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[johnbeardy]

I'm trying to put together a shopping list for a self build PC optimised for image editing (not games). I've never built one before but have happily swapped hard drives and graphics cards etc so feel I can handle it....

My goal is 12Gb of RAM on Win7 64 bit on an Intel multi-core processor. 4 core seems to be the sweet spot for me.

I've tried my best to get my head around which processor needs which motherboard and which type of RAM. So any thoughts?

John

Case    Antec 300 Three Hundred Case Black
Power    Antec CP 850 Continuous Power 850W PSU
System drive    Western Digital 500GB Caviar Black SATA-II 32MB
DVD drive    LG Electronics 22 x DVDRW SATA blackbare + sw
Chip    Intel Core i7 930 2.8GHz 8MB Cache LGA1366 Socket
Motherboard    Asus P6X58D-E, Intel X58, 1366, 6DDR3, 3PCI-Ex16, CrossfireX/SLI, 8CHHD Sound, USB3 & SATA6 ATX
Graphics    Gigabyte GeForce GT 240 600Mhz 1GB PCI-Express 2.0 HDMI
12Gb RAMTwo x 6GB kit (2GBx3), 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-10600 memory module
OS    Windows 7 64 bit Professional

[ukbrown]

As no one else has chipped in yet. 

Graphics card, From what I have seen in LR this does not really get stressed, most (all) graphics cards can display static images pretty quickly.  This may be contentious but until I see otherwise I am not too sure that you need a super duper graphics card, what does anybody else think?

Disk's get two so you can separate Catalog from other files, Keep your OS on one etc.  Two disks usually better than one for most PC's.  Maybe get a fast smaller one for system/programs and a big beefy one for your data

[johnbeardy]

Thanks - I should have added that I already have three 1.5Tb internal drives plus a pair of 500Mb ones which will go into the machine.

I am happy with the overall spec but my main doubts are the graphics card, where I have used the same logic as you and allocated money to RAM, and also whether I have chosen the processor that works with the motherboard (I believe that's the 1366 socket is about).

[ukbrown]

It's been soooooo long since I looked at processor specs,  I7 at 2.8ghz sounds pretty fast to me.  More RAM is definitely better, and faster and more disk spindles really helps to keep the CPU fed with data.  It looks like it should fly.  Going 64 bit also is much better.

[TNG]

John, nice project!

Flirted with the idea of doing a self-build earlier this year when putting the spec for my replacement desktop together, but chickened out and went back to PC Specialist....had been very pleased with the job they did last year for my son's gaming PC, and they did not let me down either.

Screenshot attached of the spec I went with in the end, although it was modified to increase the size of drives 3 and 4 to 640gb from 250gb (think it cost me an extra £8 per disk!), you will see lots of similarities with your chosen spec. The Asus P6T motherboard has now been replaced at PC Specialist by the P6X58D so you should have no worries about it working well with the i7-930 CPU (it's the default base combination for PC Specialist's top end systems).

Re Graphics card....as you can see I went the ATI route, choosing a 'middle of the top end road' card....diehard gamers would probably sneer a little (but not that much), but for my usage of LR it is way more than adequate. The GTX240 is in the same class I think (costs about £30 less than the ATI 5750) and I honestly can't see why you would have any problems with it.

I was going to say get more drives, but see you've got that covered...your power supply should be ample. The only thing I would consider adding would be a CPU cooler, for about £60 they really do take any overheating worries away.

Have fun!

PS....don't forget the Card Reader!!

[johnbeardy]

Thanks Jim, I remember you getting the machine. I do see a lot of similarities there and it's good you're confirming the motherboard/processor combo. PCSpecialist was a new name to me, but I like how their site sets out the combinations - but I don't know how someone who seems so sensible chooses a case that seems to light up.

Hm, it's becoming hard for me to chicken out of finally doing a PC build

John

[TNG]

....but I don't know how someone who seems so sensible chooses a case that seems to light up.

LOL John, sad I know! 

In my defense, they are quite subdued(ish) LEDs, and the rest of the case is black!

[sizzlingbadger]

If you intend to use Photoshop (and Aperture) then the graphics card would need to be reasonable.

[johnbeardy]

So, this is what should be sitting in bits here next weekend:

Intel Core i7 930 2.8GHz 8MB Cache LGA1366 Socket Intel Core i7 930
Asus Rampage III Extreme Intel X58, 1366, 6DDR3, 4PCI-Ex16
Kingston HyperX 12GB DDR3 DIMM 1600Mhz (6x2)
Antec 300 Three Hundred Case Black
Antec CP 850 Continuous Power 850W PSU
LG Electronics 22 x DVDRW SATA blackbare
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
         
And the indulgence:
Corsair Memory 120GB 2.5" Reactor Series Solid State Drive

Let's see if it's still in bits on Monday!

John

[TNG]

Sounds good!

Graphics?

[johnbeardy]

Sorry, should have included that - I've been given a XFX ATI Radeon 5750 HD 700Mhz 1GB PCI-Express 2.0, so same as you I think.

I'm busy this weekend so I expect to put it together next week sometime. The SSD is going to have programs and the LR catalogue, and I intend to run some tests comparing its performance with an identical catalogue on the conventional HD.

John

[Brad Snyder]

John, sounds great to me. Hope it flies.....

FYI, I tripped across this on flickr's Lr discussion forum, where the OP blames his SSD for poor Lr performance. Only negative report I've encountered.  http://www.flickr.com/groups/adobe_lightroom/discuss/72157624569955532/?search=ssd

[TNG]

John, interesting that you are choosing to put both programs and catalog on the SSD. I went a different route (although I have no SSDs of course) and left programs on the 'local' disk with the OS and used three other internals discreetly for catalogs, cache and pictures.

So, have I missed a step here? Would I have been better co-habiting the catalogs and programs, although my instincts were against this?

Interesting article, Brad....looking forward to John's performance testing with lots of interest!

[johnbeardy]

I'm going to start out that way and see how it goes - space-wise I will be OK. But I'm not averse to using a regular HD for the OS and then reserving the SSD purely for the catalogue and images I'm working on, or doing things the other way round. I'll probably write a crude plug-in to thrash the catalogue and log the results, then decide which way I want to go. This all assumes that the computer works when I put it together....

Have you seen Dan Tull's notes here?

John

[TNG]

Thanks John...really interested to know how your testing goes.

Yes I had read Dan's notes, again some interesting observations and somewhat counter to the guy in Brad's article. Sounds like it might be a case of (the right) SSD will improve performance....the key being to find the right one.

Out of curiosity, what made you choose the Corsair Reactor?