Nee Input on building new system

If I make the move to Adobe CC LR/PS i am going to need a new system as my old AMD system is at least 5+ years old. I use Lightroom but I have never used Photoshop so maybe it's time to learn. I only process photo's, no video, and no gaming. My old system is my last build so been awhile. I put togeather this from PCparts picker which totals out to $826.00.

My question is will this do the job? Overkill/no enough? Kinda stretching my budget at this $$$ level. Any suggests welcome.

Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Asus H170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Memory G.Skill NT Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory
Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card
Case Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

Randy

You can go to a lower motherboard, pro gaming will be expensive and have features you don't need. Look for a board from a good brand (Asus, Gigabyte, etc) with a good modern chipset, the right socket for your CPU, enough SATA and USB3 / USB C ports. Maybe something like this, but I really haven't spent any time looking and I haven't kept up to date since I built my last PC a few years back. Comparison here.

You don't need a video card at all, and definitely not a $160 one. There may be a small gain getting one, but if you do make it nVidia based and low range. 9x0 and make the x the second from the bottom of the range, if not the bottom. 1GB RAM is plenty, 2GB doesn't hurt, more is a waste. But you can use the one built into the CPU just fine and add one later if you need to.

650+ PSU is overkill, but won't hurt and price isn't much more. I doubt your PC will ever use more than 200W of power. Modular is handy.

The rest looks good - good CPU, cooler, SSD. You could get the pro series SSD which is meant to last longer, but it's mostly theoretical, and by the time this wears out 1TB is probably going to be the same price as this. Also check the motherboard compatibility list for RAM selection, they only test with limited modules. Most should work, but RAM is tricky.

Use HCI Memtest at least overnight once it's built, to find dodgy RAM. Memtest x86 didn't find my faulty RAM. HCI only tests 2GB of RAM at once, in the free version, so you need to run 7 instances at 2GB to test the ram, plus maybe another instance set to only test 1GB.

Pauhana wrote in post #18108325
If I make the move to Adobe CC LR/PS i am going to need a new system as my old AMD system is at least 5+ years old. I use Lightroom but I have never used Photoshop so maybe it's time to learn. I only process photo's, no video, and no gaming. My old system is my last build so been awhile. I put togeather this from PCparts picker which totals out to $826.00.

My question is will this do the job? Overkill/no enough? Kinda stretching my budget at this $$$ level. Any suggests welcome.

Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Asus H170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Memory G.Skill NT Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory
Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card
Case Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

Randy

There are a couple areas where you can save a few dollars and not really lose anything for the usage you have listed. You can go with a cheaper motherboard such as the Asus H170M-Plus, you are not losing anything of value compared to the Pro Gaming version and maintain all the latest features such as USB Type C and an M.2 slot for faster SSD's. I would drop down from the GTX960 to the GTX950, you won't notice any performance decrease and maintain the ability to use all the latest monitors up to 4k@60Hz. The onboard will max out at 4k@24Hz through HDMI and 1920X1200 on DVI. You can also drop down from the 650W power supply, I would look for a good quality, modular 500-550W unit, still overkill but it should put your power draw in the sweet spot of the efficiency curve.

You can also switch out the 850 EVO 2.5" for the 850 EVO M.2 version, usually the same price and doesn't require any cables, it just plugs straight into the M.2 slot on the motherboard.

Let me help with the formatting.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($198.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus H170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($122.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($88.48 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Constellation ES.2 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($137.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card ($151.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $913.27
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-28 11:52 EDT-0400

Overkill? Nah.

As others said though, for a non-K CPU, that is kind ofa pricey build by the looks of it. I just did a few tweaks and came out with this, if you're interested in alternatives.
Downgraded the GPU cause you don't need a 960 if you aren't gaming or video editing, the CPU upgraded to a K and the board to a Z which is the same price overall. Who knows, maybe you will want to OC it later and just don't feel confident now but with all the video guides out there it really isn't that hard. Also changed out the PSU to lower wattage but semi modular.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170A-X1 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($91.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($88.48 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($61.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($94.89 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($60.94 @ Amazon)
Total: $765.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-28 12:07 EDT-0400

While probably not essential from a computing point of view, I would consider a higher grade GPU in a new build image editing computer. Personally having just bought a new system I would want to have a card with dual Displayport 1.2 outputs. This would allow you to upgrade down the line to the latest ultra resolution monitors. The latest 5K monitors need dual DP 1.2 to drive them at 60Hz refresh rates. You might not want one now, but it would be nice to have the support there should you want to upgrade down the road. Nvidia does seem to be the way to go with it's CUDA support, should you want to do any video editing in the future, what with most DSLR's now supporting video it seems the way to go.

Oh and I am loving my Dell UP2715K 5K monitor, on my new Dell XPS 8900 system, mine came with the 2GB GT960, it's also my first foray into Win 10. All my old peripherals, including my graphics tablet are supported, MS Office 2007 still works fine, and actually the only program that I will have to update is LR, as I was still on version 4.4, which doesn't have the support for the UHD monitor, so the fonts, and sliders were absolutely tiny. Finally the reason I needed to upgrade to LR CC, in my situation I need to be able to mentally justify the upgrade, with more than "I want".

Alan

BigAl007 wrote in post #18109269
While probably not essential from a computing point of view, I would consider a higher grade GPU in a new build image editing computer. Personally having just bought a new system I would want to have a card with dual Displayport 1.2 outputs. This would allow you to upgrade down the line to the latest ultra resolution monitors. The latest 5K monitors need dual DP 1.2 to drive them at 60Hz refresh rates. You might not want one now, but it would be nice to have the support there should you want to upgrade down the road. Nvidia does seem to be the way to go with it's CUDA support, should you want to do any video editing in the future, what with most DSLR's now supporting video it seems the way to go.

Photo editing doesn't use the GPU so buying higher range is often a waste of money. As they're easy to change out later best to buy only what you need right now.