Proposed rig for photoediting and some gaming

[johfou]

Hi,
This is a rig that I propose for photo editing (Photoshop CS6) and some gaming. I would be most grateful for any suggestions or advice. There will be an extra (existing) HDD and external HDD. Also a smallish SDD as a dedicated scratchpad for PS. Power unit is a bit OTT but I want room for expansion.
Specifically: Is this a balanced rig? Do I need extra cooling? Anything inappropriate?
Thanks in anticipation.

Case
ANTEC QUIET COMPUTING™ PERFORMANCE P280 CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core (3.40GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P(4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti - 2 DVI, HDMI, VGA - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
180GB INTEL® 330 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 500MB/sR | 450MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX750 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£86)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Price: £1,291.00 including VAT and delivery.

[keynes]

Are you planning in overclocking the CPU? I would consider an ivy bridge processor (i7 3770) and what sort of games do you have in mind?High/ultra settings?

[johfou]

Hi, Thanks for quick response. I am not considering overclocking. Games are such as Skyrim, witcher, Deus Ex HR. Most interested in maintaining a decent frame rate for these.

[keynes]

Hi, Thanks for quick response. I am not considering overclocking. Games are such as Skyrim, witcher, Deus Ex HR. Most interested in maintaining a decent frame rate for these.

For a similar budget I'd go with the i5-3570 since most games use 4 or less cores, I'd put more emphasis on the graphics card. The GTX 670 is a more powerful graphics card and will max all the games you mentioned on high settings. You also have the choice to SLI (add a 2nd GTX 670) in the future to improve performance.
Case
ANTEC QUIET COMPUTING™ PERFORMANCE P280 CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
180GB INTEL® 330 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 500MB/sR | 450MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX750 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£86)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,248.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes...pc/RhpWWgwKQX/

[johfou]

Hi, many thanks. This is just the kind of advice I needed.

[Narcotics]

That build rubensolo did is really good nothing I would change.

[keynes]

Hi, many thanks. This is just the kind of advice I needed.

I missed the photoshop bit, 16gb memory and the i7-3770 will bring a better performance. Looking at benchmarks on performance between the i5 vs i7 on Adobe CS4/CS5 the difference is not significant.
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...review-12.html
http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/2680...-photoshop-cs4
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5771/t...3770k-review/6
Higher memory bandwidth will bring no noticeable difference so if you decide to go for 16gb I'd suggest 16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X 1600mhz (cheaper than the 1333mhz/2133mhz version)

[Narcotics]

Seriously the i5 & 8gb is all you will need for photoshop & illustrator c4d. The only users which would benefit from 16gb right now are people who run numerous virtual machines and/or edit large videos. Plus ram is so cheap to add later on if you find it's not fast enough. Kingston 8GB HyperX is £27.99

[keynes]

Seriously the i5 & 8gb is all you will need for photoshop & illustrator c4d. The only users which would benefit from 16gb right now are people who run numerous virtual machines and/or edit large videos. Plus ram is so cheap to add later on if you find it's not fast enough. Kingston 8GB HyperX is £27.99

From what I read higher memory will bring benefits in photoshop but going from 8gb to 16gb may not bring a significant improvement. If the OP is running other applications as well as photoshop (After Effects, Premiere Pro) then 16gb may be more beneficial.
photoshop 16gb.JPG
photoshop 4gb 8gb.JPG

[Narcotics]

You could also buy a unlocked K processor to improve rendering but you would have to upgrade the cooler to a Spire Gemini Rev.3 or higher.