I'm finally thinking about supplementing my Thinkpads with a desktop PC which would be largely dedicated to photo processing & storage as well as internet browsing & photo site management. Unfortunately, I don't think I have the time to build my own system (though the geek in me is very tempted) - unless there are easy modular options available. So, two questions I'd like help with:
1. What should be the must-haves of such a system for optimal performance? (I would be running Windows 7 64 bit so am not interested in OS-X systems) I have a screen & so am really interested in advice about processors, video cards, etc. I'd like to keep it under $1000 & allow room for future upgrades (rather than entire replacement).
2. Are there any good options for customized systems at a reasonable price? I've bought only laptops for the last 10 years so I'm completely out of touch with desktop systems.
The more you budget, the more you can save, starting with $1200. For the lower price range, prebuilt vs building yourself wont make too much of a difference.
The building is very easy. The most difficult part (and time consuming) is the decision on parts. If you're set on upgrade ability, I would still go the building route, since most of the prebuilt will be limited on upgrade options.
You'll be running 64-bit, so get as much RAM as you can afford.
The Intel i7/920 CPU is probably the best bang for the buck out there right now.
Go for a decent graphics card, an nVidia 8 or 9 series, at least.
Solid state drive prices have been slashed recently, so one for the OS will make it fly. Get a second drive for programs and a third for data.
I had a custom rig built by AVADirect earlier this year and couldn't be happier, it's a great company and I've got an amazing computer for photo-editing.
What screen do you have though? It's quite important to know if you're using an LCD monitor for photo editing.
For graphic card, I think the Nvidia GTX 250 is probably the best value.
As for SSD, I think it's a bit pointless if you get it just for the OS, the only thing that'll do is make you boot up faster. You'll have to get one for the softwares as well if you want faster performance from them. One thing you should know about those SSD is that they have a limited write cycle, that's why it's usually not recommended to defrag them. It means that they have shorter lifespan compared to normal HDD.
Thanks for the input guys. Nicholas - AVADirect looks interesting, if I go for a professionally customized pc (versus self-built) they look like a great option.
N0b0, I have a couple of Dell LCD's to choose from. I know all about the strengths & weaknesses of SSD's as I have put them in both my laptop & tablet - biggest issue there is whether system architecture has the capability to take advantage of their speed (lots of notebooks are limited to SATA I by internal bus).
globalkiwi wrote:
Thanks for the input guys. Nicholas - AVADirect looks interesting, if I go for a professionally customized pc (versus self-built) they look like a great option.
N0b0, I have a couple of Dell LCD's to choose from. I know all about the strengths & weaknesses of SSD's as I have put them in both my laptop & tablet - biggest issue there is whether system architecture has the capability to take advantage of their speed (lots of notebooks are limited to SATA I by internal bus).
globalkiwi,
AVA will be able to overclock that 920 pretty well for you. I went for the max with my computer which makes my photo-programs go at warp-speed 10 (Mr. Scott). I shoot a D300 and my 26 MB RAW files open up in Nikon NX in one to two seconds. CS4-64bit is unbelievably quick with megafiles, too. A lot of people here scoff at the time savings, but none of them have sat behind a rig like mine either. Once you go at this speed, there's no looking back.
If you go with AVA, you will not be disappointed. They have a phenomenal team in place, from the guy who helps design your system to the fantastic customer/tech support. Look at their configurator, nobody has as many choices throughout the components as AVA. One of my priorities was to have as quiet a PC as possible without sacrificing performance. Their team took my request and delivered beyond my expectations, they really went to great lengths for me. I have a monster rig OC'd to 3.75 MHz with hardly any noise at all. If you want a quiet PC like mine, tell them to give you exactly what I have. Their reseller ratings are 9.84 out of 10, but they're straight 10's in my book.
Good luck with your build.
Nicholas
www.copperhillimages.com
I'm sure you will have many questions about where to start. I was Nick's personal assistant in creating his "monster" rig. Please by all means, feel free to contact me by email and I will do my best to help you along the way! :-)
Here's a shot of my rig. The LED fans were chosen because of their low decibel output. Temps average about 42 degrees on both the CPU and the system, and that's at 3.75 MHz. The wiring is impeccable.
I have no affiliation with them other than knowing friends who have orderd from them and been highly satisfied. They have a good rating on resellerratings.com. I mention them because you will likely get excellent advice on here as many have built their own machines and this company allows you a good degree of customization without having to build it yourself.
Building a machine is very easy now as compared to years ago. basically plug and play. However it can get testy if you happen to get a part that does not behave as it should. Troubleshooting can be a pain sometimes. But it does teach you a lot about maintaining and upgrading PC's.
Basically you start out with what your primary use of your PC will be and what is your budget?
Budget is the real question but as far as SSD's I think your crazy to buy one. The real like performance vs a western digital black edition 1 TB drive is minimal and you can get 2 of them for data backup for price of an SSD.
CPU wise I'd definitely go with a quad core, the 150>200 range pheoeon x2's and core quad's from intel are nice, I've got a Q6600 which just rocks overclocked to 3 ghz and it very cost effective.
Ram wise I just upgraded to 8 gb I'd definitely suggest going 8, I got 4x 2 GB matched pairs from OCZ runs about 110$ for reaper HPC ram.
Build your own. The savings are considerable, you KNOW that you're putting quality components in there and it really doesn't take that long.
My advice would be to avoid the very top spec components. You pay a massive premium for that extra 5% of performance. For half the price you can get a machine that is 95% as quick. Are you really gonna notice if you're opening a RAW file in 2.1 seconds instead of 2?
My AMD PhenomII setup is every bit as quick in real world use as my buddies i7 super-rig. He paid over twice what I did.
Guess I may have worded it a bit poorly, the message I was trying to get across was, if you want to do your own custom build then take a look at that forum, get some ideas.. they could help evaluate everything, give some recommendations etc.. Nothing against anyone else who has posted in here, as I'm sure there are those who know what they are talking about.. just giving out more options. I know personally that I like to gather as much research as I can before I invest in something expensive
I recently put together an i7 920 system; Asus P6T mobo, 12GB RAM, ATI 4890 graphics card, Vista64/programs on a 300GB Velociraptor and data on 4x1TB WD Caviar Blacks. CS4 and LR (64bit) absolutley fly and I certainly don't envisage needing anything faster for a long time.
Not a really cheap option but a lot less than previous systems I've built. I wouldn't fancy footing the bill for 4.3TB of SSD however fast they may be.
willis wrote:
I recently put together an i7 920 system; Asus P6T mobo, 12GB RAM, ATI 4890 graphics card, Vista64/programs on a 300GB Velociraptor and data on 4x1TB WD Caviar Blacks. CS4 and LR (64bit) absolutley fly and I certainly don't envisage needing anything faster for a long time.
Not a really cheap option but a lot less than previous systems I've built. I wouldn't fancy footing the bill for 4.3TB of SSD however fast they may be.
willis,
My system is very close to yours, I have 2X 150G Veloceraptors (OS on partition)plus 1X Black Caviar. I've got the ASUS P6T V.2, 12 Gs RAM, nVidia GTX295 and Vista 64bit. I'm O'Ced to 3.75 and I can't see needing more for a LONG while. It's very hard to convey to others how fast this rig is and what an absolute pleasure it has become working in a digital darkroom. Technology just keeps getting better and better, why not take advantage of it? Enjoy
Indeed Nicholas, the more I read, the more convinced I am that a custom/self-built rig is the way to go. Still have some trepidations about the logistics - component compatibility, wiring, etc. - but plan to keep researching. Thanks all for your input!
Globalkiwi,
I wouldn't worry too much about the wiring-everything you need is generally included with the Mobo/case. The one potential problem from past experience is RAM compatability, particularly with DDR2 RAM in some Core2Duo/Quad systems. It's worth closely checking that the exact type and brand of memory you plan to use is known to work with your systems Mobo/processor/bios (approved memory vendors usually on the mobo mfrs website). You can't assume that it will necessarily work just because it's the right type of memory and configured correctly anymore. I would also always get a high quality case, makes everything much easier and is a few extra $ well spent IMO.
My system is very close to yours, I have 2X 150G Veloceraptors (OS on partition)plus 1X Black Caviar. I've got the ASUS P6T V.2, 12 Gs RAM, nVidia GTX295 and Vista 64bit. I'm O'Ced to 3.75 and I can't see needing more for a LONG while. It's very hard to convey to others how fast this rig is and what an absolute pleasure it has become working in a digital darkroom. Technology just keeps getting better and better, why not take advantage of it? Enjoy
That must really burn pixels! Mine's still at stock speed and plenty fast.
I know personally that I like to gather as much research as I can before I invest in something expensive