p.1 #1 · How can I optimise a new PC build for Capture One Pro?
I'm building a new PC optimised for Capture One. Where is the most benefit to be had from the last few hundred dollars, ie the money that might be a stretch on the budget, or that you could just not spend at all?
I'm looking to build a Win 11 z890 motherboard with intel ultra 7 270k plus, ddr5 32gb, either PCIe v4 or v5 2tb SSD, and probably RTX 5070 (12gb) GPU. I'm trying to work out where the most benefit is to be had if I can stretch the budget a bit further.
For example, which of the items below are better or worse choices, given that Capture One benefits from a GPU with good OpenCL performance?
GPU; rtx 5070 (12GB) or rtx 5070 ti (16GB)
Memory; 32gb vs 64gb (DDR5)
PCIe V4 or v5 SSD
Single PCIe 2TB SSD or 2x1TB SSD (one for system, the other data)
Intel ultra 7 270k plus or Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
The basis of the build is probably a z890 ddr5 motherboard with i7 270k. I have limited funds. I can stretch to the RTX 5070 ti at most but might take shortcuts elsewhere. I can buy a cheaper GPU and get more/better other bits. What to do?
p.1 #3 · How can I optimise a new PC build for Capture One Pro?
It's impossible to build a PC today that will work seamlessly with software tomorrow, so get the best you can afford, load up on memory and graphic capacity and be ready to do it all over in five years.
For reference: My 2023 M2 MBP runs C1 on 32GB ram through a dock to a 27" display with zero issues.
p.1 #4 · How can I optimise a new PC build for Capture One Pro?
I use a Windows laptop at work and two Apple devices (a MacBook Pro M4 and a Studio M3) for photography at home. The principal reason is that these Apple devices emit no heat and no noise - they stay quiet and cool all the time, while I am running multiple 102MP (120-130MB) GFX raw files through Capture One or DxO Photolab. The computing efficiency is superb.
I do feel more comfortable with Windows, and I can say that I dislike some features of the MacOS (e.g., the Finder), however, when working on photos, I don't need to use MacOS much.
You may want to try a MacBook Pro - there is a good chance that this would work better for photography than the system you are building.
p.1 #5 · How can I optimise a new PC build for Capture One Pro?
JohnJ wrote:
I'm building a new PC optimised for Capture One. Where is the most benefit to be had from the last few hundred dollars, ie the money that might be a stretch on the budget, or that you could just not spend at all?
I'm looking to build a Win 11 z890 motherboard with intel ultra 7 270k plus, ddr5 32gb, either PCIe v4 or v5 2tb SSD, and probably RTX 5070 (12gb) GPU. I'm trying to work out where the most benefit is to be had if I can stretch the budget a bit further.
For example, which of the items below are better or worse choices, given that Capture One benefits from a GPU with good OpenCL performance?
GPU; rtx 5070 (12GB) or rtx 5070 ti (16GB)
Memory; 32gb vs 64gb (DDR5)
PCIe V4 or v5 SSD
Single PCIe 2TB SSD or 2x1TB SSD (one for system, the other data)
Intel ultra 7 270k plus or Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
The basis of the build is probably a z890 ddr5 motherboard with i7 270k. I have limited funds. I can stretch to the RTX 5070 ti at most but might take shortcuts elsewhere. I can buy a cheaper GPU and get more/better other bits. What to do?
Don't skimp on the GPU. The GPU is very important for image processing that does any noise reduction and many other processes rely on that and "AI" compute function will be even more prevalent in the future. The 5070 is adequate for most purposes, though I prefer the 5070 Ti or 5080. 8GB is the minimum VRAM for some programs now and in some years that minimum will move to 12 GTB and then 16GB. The differences in CPU depend on what all you so and how fast you need to do it.
The 270K Plus is a great value for performance to price ratio. I'm not building new computers lately due to other component costs, but that's what I would use.
You can always upgrade M.2 SSDs and RAM in a few minutes.
p.1 #6 · How can I optimise a new PC build for Capture One Pro?
Take a look at the Puget Bench site for benchmarks. https://www.pugetsystems.com/pugetbench/creators/
They do not have Capture One Specific benchmarks but I think the Adobe results will be a good indicator of Capture One performance.
Even thought it would be painful given today's RAM prices I think upgrading to 64GB would be a good idea. I have found with my large catalogues ( some are over 50,000 images) more RAM is required. I was lucky to upgrade to my current system with 128GB before the price increases...
For the SSD V5 is not that much more expensive than V4 and significantly faster.
