it is essential it's not something you should consider during purchase. Just buy a computer with a modern i5 or i7.

I ordered this http://www.bestbuy.com …19757968963&sku​Id=4524202

I want to buy an SSD too, 250gb has been recommended and they are not very expensive. I have also read it is helpful to have two SSD's? What/how many should I get?

HighPlainsPhotographer wrote in post #17816447
I ordered this http://www.bestbuy.com …19757968963&sku​Id=4524202

I want to buy an SSD too, 250gb has been recommended and they are not very expensive. I have also read it is helpful to have two SSD's? What/how many should I get?

Personally I would get closer to a 500GB SSD and forgo a second drive entirely and instead use cloud and external storage when necessary. I personally don't find it to be any more convenient to transfer files to the internal HDD from the SSD when space is limited than it would be to just put them on an external drive. Usually the files you would be putting on the second drive are files you won't readily need, so why have them in the computer anyway? The performance difference between an SSD and HDD is pretty drastic, I hate using anything off of my HDD now that I've been spoiled by the SSD.

Just my $0.02

EverydayGetaway wrote in post #17816503
Personally I would get closer to a 500GB SSD and forgo a second drive entirely and instead use cloud and external storage when necessary. I personally don't find it to be any more convenient to transfer files to the internal HDD from the SSD when space is limited than it would be to just put them on an external drive. Usually the files you would be putting on the second drive are files you won't readily need, so why have them in the computer anyway? The performance difference between an SSD and HDD is pretty drastic, I hate using anything off of my HDD now that I've been spoiled by the SSD.

Just my $0.02

Thanks for your $0.02 Much appreciated.

I can do a 500gb SSD, is the Samsung 850 EVO okay? The Pro model is a little spendy for me. One drive is adequate? Are they much trouble to install and get all of my CC stuff running off of them and set it up so my pic files go to it?

And one more dumb question: no card reader on the PC I am buying, how about this http://www.amazon.com …LFNB&coliid=IYT​C7GFAUIEJC Or should I use something like this http://www.amazon.com …FNB&coliid=I1XL​65UC886FT0

HighPlainsPhotographer wrote in post #17816447
I ordered this http://www.bestbuy.com …19757968963&sku​Id=4524202

I want to buy an SSD too, 250gb has been recommended and they are not very expensive. I have also read it is helpful to have two SSD's? What/how many should I get?

I have two 120GB drives. One is OS & programs (only takes 40GB or so) and one is caches, email, virtual machines, any data. I just don't want my OS disk bloated with data because I image it occasionally and i want small images. You could get one larger SSD and partition it.

HighPlainsPhotographer wrote in post #17816512
Thanks for your $0.02 Much appreciated.

I can do a 500gb SSD, is the Samsung 850 EVO okay? The Pro model is a little spendy for me. One drive is adequate? Are they much trouble to install and get all of my CC stuff running off of them and set it up so my pic files go to it?

I have two Samsung 850 EVO's that I've been using since the summer. Both seem fine to me, but time will tell. Samsung has a really good warranty.

The Samsung EVO comes with software to be able to clone your HDD boot drive to the new SSD so you don't have to reload all of your applications. For doing this it seems to work as well as Macrium Reflect Free.

Whether you get a 250GB or 500GB SSD kind of depends on what you already have for HDD capacity. My main PC has several terabytes of HDD space (WD Caviar Blacks), two of the drives in RAID 1, plus I have an Intel SSD from an old box that I've configured as my primary scratch disk for Photoshop. So for that machine I didn't need more than a 250 GB SSD for a boot drive. On the other hand I have a laptop where I only want to work off of one drive, so I installed a 500 GB EVO.