time for a new PC

my pc is getting old and LR and PSCC or starting to really drag.

What Im looking for is not the biggest and best. just a solid performer that will last a few years. I intend to get a SSD. what board, processor, how much ram, what video card to make a very cost conscious editing PC?

strictly images and while i have been known to dabble in some composite imagery i wont be dealing with crazy files sizes on a regular basis. no gaming, no video, and no urge to do either :P

i just want to edit and listen to spotify without pulling out my hair.

TIA

Mike

My 2 cents
Pick a Intel Z170 chipset board that offers the features you need. Pick a Skylake series processor
that offers the features you need. If you have the budget and want to seriously soup it up, add a M.2 SSD (Samsung 950 Pro). You could take a more conventional path and use a regular Sata III or a conventional spinning drive depending on your budget.

I am in the process of sorting out the details on a new build. As of right now I am vectored in on the
following:
Asus Z170 Pro
Intel Core I7 6700 LGA 1151
Samsung 950 Pro (256GB)
16 GB DDR4-probably Kingston
WD Black 2TB
Antec 900 Case

Regards,

110yd

if i went with a conventional drive and supplemented with an SSD how large of a SSD would be good for an LR cache and PS scratch disk?

My current build uses a 256GB Sata drive for the programs and OS. The data is on a separate spinning drive (2 TB WD Black). The SSD I am currently using is roughly one third filled. (two thirds empty) The Photoshop and Lightroom Cache are on the SSD.

Regards,

110yd

Any i5 or i7 processing with the first number 4 or better, with 6 being the current generation I think, will be fine. Get 16GB RAM, USB Type C, and an SSD. Suggest Samsung 850 GB SSD, but partition it so your OS and programs (with scratch and swap) have around 100GB, and the rest is used for catalog and such. That means you can take a Macrium Reflect image for quick OS restores and not have a bunch of rubbish on the disk enlarging the image. I just use two smaller SSDs.

Get a spinning disk for bulk data, like RAW files, and another as backup. I get a low to midrange nVidia card, 920 or something, helps a little sometimes.

Make sure you get RAM that is on the motherboard compatibility list, or just buy a prebuilt machine - Dell, Lenovo, HP, etc.

I agree for the most part....The exception being the use of the SSD. There is an enormous performance gain by using the M.2 slot with 4 PCIe lanes interface. I don't know if older generation mother boards will have a M.2 (x4) interface, but there are aftermarket expansion cards. If you buy an older motherboard, and use the expansion card to get the M.2 (x4) interface, make sure your motherboard will boot from PCIe.

Regards,

110yd

Lots of good advice. I 2nd the M.2 ssd. I built my new computer after Thanksgiving '15, picked up lots black friday deals. Asus Z170A MB, Samsung 950 Pro M.2, and a Samsung 850 Evo 500gb, Intel Skylake I5 6500, and 32gb GSkill DDR4 memory, Nvidia EVGA GTX970.

Again, I highly recommend the M.2 they are screaming fast, you dont realize how fast they are until you own and use it for a while, then go back to an SSD. Similar feeling when you went from a mechanical HD to an SSD.

I've built several computers and I'm an ASUS fan. I've always had good luck with them, and of course you cant go wrong with Intel processors. Spec out a system on Newegg.

If you need to save some money then look at Asus MB and AMD processors excellent bang for your buck.

Video cards look at Nvidia GTX960 or 970 series, and the AMD Radeon R9 380, 380x, 390. They are in the 200-300 dollar range. And you cant go wrong with either, the AMD tend to draw more power than the Nvidia. You would need to make sure you have a 500-550watt power supply. Since you dont game you shouldnt need more than that.

Depending on the age of your current system you might need to check in to a new power supply, the as you might not have enough of the right connectors. My Asus has an 8 pin cpu connector, and my old supply only had a 6pin so I had to get a new supply.

Good luck.

110yd wrote in post #17919868
I agree for the most part....The exception being the use of the SSD. There is an enormous performance gain by using the M.2 slot with 4 PCIe lanes interface. I don't know if older generation mother boards will have a M.2 (x4) interface, but there are aftermarket expansion cards. If you buy an older motherboard, and use the expansion card to get the M.2 (x4) interface, make sure your motherboard will boot from PCIe.

What's the practical gain from an M2 SSD? Theoretical gains are nice, but potentially pointless. Can you process images faster in LR? They're less compatible, which probably isn't a big issue. If they're about the same price and faster I'd probably get one instead of SATA, if my motherboard supported them.

I will try to answer the question by pointing you at the transfer speed specs for the Samsung 950 Pro.
http://www.samsung.com …50pro/specifica​tions.html
Versus
http://www.samsung.com …50pro/specifica​tions.html

I don't have access to test equipment to verify Samsung's spec on the transfer speed, but I anticipate building a new editing machine after I return from WPPI. I spent a reasonable amount of time digesting specs, and talking with Samsung and Intel engineers at the CES trade show. I have done my homework and am convinced the speed is worth the price.
I really like my Samsung 850 Pro in the current machine, but there is something MUCH faster.

The magic key is M.2 and 4 lane PCIe.
EDIT:
Below is a link that might state the current spec status a little clearer than my attempt.
http://www.pcworld.com …ver-huge-performance.html

Hope this helps,

110yd

110yd wrote in post #17920074
I will try to answer the question by pointing you at the transfer speed specs for the Samsung 950 Pro.
http://www.samsung.com …50pro/specifica​tions.html
Versus
http://www.samsung.com …50pro/specifica​tions.html

I don't have access to test equipment to verify Samsung's spec on the transfer speed, but I anticipate building a new editing machine after I return from WPPI. I spent a reasonable amount of time digesting specs, and talking with Samsung and Intel engineers at the CES trade show. I have done my homework and am convinced the speed is worth the price.
I really like my Samsung 850 Pro in the current machine, but there is something MUCH faster.

The magic key is M.2 and 4 lane PCIe.

Hope this helps,

110yd

I have a Z170/6700k with a 950 Pro and a Z97/4790k with an 850 Pro, do not expect the performance gains to be as big as the specs would have you believe. Using them side by side you would not tell the difference for the majority of everyday real world computing. Both PC's have boot times within a second or so, apps and games launch with very similar speed. The largest gains are seen in benchmarks, handling 500MB+ files or large batches of files when the read and write is to the same drive. The reason for this is because most everyday computing involves reading random small files, the performance difference in 4K random read/write is much closer between the two than with Peak Sequential read/write. The peak numbers are always what companies quote, not the real world performance numbers.

is there a big difference between the i5 and i7 for editing especially with a dedicated graphics card?

mike_311 wrote in post #17920327
is there a big difference between the i5 and i7 for editing especially with a dedicated graphics card?

I think you'll see more performance gains by getting an i7 and no dedicated graphics rather than an i5 with dedicated graphics. And the price difference is about equal.

If you're going with the newer i5 or i7 (LGA1151) then they all have integrated graphics on the processor. I have an i5-6500 with no dedicated graphics card and have been happy with it's performance with LR. The integrated graphics is capable, albeit not a powerhouse. But, you won't be gaming so I don't think a graphics card would really give you much bang for you buck.

mike_311 wrote in post #17920327
is there a big difference between the i5 and i7 for editing especially with a dedicated graphics card?

For your described usage I would go with an i7 and use the integrated graphics. You can always add in a dedicated graphics card in the future if required. In order of performance gains for just photo editing I would rate processor speed most important, number of cores second and a dedicated gpu third. Currently not all editing tasks will use multiple cores or the gpu, software rarely keeps pace with hardware improvements.

thanks I was wondering if an integrated graphic would be good enough with an i7 if I dont game or do any really tough post processing tasks or use 3d software.

mike_311 wrote in post #17920417
thanks I was wondering if an integrated graphic would be good enough with an i7 if I dont game or do any really tough post processing tasks or use 3d software.

It should be plenty. I do a bit of gaming and the integrated graphics doesn't quite keep up but otherwise I've been more than happy. I'm even running a dual screen setup, one at 1920x1080, the other at 2560x1440 and LR is nice and snappy when editing RAW files.