Budget Lightroom/Photoshop PC

[cdninva]

This is my proposed low-budget Lightroom/Photoshop rig. LR 3 was so damn slow on my Precision 670, and it's made DIY even more of a science-project that your first one should be. Anyway:

CPU: i5-760
MoB: Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3
RAM: 4 x Kingston 2 MB 1333
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 5670 512 MB / DDR5
HD1: WD 180 GB / 7200 / 8 MB cache (O/S, apps)
HD2: WD 250 GB / 7200 / 16 MB cache (LR catalog, previews, cache)
HD3: WD 500 GB / 7200 / 16 MB cache (data)
OD: HP DVD1260i DVD+/-RW
PSU: Antec BP550 Plus 550W
Case: Antec 100
O/S: Win 7 64-bit OEM

Comes to roughly $820, which isn't quite the savings I was hoping.

I've forgone an i7, SSD,10,000 RPM, and another HD for RAID 0; I thought it might be better to fill up the RAM, though it seems there aren't any Kingston 4MB 1333 value sticks.

I also opted for a P55/LGA 1155. Whether X58/LGA 1366 with the triple-channel would be better, I'd leave that to you folks. I know Sandy Bridge re-arrives in April, but I'm out of patience I guess!

Cheers and Thanks, Chris (EOS 30D)

 

[batuchka]

$402AR

had built several with same board + chip : value RAM /stock HSF 3.2-3.4 light OC good to go ^^

Optional Items

60GB Sandforce based SSD $95AR Free Ship (for boot/OS drive)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227550

 

[ScrewySqrl]

Batchuka forgot a video card: I'd suggest a GTX 560ti at $250

 

[batuchka]

Nope unless Premiere Pro is on the table LR/PS are mostly CPU/RAM bound and this is a budget config so IGP/880G suffices ^^

 

[joelmartinez]

batchuka's build is perfect

 

[cdninva]

Thank you, Batuchka and folks. Batuchka has chosen to save both by going Athlon, and with size. Hmmm, that's a pretty damn good deal, 'fastest Athlon with the 8 GB ram - hard to beat.

I could look again at mini-ATX. My main reason for full-size was number of HDs. It's not that I have a super-huge catalog. LR3 added both showing noise-reduction shown real-time at any size, and lens distortion correction; it's doing far more crunching than LR2 and isn't written for maximum efficiency. The drag's not the same on all systems. Some MacBooks made the transition from LR2 to 3, while owners of Mac Pros and quad-core PCs are pulling their hair out; they added not only the boot SSD but a third disk just for the picture cache, and RAIDed oversize data drives.

I guess I'll have to decide whether to follow suit and fill a smaller case to the gills.

Thanks Again! - Chris

 

[cdninva]

One more thing (like Colombo always said) - do you think I can cannibalize the power supply out of my Dell Precision, or might there be something proprietary within the power supply's circuitry that would keep it from working correctly with non-Dell motherboards?

- Chris

 

[batuchka]

No worries - in fact if Microcenter is an option full blown 1090T + Gigabyte 880g $235 ^^
http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMDbundlePROMO.html

For peace of mind just hit an entry level 80+/80+ bronze PSU hehe

 

[HeyImGodly]

ive learned never to challenge batuchka. Because he is the all knowing..