Photo editing/ General purpose

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9fingers

Member
Hi, I'm looking to build my first desktop for photo editing, general browsing and playing the odd RTS game. I'm not a professional photographer, that is to say, I do not earn a living from photography. I will be processing large RAW files and I want things to run smoothly. I am aware that the upcoming Lightroom 6 will rely on GPU for some applications and so picked a graphics card I feel is sufficient. I upgraded the cooler because the tower is a silent type that apparently gets hot due to the sound insulation.This tower comes with a card reader as well so it's a bonus. I would also like to run the PC through my Yamaha receiver over HDMI. Anyway, I'm sure you all know more than me, so what do you think? Is this overkill or underpowered?

Thanks in advance!
Lee


Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790 (3.6GHz) 8MB Cache
Case
COOLERMASTER SILENCIO 550 QUIET MID TOWER CASE
Motherboard
ASUS® Z97-A: ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6GB/S, SLi, XFIRE
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 750 Ti - DVI, mHDMI, VGA - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON V300 SSD, SATA 6 Gb (450MB/R, 450MB/W)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SEAGATE SSHD, SATA 6Gb/s 7200 RPM (64MB + 8GB SSD CACHE)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Windows 10 Upgrade
FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
ASUS 27" Professional SERIES PB278QR (£399)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
 
Last edited:

9fingers

Member
First build advice.....please help!!!

Whilst I understand that I am not really supposed to post spec check threads here I'm getting a little desperate. I've posted my build spec in the ' Check this spec ' thread but nobody has given me any advice whatsoever, they only really seem interested in gaming rigs! So I'll post a link to the thread and maybe, just maybe there is somebody here who can help, even if it is just advice on my choice of components in terms of manufacturing quality.

Big thanks in advance.

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?40695-Photo-editing-General-purpose
 

Rakk

The Awesome
Moderator
As keynes said, you just have to be patient, you are allowed to gently bump your owns threads.
A lot of people are better at designing gaming machines, so for non-gaming machines it can take longer for a response
I've merged the two threads together because its better to stick to one thread, means any replies are all in the same thread (so please don't cross-post)
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
The reason I haven't commented is that I know little about photography requirements, but can give you a bit of feedback on what I do know:

I'd drop the mobo down to the gigabyte hd3 as the one you've selected is a bit more expensive for things like sli which you won't be using, you'll see no difference in performance.

I'd steer clear of the v300 SSD as it has major performance issues. I'd also drop the sshd to a Scorpio black as you won't make use of the sshd as a secondary drive and the Scorpio will actually be faster (7200 rpm vs 5400).

For your uses, I'd also up to 16gb ram as I think you'll appreciate the extra.

All that may come out at roughly the same price.
 

9fingers

Member
Sorry for getting impatient, it's just a little frustrating when so many view the thread but nobody offers advice. Anyway, I chose the seagate sshd because the specs state that it runs at 7200, but I guess having a primary ssd would make it redundant. I couldn't find any hdd named Scorpio though, did you mean caviar? Thanks for the advice on the v330, this is just kind of help I needed. As for the mother board, I chose it based on the great reviews and recommendations, I'll check out the gigabyte. As to the RAM I intended to buy more later and add it myself. I'm a bit stretched having to buy a monitor as well. Currently I'm using an Acer Aspire 6930G, 250 hdd, 4 Ram and last week I cracked the screen so I can't really work, it's beginning to show strain anyway, I've had it about 6 years. I'm having to output to my tv which is not calibrated.
Thanks for all your help!
 

Sandra

Active member
Hi, I'm looking to build my first desktop for photo editing, general browsing and playing the odd RTS game. I'm not a professional photographer, that is to say, I do not earn a living from photography. I will be processing large RAW files and I want things to run smoothly. I am aware that the upcoming Lightroom 6 will rely on GPU for some applications and so picked a graphics card I feel is sufficient. I upgraded the cooler because the tower is a silent type that apparently gets hot due to the sound insulation.This tower comes with a card reader as well so it's a bonus. I would also like to run the PC through my Yamaha receiver over HDMI. Anyway, I'm sure you all know more than me, so what do you think? Is this overkill or underpowered?


Thanks in advance!
Lee


Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790 (3.6GHz) 8MB Cache
Case
COOLERMASTER SILENCIO 550 QUIET MID TOWER CASE
Motherboard
ASUS® Z97-A: ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6GB/S, SLi, XFIRE
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 750 Ti - DVI, mHDMI, VGA - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON V300 SSD, SATA 6 Gb (450MB/R, 450MB/W)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SEAGATE SSHD, SATA 6Gb/s 7200 RPM (64MB + 8GB SSD CACHE)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Windows 10 Upgrade
FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
ASUS 27" Professional SERIES PB278QR (£399)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)

Hi,
Regarding your monitor. I was going to get that one but Asus have changed the panel and it is now not an IPS or PLS. It doesn't (or didn't a week ago) show these changes on their site even though these changes were implemented over 6 months ago.
 

Sandra

Active member
Yes I know they all advertise it that way, but that's because they get their information from the place they buy from or manufacturers.
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/ have the monitors panels as AHVA. VA are close to IPS (and some are including them under the umbrella of IPS panels) but not as good for viewing angles needed for photography.

As I mentioned I wanted that monitor but didn't get it for that reason. Another one I wanted was a Benq but again that had VA panels. I live in a small town so had to buy offline and ended up going round and round in circles. I ended up with a Dell U2415 and I really, really didn't want a Dell but I had to rush buy because PCS caught me out by sending me my pc within 4 days or ordering it! Not the greatest panel and to be honest I wasn't expecting it to be. It will do me for now until I'm able to go out of town to view some. Hope you get a good one :)
 

9fingers

Member
Well here's a link to the specs on Asus' own UK website:http://www.asus.com/uk/Monitors/PB278QR/specifications/ Notice under 'Panel Type' it clearly states In - Plane Switching or IPS. However, you are correct, it is an AHVA panel! Thanks for drawing my attention to the deception. I think I would still go with it though, plenty of photographers and designers do,it's a good work and play monitor. The other options are the LG 27MB85R-B, too expensive for me, an Asus Proart PA248Q, bit small but factory calibrated or an Asus MX279H (AH IPS).
Regarding your build what specs did you go with?
 
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Sandra

Active member
You're welcome. I'm not sure how long it takes before incorrect information on a website becomes false advertising. If you do go ahead and buy that one come back and let us know how it is. I'm still drawn to it. You usually pay more if a monitor is factory calibrated but it's still recommended to do it yourself when you get it and do it every month. I bought Spyder4Express to do calibrate mine.

These are the specs I finally went with.
Case
FRACTAL DEFINE R5 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790 (3.6GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z97-A: ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6GB/S, SLi, XFIRE
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 960 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 8.1 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Browser
Microsoft® Internet Explorer
Cable Tidy
PCS 1.5M Zip Cable Tidy - Professional Cable Management
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Quantity
1
 

carwel

Member
Hi 9Fingers,

We are in the same boat, or were. I too was looking for a PS / Lightroom editing PC. Have a look through this thread of mine on DP Review as it might help if you haven't already purchased. http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3846413?page=2#forum-post-55872598

Monitor-wise I bought the BenQ GW2765HT and although mu new PC is being build now and I can't use it at anything other than 1080 HD at the moment it's great.

If you did buy, what did you buy PC and monitor wise?

All the best
 
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