Sorry, I had to share. I've been running my home-built Core 2 Duo machine with 4 GB of RAM for the past 4 years. It's been great, and is still fast enough for most types of work,but it's been bogging down (partly due to lack of system cleaning, partly due to handling much larger amounts of data). One thing that's been killing it is that when I switched from Canon to Micro 4/3, the Panasonic RAW files are more complex to decode than the files from my 1Ds II, and Lightroom just takes forever to deal with them. I start a new catalog each year, so I'm not dealing with a full catalog even. Rendering a 100% view takes about 4-5 seconds per file, and if I try and do an HDR in Nik HDR Efex Pro with like 5 shots? I might as well go take a lunch break while it chews on the files. Stitching big images in Photoshop. Takes FOREVER.
I had thought about just upgrading the RAM, but upgrading DDR 2 RAM is insanely expensive because it's old technology.
So I hopped up to my local MicroCenter, and boy did they have a deal today! First off, I'm amazed that MicroCenter actually has most components cheaper in their retail stores than Newegg does (which is where I usually buy components.
I was able to buy an Intel Core i5 Sandy Bridge 2500K (3.3GHz Unlocked), a Gigabyte Z68 motherboard and 16 GB of Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600 RAM for $330 out the door! Yes, that's including tax. And yes, they're all new and unopened. The processor was $179 (already a really good price) and they've got a special with the 2500K which takes $50 off any motherboard you buy for it. So, due to that, I paid $60 for the motherboard, and the RAM was $35 for each 8GB pack. I'm still just super excited.
The same components at Newegg are $425 including shipping, so I saved $100 and got the stuff instantly. Seriously pumped...this should be at least triple the performance of my current machine, and with large files I'll bet it will be 5-6 times faster just because of the extra RAM.
Now just to backup stuff, wipe the HD and install it all.
Thats a pretty nice deal, I've got a HS bball game to shoot tonight at Olengtangy so its going to be really tough to drive past Bethel Rd exit and not stop in. My system is over 4 years old and while it certainly gets the job done, prices like that for a new modern machine are almost too good to pass up
Yeah...I'm not sure how long they're having the $50 off the motherboard deal, but the other prices will likely still be there for a while since I think they're just their current prices. I was not planning on getting the 2500K, but it was $20 cheaper than buying the 2400 due to the motherboard discount.
Might want to swing by...I mean, it's only 2 minutes off of 315.
I will probably save overclocking for later in the chip's life. Every time I've overclocked my machines, even with good coolers, it ends up shortening the life of the rig to about 2 years, and then it starts getting unstable. This is my sixth build, and I overclocked four of them. I know this chip can be pushed (from what I've read, 4GHz should even be easy on stock cooling), but I'll just wait until a year or two into the life of the chip, then get a good cooler and push the heck out of it.
BobCollette wrote:
I'm running an i5-2500K with 16GB RAM on a Gigabyte Z68XP-UD4 motherboard at 4.7GHz, using a $25 CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Plus CPU cooler.
I don't want to hijack the thread, but how quite is the fan on this cooler Bob?
Leighton, when the machine isn't working hard, I don't hear the CPU fan (fan speed is set to vary depending upon CPU temperature). When the CPU is working hard, I can hear the CPU fan (just barely). It's not objectionable, and normally the fan doesn't run at full speed for more than a few seconds at a time since the system is so fast. The cooler uses a 120mm fan which can be varied from 600 to 2000 rpm. Generally speaking, large fans (120mm) run much slower to push the same volume of air, and therefore make much less noise compared to a small, high speed fan pushing the same volume of air.
Ok, I have to say...this thing is blazing fast. Wow. I have used my computer at work for some photo processing, and it's an older Core i7 machine with 12 GB of RAM, and I thought that was fast, but this is even significantly faster than that. For large photo things, such as panorama stitching or HDR work, this new machine is at least ten times faster than my old computer, and that's not an exaggeration (about 4x is the processor speed improvement, looking at benchmarks in Photoshop, the rest of the improvement comes from the huge amount of RAM...the 4GB would get choked up on large files like that and grind to a halt as it hit the HD constantly for swap space.
JMan, You are making me jealous with the prices you paid! I just built a similar machine (my first from scratch) and am similarly amazed at the blazing speeds. It is able to handle a 17 image 20x30 poster with ease, and I can no longer fix my dinner while waiting to ingest a basktball shoot in Lightroom. For the first time, the computer is moving faster than me, and I am loving it!
I'm also starting to wonder about an upgrade, but i think my Q6600 will last me a little longer still. When Ivy Bridge arrives i might start pricing things up though....
The processor was $179 (already a really good price) and they've got a special with the 2500K which takes $50 off any motherboard you buy for it. So, due to that, I paid $60 for the motherboard, and the RAM was $35 for each 8GB pack. I'm still just super excited.