Computer build sounding board

Sazabi · **on:** September 01, 2011, 09:29:19 PM

A little backstory: my father is a professional photographer and as a result, uses Photoshop on a daily basis; his main Photoshop computer is an old single core, ~1 GB RAM, Pentium 4 desktop, with his secondary being a single core Pentium D, ~1 GB RAM desktop. The Pentium 4 is on it's last legs, so he's wanting me to build him a new desktop; basically, I need a sounding board so I can be certain I'm giving my father the best bang for his buck, while also allowing for decent upgradability down the road.

Case: Thermaltake Armor A60 Mid-Tower from Newegg

Motherboard: BIOSTAR TH67A+ from Newegg

CPU: Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz from Newegg

RAM: Err, this is where things get fuzzy; should I opt for 8 GB or 16 GB DDR3 1333? Corsair, Kingston, etc.?

GPU: PNY VCQ400-PB Quadro 400 512 MB from Newegg

Alternative GPU: ATI 100-505606 FirePro V4800 1GB from Newegg

Hard drives:
OS hard drive: OCZ Agility 2 60GB SATA 2 from Newegg
General use hard drives: 2? Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB 10000RPM from Newegg
Or another good alternative?
2 Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EARS 1TB 5400 RPM from Newegg

Optical Drives: 2 SAMSUNG CD/DVD Burner 22X from Newegg

PSU: Thermaltake TR2 RX 750W from Newegg
Is this powerful enough?

Card reader: Rosewill RCR-IC002 74-in-1 Internal Card Reader from Newegg

USB 3.0 card: StarTech 2 Port PCI Express SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Card Adapter from Newegg

Ethernet card: SIIG Single Port Gigabit Ethernet PCIe adapter from Newegg

Fans: 4 Scythe SY1225SL12SH 120mm "Slipstream" Case Fan from Newegg

CPU Fan: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus from Newegg

Maybe add a heatsink?

Monitor: Acer G215HVAbd 21.5" LCD from Newegg maybe

Keyboard: current desktop keyboard, after cleaning

Mouse: suggestions for a non-gaming mouse of good quality; maybe a HP GW405AT from Newegg

OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

Hmm, am I forgetting anything? :/

[Edit: Ok, after adding up the prices, it is a bit too expensive for my tastes; I may drop the hard drives to 7200 RPM and do away with the SSD altogether.]

Medic82 · **Reply #1 on:** September 01, 2011, 09:58:34 PM

The MB looks like it's pretty decent but don't think that you need the Western Digital VelociRaptor, how about this one? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136490 Lots cheaper but with much more space. I would say get as much RAM as possible since Photoshop is a really heavy program, especially if he is going to use CS5, and the more RAM you got makes it a smoother experience.

Sazabi · **Reply #2 on:** September 01, 2011, 10:07:25 PM

Ah, ok, I'll edit the original list while I can.

Is Kingston preferred over Corsair these days for RAM?

What's the difference between a bare drive and an internal mount; will I need anything else in addition to the drive?

Which of the two GPUs would be preferred? I remember hearing a couple of the current graphics cards tend to overheat easily, but I don't remember their names off the top of my head.

Medic82 · **Reply #3 on:** September 01, 2011, 10:31:09 PM

Bare drive means that it's just the Hard Drive delivered in a anti static bag and nothing more, no cables, no instruction manuals and no card board box, don't think that it will be a problem since you most likely will get some SATA cables with the mother board. Internal mount means that it's an internal hard drive and not an external hard drive. I really don't know if Kingston is better than Corsair or vice versa, I have used them both and not had any bad experience with either brand.

Chako · **Reply #4 on:** September 01, 2011, 11:21:29 PM

Well you asked for my opinion...so I am going to throw out a few things at you to ponder and consider.

In no specific order...

1. Monitor. For professional use of Photoshop, the monitor is key. You do not want to use a TN LCD display because they are designed for gamers and high refresh rates at the cost of colour fidelity and viewing angles. You can get away with one. I do it all the time...but it is a bear to use colour spectrum charts, and monitor/printer colour management software and devices, etc, to try and match the screen to the print out. So I fear, you may end up spending more on the display...and for a photographer, this is a big consideration.

Some good info for you on monitors.
http://mansurovs.com/best-monitor-for-photography

2. On HDs. I would skip the SSD drive. Buy one 300GB Velociraptor for the main OS drive and applications, and one Huge storage drive. A second huge storage drive for backups is a great idea but can be added at a later date.

3. On CPUs. The i5 is a great processor, but have you looked at the AMD 6 cores. You might be able to get them cheaper, and even if Photoshop is still only optimized for 4 cores, that extra 2 is great for multitasking. Likewise, the i5 might be a tad quicker, but honestly, I would think anyone to be hard pressed to see the difference in a few seconds longer to do a process using Photoshop.

4. If you go the AMD route, the motherboard will have to change as well. Best bet is to hit the Asus web site, look under their AM3+ tab and do some research on the best motherboard chipset for the AMD processor. I know historically, the AMD route was always cheaper. Just a thought to consider.

5. Why are you getting a network card? Get one built into the motherboard. They work fine.

6. A USB3 card? Why? that should come with your motherboard built in.

7. RAM. 8 GB is enough for Photoshop. The system specs for CS5 is 1GB. Yes, it will use 16GB, but I think it will be overkill, or more than likely, a few split seconds shaved off here and there. If the RAM is cheap, the more the merrier though.

Here is a good bit of info on optimizing Photoshop..and some system info to help you out in your build.

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/404/kb404439.html

8. On power supplies...yes, 750w will do very nicely. Only think of going higher if you are running dual GPUs and tons of HDs, etc..

Hope this helps you.

Sazabi · **Reply #5 on:** September 01, 2011, 11:45:37 PM

Feedback like that is perfect, Dan; I know AMD is cheaper, I just haven't kept track of the latest and greatest. Now back to the drawing board.

And just to put things into perspective, the back computer is so bogged down now (even after CCleaner) that it was taking 150 seconds to convert one picture at a time. >.>

Millhouse · **Reply #6 on:** September 01, 2011, 11:48:23 PM

If you go the Intel route, I would use an I5 2500K. Very over clockable chip.

Sazabi · **Reply #7 on:** September 02, 2011, 02:19:40 AM

Ok, I've swapped out the CPU and motherboard and removed duplicates for the following:

Quote from: Sazabi on September 01, 2011, 09:29:19 PM

Case: Thermaltake Armor A60 Mid-Tower from Newegg

Motherboard: Asus M5A99X Evo from Newegg

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban 3.2 GHz 6-Core from Newegg

RAM: 2 CORSAIR 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 from Newegg - total of 16GB RAM

GPU: ATI 100-505606 FirePro V4800 1GB from Newegg

Hard drives:
OS hard drive: Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB 10000RPM from Newegg

General Use hard drive: Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EARS 1TB 5400 RPM from Newegg

Optical Drives: 2 SAMSUNG CD/DVD Burner 22X from Newegg

PSU: Thermaltake TR2 RX 750W from Newegg

Card reader: Rosewill RCR-IC002 74-in-1 Internal Card Reader from Newegg

Fans: 4 Scythe SY1225SL12SH 120mm "Slipstream" Case Fan from Newegg

CPU Fan: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus from Newegg

Monitor: Dell Ultrasharp U2412M 24inch IPS 1900x1200 from Amazon

Keyboard: current desktop keyboard, after cleaning

Mouse: suggestions for a non-gaming mouse of good quality; maybe a HP GW405AT from Newegg

OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

Does this sound better?

Chako · **Reply #8 on:** September 02, 2011, 03:16:39 AM

That looks better to me...but then opinions are legion.

I see you have selected the same CPU that I did after doing plenty of reading online for my last build.

Any mouse will do the job. Does he have a Graphics Tablet yet?

That monitor is a far better choice for a professional.

EDIT: Forgot to link to one of my favorite photography links. It is free and is called Opanda PhotoFilter. Does he have this software yet. It is stand alone...but works great alongside Photoshop.

http://www.opanda.com/en/pf/index.html

Pacu · **Reply #9 on:** September 02, 2011, 06:46:17 AM

might have been just a fluke but my (16GB) corsair memory sticks were bad...crash after crash

traded them out with (16GB) Kingston and no more problems

four 4GB

I also went AMD quadcore to save $$ over Intel.

Whoey · **Reply #10 on:** September 02, 2011, 03:42:52 PM

look at the Seagate 5900rpm green drives too... I'm loving the one I have (2TB)

as an alternative, look at a 7200rpm drive instead of SSD, however, you may just want to just look at a smaller SSD to bring the price down... really, 40gb should be more than enough for windows plus programs, especially if you'll have a very large 5400rpm disk for storage

Sazabi · **Reply #11 on:** September 03, 2011, 12:08:53 AM

Quote from: Chako on September 02, 2011, 03:16:39 AM

That looks better to me...but then opinions are legion.

I see you have selected the same CPU that I did after doing plenty of reading online for my last build.

Any mouse will do the job. Does he have a Graphics Tablet yet?

That monitor is a far better choice for a professional.

EDIT: Forgot to link to one of my favorite photography links. It is free and is called Opanda PhotoFilter. Does he have this software yet. It is stand alone...but works great alongside Photoshop.

http://www.opanda.com/en/pf/index.html

My father has had a tablet for the past five years or so; it's sat in its box for the last five years or so; he does everything via computer mouse. ^^; And no, I'll introduce him to Opanda, Dan.

Quote from: Pacu on September 02, 2011, 06:46:17 AM

might have been just a fluke but my (16GB) corsair memory sticks were bad...crash after crash

traded them out with (16GB) Kingston and no more problems

four 4GB

I also went AMD quadcore to save $$ over Intel.

Yeah, I'm thinking about splurging a whole $10 to go with Kingston, instead, for peace of mind.

Whoey: I'll look into it.

Chako · **Reply #12 on:** September 03, 2011, 03:25:51 AM

Ok. Thought I would ask. some folks find a tablet the best thing for Photoshop. Others hate them.

Threeme2189 · **Reply #13 on:** September 03, 2011, 10:53:21 AM

Quote from: Sazabi on September 02, 2011, 02:19:40 AM

Ok, I've swapped out the CPU and motherboard and removed duplicates for the following:

Quote from: Sazabi on September 01, 2011, 09:29:19 PM

Case: Thermaltake Armor A60 Mid-Tower from Newegg

Motherboard: Asus M5A99X Evo from Newegg

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban 3.2 GHz 6-Core from Newegg

RAM: 2 CORSAIR 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 from Newegg - total of 16GB RAM

GPU: ATI 100-505606 FirePro V4800 1GB from Newegg

Hard drives:
OS hard drive: Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB 10000RPM from Newegg

General Use hard drive: Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EARS 1TB 5400 RPM from Newegg

Optical Drives: 2 SAMSUNG CD/DVD Burner 22X from Newegg

PSU: Thermaltake TR2 RX 750W from Newegg

Card reader: Rosewill RCR-IC002 74-in-1 Internal Card Reader from Newegg

Fans: 4 Scythe SY1225SL12SH 120mm "Slipstream" Case Fan from Newegg

CPU Fan: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus from Newegg

Monitor: Dell Ultrasharp U2412M 24inch IPS 1900x1200 from Amazon

Keyboard: current desktop keyboard, after cleaning

Mouse: suggestions for a non-gaming mouse of good quality; maybe a HP GW405AT from Newegg

OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

Does this sound better?

That sounds like a beast.
I like it

Sazabi · **Reply #14 on:** January 16, 2012, 01:45:18 AM

Update: It's built and Windows 7 Professional was just installed. @_@

One thing I noticed - after installing an errant power cable (

) and resetting the RAM - was that when the system was powered up, the top fan is insanely loud; when I was configuring BIOS, it clocked it at almost 2,000 rpm.

Is there a way to configure a maximum rpm for the fan? :/

Millhouse · **Reply #15 on:** January 16, 2012, 02:14:17 AM

Quote from: Sazabi on January 16, 2012, 01:45:18 AM

Update: It's built and Windows 7 Professional was just installed. @_@

One thing I noticed - after installing an errant power cable () and resetting the RAM - was that when the system was powered up, the top fan is insanely loud; when I was configuring BIOS, it clocked it at almost 2,000 rpm. Is there a way to configure a maximum rpm for the fan? :/

I assume you are referring to a case fan. It depends on the the motherboard. Check the BIOS to see if you can limit the RPM or the voltage to the fans.

If not, you can fit a resistor cable to the fan to limit the voltage, and therefore the speed it spins at. Alternatively, you can fit a quieter case fan.

Sazabi · **Reply #16 on:** January 16, 2012, 02:26:25 AM

Thanks, Millhouse. I'll Google how to re-enter BIOS and how to really navigate it. ^^;

If it helps, the motherboard is a ASUS M5A99X EVO, and the case fan is one from the ThermalTake Armor A60, though I'm honestly not sure if it's the top or the front fan; the fans I installed in addition to the case fans are around the standard decibel level as the fans in the other towers we have around.

Millhouse · **Reply #17 on:** January 16, 2012, 02:40:09 AM

Just had a look at your motherboard and it is very similar to my own Asus motherboard.

Enter the BIOS, and go into advanced mode. Go to MONITOR. All fan control options are here.