Minstrel1977 wrote in post #11194070
Hi all, first time posting here.
I've been reading through old threads for advice on building a new PC and could use some feedback.
PC is for my father in law, avid amateur photographer. Current PC is on its way out @ 8 years old. His main complaint with the old one was the slow speed of RAW conversion to tiff for touching up. He uses a Canon SLR, (can ask him for the specific model if requested), and the bundled Canon software for RAW conversion.
These are my thoughts so far. I could use any advice anyone cares to send my way.
GPU - It sounds like GPU isn't as important as CPU for RAW processing or image editing, but that some apps are slowly starting to take advantage of the gpu. I am thinking a $100 or less video card. Any reason to invest more here?
CPU - I see conflicting advice on dual vs quad core. Is there much in the digital image editing and processing realm that takes advantage of more than 2 cores out there, or expected to come along soon?
HD - planning to price shop a SSD vs a 10k rpm sata drive for the primary drive, with a 1TB caviar green or external drive for post-processing storage. Any bottlenecks here that would make me really need the SSD?
Memory - I was thinking 8 or 12 GB, depending how the price of the rest clocks in.
PSU/mobo/anything else - I'm familiar enough with components to know what I want here. Is there anything with regards to photo processing / editing performance that I might be missing?
There are several threads ongoing on this topic. You should take a look at them. There's a ton of information provided.
Just about any GPU in the $50-$100 will do. The higher you get from $50 the more you should look for features, rather than a faster/bigger GPU. As long as the video card does not share memory with the OS, you should be fine. If you think you'll play some 3D games or start using After Effects, Premiere or animation program, get something closer to $100 than to $50. Many people mistakenly think that the argument is about 3D vs 2D. Meaning, since photo editing programs don't require 3D (for the most part), getting a powerful 3D card is useless and a waist of money. Video cards still must render images to the screen. If you were playing a Blu-ray movie, had Windows Aero going and were scrolling though dozens of large images, video performance would start to be pushed. However, like I said, anything in the $50-$100 range would perform in that capacity very well.
With the CPU, I typically look at the most powerful chip out there, take two steps back from that model and buy #3. It's typically a sound buy. The short of it is to buy the best you can afford, but not at the expense of RAM or HDD.
SSD is still expensive. I use 10k drives in my PC and I do like the performance. If you have the money, I say go for it (small 80GB SSD + large secondary HDD). Otherwise, if you're penny pinching, get two big 7200RPM HDD drives and leave it at that.
8GB is plenty enough for most people. I actually run low of memory however (on Mac with 8GB) while photo editing in full screen mode (Aperture & Photoshop CS5) and having Firefox, iTunes (I listen to music while I work), video editing software going, Mail, calender and other gadgets going... If I'm not careful Photoshop will give me an out of memory error and may crash if I keep trying to work. If that's what you're planning on doing, all at the same time, then get 12GB. Otherwise, if you just have Photoshop, Lightroom and maybe iTunes or a web browser going, 8 is more than enough. Also, get the fastest memory your motherboard support and if you're planning on over clocking, get memory that is actually faster than your rated motherboard - it gives you leeway on the timings.
Motherboards are extremely important. They are the foundation that everything else rests on. Intel boards are probably the most rock solid, but they are also the least feature rich. Asus and Gigabyte are my favorite brands, but I lean toward Asus more. My PC is setup for gaming, so I also gravitate toward the Rampage and Maximus (what I have now). Just make sure to run some heavy burn in tools on it to weed out any problems.
PSU is also important and often overlooked. The number one reason for long term failure in hardware is bad power. If you don't plan on getting a big video card or run six hard drives, the Thermaltake W0070RUC TR2 Series is an excellent choice in PSUs. If you're power needs are higher, another good choice would be the Corsair CMPSU-650TX.
