Build for photo editing

[Aerok]

Approximate Purchase Date: Around December

Budget Range: $1500

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Photo Editing with Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop

Parts Not Required: Monitor and case

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.ca or tigerdirect.ca

Country of Origin: Canada

Parts Preferences: None

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Monitor Resolution: 2560 x 1440

Additional Comments: Raid setup is extremely important to backup my pictures. All external backup will be made on DL DVDs

 

[nd_hunter]

I like bestdirect.ca and directcanada.com (sister sites). Why? Very competitive pricing and free shipping on orders over $80 and $50, respectively

Out of curiosity, what case are you using? Also, a RAID array is not recommended as a backup. If your array is striped, one drive failure will result in all your data being lost. The failure rate doubles with each additional drive. A mirrored setup doesn't fair much better, because if data becomes corrupted on one drive or you happen to pick up a virus, the same will happen on the others. Personally, I back up important files on flash drives, external hard drives, and DVDs. Another option is using a "cloud" drive, depending on how strong your Internet connection is.

On to the build....

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600k
http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=12200BD9917&vpn=BX80623I72600K&manufacture=INTEL
$317.44

Mobo: Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 ATX LGA1155
http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/235032/GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3/Gigabyte/
$178.17 ($10 MIR available)

RAM: Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 16GB 4X4GB DDR3-1600 C9
http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/235861/CML16GX3M4A1600C9/CORSAIR/
$139.92

GPU: Intel HD3000 (onboard). This will be good enough since you aren't rendering 3D images. The UD3H motherboard is one of the few with a DisplayPort out, supporting up to 2560x1600 resolution. Otherwise, you will have to get a discrete GPU.

SSD: 128GB Crucial M4 SATA III SSD
http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/234805/CT128M4SSD2/CRUCIAL%20TECHNOLOGY/
$204.79

HDD: 1TB WD Caviar Black
http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/227170/WD1002FAEX/Western%20Digital/
$78.99 each (get however many you want)

Optical: LG Super Multi 22x SATA DVD Writer
http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/234640/GH22NS70/LG%20Electronics/
$17.79

PSU: XFX 550W PRO550W Core Edition
http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/233770/P1550SXXB9/XFX/
$60.71

Total (assuming 2x WD HDDs) = $1076.80

 

[Aerok]

It has been a while I bought the case but it is a very capable one and full sized so that is not too worry.

Cloud drives are pretty expensive so I guess I'll stick to my Ext HD+DVD backups (One per event).

What should be stored in the SSD besides OS? Would Adobe products perfrom faster when ran from SSD?

And also I might have a spare ATI 5770 lying around, would 550 watts still be enough?

Btw, thanks a lot for your recommendations!

 

[nd_hunter]

You're still good on power.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/296
^^The third bar from the bottom shows a fully loaded 5770 on a system that is more power hungry than the one you are building.

That 128GB SSD will have room for your OS, Office, CS5 and lots of other productivity applications. And yes, they will all load noticeably faster. You will want to change the location of certain folders (Documents, Pictures, Videos, Music, etc) to a mechanical HDD so your SSD won't get filled.

I forgot to take overclocking into account. You can do up to around 4.0 GHz on stock cooling safely. Any more and you will want an aftermarket cooler. Overclocking is also CPU (and case) dependent, but generally speaking, a Hyper 212+ will get you to 4.5 safely and a Noctua NH-D14 should get you into the high 4's. You just need to make sure your case is wide enough to fit them. I specified the low-profile RAM modules so that they would fit under virtually any tower-style cooler.