Photoshop Computer Build

[shmar10]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: within a month
BUDGET RANGE: ~$2000

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Photoshop & Lightroom, Breezebrowser, FTP software, internet, streaming from Hulu while I work. All are usually running at the same time too.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitors, speakers

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: probably Newegg

PARTS PREFERENCES: intel CPU

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe. Not sure it is necessary for applications I use.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1200 (Dell 24 inch) and a 19 inch that I put PS palettes

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Thinking about setting up RAID 10 with 4 drives. Is this necessary? What's the best way to back-up system? Am I better off with just two drives in RAID 0 for performance? I don't store any files on internal/boot discs either.

These are the components I have so far. Any input on this build is greatly appreciated.

COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160

Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131359

2 x CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1600C9 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145222

HIS H577F1GDG Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161306

areca ARC-1210 PCI-Express x8 SATA II Controller Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816131003

4 x Western Digital RE3 WD3202ABYS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136297

COOLER MASTER Silent Pro 700 RS-700-AMBA-D3 700W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active ... - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171037

LITE-ON Black 4X Blu-ray Disc Reader SATA Model iHOS104-08 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106326

KINGWIN KF-4000-BK 3.5" Internal hot swap rack raid-4 bay - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817990004

SUPER TALENT INTAIN1MCR All-in-one Card Reader - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820609298

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116762

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 92mm Fluid Dynamic CPU Cooler - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134

 

[jsrudd]

don't get those hard drives. Get a fast one to use as your main drive such as the WD Black 1 tb drive, the new spinpoint 1 TB drives, or an SSD and then some slower 5400rpm 1 tb drives for storage such as the WD green 1TB drives. Also make sure to set the photoshop scratch file to a separate disk from where the program is installed. As for RAID, RAID 0 isn't too much faster (and an SSD would be even faster than 2 HDD in raid). RAID 5 will probably be sufficient as long as you are using 1TB drives for storage. Also raid is not back up, make sure to backup critical files elsewhere.

As for the graphics card, its probably overkill because photoshop only uses the GPU for a few of the tasks since it is still a 2d application and that is only if you have GPU acceleration available in CS4

12 GB of RAM is also excessive since I'm pretty sure that tests have shown that photoshop will not use more than 4gb. If you're heavily multitasking you might need 12GB.

Unless you're going to overclock you don't need the Arctic Cooler and lots of people prefer the Dark Knight or Scythe Mugen 2.

 

[shmar10]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Do you have a graphics card in mind that might be better suited for my situation?

For the memory, I suppose if I start with 6GB I could always add more if necessary. Good idea.

Still not really sure what to do about system drive(s). All files (mostly clients photos) are saved on two external HD's and RAW files are also saved to DVD's. My concern is being able to restore my system if something goes wrong like a HD going bad.

Any thoughts?

 

[nofun]

Here's what I would suggest for what you need:

Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P $169.99
CPU: i7-860 $289.99
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 $114.99
GPU: (Same) $174.99

Hard Drive for Active Projects & Programs:
SSD: Corsair P128 (CMFSSD-128GBG2D) 128GB $369.00

Hard Drives for Storage, Backup, & Archiving:
3 HDD's in RAID 5: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB $79.99 x 3 = ($239.97)

Case: (Same) $139.99
PSU: Antec EarthWatts EA500 500W $69.99
Blu-Ray Drive: LITE-ON Black 4X BD-ROM SATA Internal 4X Blu-ray Disc Reader $67.99
DVD/CD-Burner: LG Black IDE 22X DVD±R DVD Burner LightScribe Support $31.99
Card Reader: (Same) $9.99
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit $174.99
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grand Total: $1,853.87


This will give you plenty of power for everything you could ever need. You probably don't need such a high end GPU, but if you really want the DirectX11 and the Eyefinity, then ok. But an HD 4850 will give you better graphics performance for less coin (and that is still probably overkill). 500W should be plenty of power. 4 GB of RAM should be plenty for now (you can upgrade to 8 GB in the future when you need to, and then prices will be much cheaper). An SSD as your primary hard disk is the way to go! They are wonderful for handling large files, and will make such a huge performance impact. I cannot stress how awesome SSD's are. So, you have a 120 GB SSD for your software and your active projects, and then we have a RAID 5 array for storage and archiving. For this, I used 3 Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB drives, giving you a storage capacity of 2 TB with some redundancy in case of drive failure. Also these drives will have significant transfers speeds as they are 7200 RPM and will be in raid, so you can quickly move projects from your fast SSD to your voluminous storage array.

You could get away with a cheaper case too. An Antec 300 (about $60) would work; however, the Coolermaster is certainly far superior, so I will not argue that (just saying you could go cheaper if you wanted to). You also do NOT need to get the 1366 architecture since you do not plan to use SLI or Crossfire, the 1156 architecture is cheaper and will give you about the same performance. Finally, and you do not need third party RAID or SATA card.


PS - why do you specifically need Windows 7 Ultimate? Here is a product comparison chart: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions), you may not need all of its features.

 

[nofun]

Haha, thanks...

PPS - if you're going to add anything to that build, buy a bigger SSD. They are expensive, but they are so worth it for photo-editing and anything involving large files. Your machine will boot faster, copy files faster, search faster, load graphics faster, open programs faster... just do everything FASTER (which is what it's all about).

 

[shmar10]

nofun...

That looks like a great system. I've got a few more questions I hope you don't mind answering.

I have been using the Kingwin hot-swap rack for all storage. I use two 1tb drives at a time and one is a copy of the other. I have been filling up 1tb drive in about 7 months or so. When the two identical drives are full I can store 1 off site and keep the other in case I need to access files from them. That's what I use the other two bays in the Kingwin for - to access files from stored drive.

So I guess my question is do I still need the three other drives in RAID 5?
And... what is the best way to keep my system protected/backed up in case of some system failure.

I'll check out the different versions of windows 7 too to see what I really need.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[overshocks]

since you're doing photoshop..and your budget is $2000

theres no reason why you are not getting a i7 920 build.

nofun's build is good, but it leaves you with limited upgrade option in the future, plus again your budget is 2000..i7 860 build is a bad choice and bad upgrade path..

if you choose the i7 860 path, then you will need 8GB of RAM for photoshop, assuming you are running other designing/editing programs too. 4GB isn't enough then

nofun's build is missing a heatsink, get a hyper 212 plus heatsink for better temperatures or for overclocking, or both. it's really cheap

get the samsung spinpoint hard drives, either the 1TB version or 500GB version is fine. get more than one if you need more storage..

 

[blackhawk1928]

shmar 10 welcome to the forums
Here's some sugestions:
Since your build revovles around major picture editing and photoshop. I recommend devoting a good chunk of attention and budget for your RAM. 6GB of Triple Channel memory for the Core i7 920 would be excellent. I couldn't find any other kits with good RAM. You want memory with a high transfer rate/frequency and very low latency. This it I think would suit your needs better.
Muskin Enhanced Redline 6GB (3x2GB) Triple Channel Kit 1600mhz CL6
A 700watt Power Supply for you is overkill. However if you plan on doing crossfire in the future and have a lot of hard drives it will be fine, if the price difference is minimal then stick with the 700watt.
-And you might want get faster hard drives like the Caviar Black series.

 

[nofun]

nofun...

That looks like a great system. I've got a few more questions I hope you don't mind answering.

I have been using the Kingwin hot-swap rack for all storage. I use two 1tb drives at a time and one is a copy of the other. I have been filling up 1tb drive in about 7 months or so. When the two identical drives are full I can store 1 off site and keep the other in case I need to access files from them. That's what I use the other two bays in the Kingwin for - to access files from stored drive.

So I guess my question is do I still need the three other drives in RAID 5?
And... what is the best way to keep my system protected/backed up in case of some system failure.

I'll check out the different versions of windows 7 too to see what I really need.

Thanks again for your help!

If you already have a system worked out for backing up storage, then you really don't need RAID 5.

Raid protects against hardware failures (ie - a hard drive dying), it does not protect against user stupidity (ie - you delete a file accidentally). For protection against that, there are a slew of software options available to you. For home use, I've been reasonably happy with DT Utilities PC Backup (review here: http://data-backup-software-review.toptenreviews.com/backup-mypc-review.html), but this is an inexpensive home-use solution. There are better solutions for professional use, but I'm not familiar with them.

 

[blackhawk1928]

If you want file safety that is hardware failure safe AND user stupidity safe ^ as stated above you can order a service that usually costs like 50-100 dollars a YEAR that backs up a certain hard drive of you selection every now and then and puts the data into servers from that company to keep it safe.
^Personally I use a service called "Mozy Home Back-Up". It costs a dirt cheap of 50bucks a year. Basically, I have 1.5TB hard drive that I share on my network, I gave the company the IP address of my server and share name of the hard drive and every 12 hours it backs up every file on that hard drive and stores them in different servers around the country for Xtreme data safety. You might think it would take forever to copy the data if you have a 1TB of space...well the first time it does it then yes it can take many hours but after that, every time it copies, it only copies changed files, new files, or earases deleted ones, it won't copy old files so regular back-ups done every 12 hours can only take like 5-10 minutes depending on how often the files are changed and how many are added. Thats the best way to protect valuable storage.

 

[shmar10]

Wow! Great input. I think I am starting to get a handle on exactly what I am going to need.

blackhawk192... Can Mozy be used to restore a system drive if it crashes? That's the last thing I am still trying to figure out. How can I protect against the drive with OS and all programs failing?

Thanks again for everyones help.

 

[shmar10]

Ok... after everyones input, this is what I've got. Will have to either wait or get RAM somewhere else as it's not in stock. Ideas there? Any last suggestions?

Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

Mushkin Enhanced Redline 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 998691 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226050

Corsair P128 (CMFSSD-128GBG2D) 2.5" 128GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233087

HIS H485QT512P Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported IceQ4 Turbo Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161244

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 compatible RR-B10-212P-GP 120mm "heatpipe direct contact" Long ... - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

LITE-ON Black 24X DVD Writer Black SATA Model iHAS-324-98 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106334

COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160

(Has a lot of SATA connections which I need) ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131359

(Same price as CM SP 600) COOLER MASTER Silent Pro 700 RS-700-AMBA-D3 700W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active ... - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171037

KINGWIN KF-4000-BK 3.5" Internal hot swap rack raid-4 bay - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817990004

SUPER TALENT INTAIN1MCR All-in-one Card Reader - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820609298

(scratch disk for Photoshop) Western Digital Caviar Blue WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822135106

Still looking into other versions(thoughts?) Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116762

Total: $1845.86

Thanks again for all your help. This is a great forum.

 

[overshocks]

get this instead 4850 1GB SAME PRICE:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125258&cm_re=4850-_-14-125-258-_-Product

why do you need windows 7 ultimate?

 

[blackhawk1928]

Wow! Great input. I think I am starting to get a handle on exactly what I am going to need.

blackhawk192... Can Mozy be used to restore a system drive if it crashes? That's the last thing I am still trying to figure out. How can I protect against the drive with OS and all programs failing?

Thanks again for everyones help.

The Mozy Back-up only backs up actual data and files, it cant really restore an operating system. To actually save an OS w/ data you need to make a mirror image of it. I think there is software that you can literally image a hard drive to another one and just keep it for storage but i don't think its realtime back-up, you need to do that manually every couple days or so however long you want. Besides you wouldn't want to risk two important HDD's under the hands of one powersupply because if it smokes both drives are gone lol. Also getting a Fiber Channel drive will help as thier quality is much higher and they are busniss grade but thier price is more also.

 

[shmar10]

So I've got everything but the SSD drive. I am going to try and take lots of pictures as I build and keep posting. Should I start a new thread or just continue this one?

Here are most of the components. SSD will be in on Monday and the cpu cooler is at the office.

 

[blackhawk1928]

Looks nice, now comes the most fun part IMO, building it and turning it on for the first time.

 

[shmar10]

Just waiting for the SSD drive now, but here is the build so far with POST!

Lots of views of the case. I like a big case! Lots of room to work and I like how the cables can be run behind the MB panel.

 

[shmar10]

That's a MONSTER fan at the top of the case that I unfortunately had to remove to fit the PSU.
230mm!

Other side of the case where you can run wires to keep things organized. I also thought there would be enough room to install MB and then CPU cooler after. You can see the big square cut-out. Unfortunately I couldn't get to the bottom two screws of the backplate on the CPU cooler so I had to take the MB off to install. Not a big deal tough.

GPU that I forgot to get a photo of at the beginning.

 

[shmar10]

You just push these buttons and two pins hold the drive in place. If it's not secure enough you can put screws in from the other side as well.

Put a 4 drive hot-swap bay in these three spaces. I use these to store and backup clients photos.

 

[shmar10]

 

[blackhawk1928]

Why did you remove the 230mm top fan?!!! I am pretty sure you can bottom mount the PSU, correct me if i am wrong. The Top is the best place to have a fan because hot air flows upwards so having a top fan IMO is the most important place a fan can be!!

 

[shmar10]

Now I need to figure out what to do next! Have 1 SSD coming Monday and another on backorder. Deciding if I want to wait for second to run in RAID 0.

 

[shmar10]

Why did you remove the 230mm top fan?!!! I am pretty sure you can bottom mount the PSU, correct me if i am wrong. The Top is the best place to have a fan because hot air flows upwards so having a top fan IMO is the most important place a fan can be!!

I wasn't sure if the power would reach to the MB. You think I would be ok? I could probably switch it without too much trouble.

 

[blackhawk1928]

I would switch if possible because having a top fan is the most efficient and effective way of excreting hot air from inside, hot air floats up so sucking it out be effective and very easy on top

-Really nice pics BTW. Looks nice.

 

[shmar10]

Thanks for the advice. I think I will switch it and put the fan back in.

Glad you like the pictures too. Thought they might also be helpful to others builders.