First PC - i7 3770, P8Z77, GTX 650, Corsair 16GB, Seagate HDD,

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gesek

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Nov 11, 2012
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10,510
Hi.

This is my first try to build a computer.So, Im curious what do you think about this configruation, maybe you can help me make it better. Or change it. If you think another CPU, Motherboard would be better im open to everything. But budget is somehow limited to this configuration.

I will be using the PC primarily for Photoshop and internet browsing. No gaming at all.

Here we go:
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K plus Cooler Master Hyper 212+ EVO
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V PRO

GPU(1): NVIDIA GeForce GTX550 Ti - ASUS ENGTX550 Ti/DI/1GD5
GPU(2): NVIDIA GeForce GTX650
GPU(3): AMD Radeon HD 7750 - ASUS HD7750-1GD5-V2

RAM(1): Corsair 16GB KIT DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Blue Vengeance Low Profile - 4x4GB (PC3-12800, CL9-9-9-24, 1.5V, XMP)
RAM(2): Corsair 16GB KIT DDR3 1600MHz CL10 Black Vengeance Low Profile - 2x8GB (PC3-12800, CL10-10-10-27, 1.5V, XMP)

HDD: Seagate SV35 3000GB

PSU(1): Seasonic M12II-620 Bronze
PSU(2): XFX Core Edition Pro 850W

Case(1): Corsair 500R Carbide
Case(2): ???????

According to GPU, I know the Quadra series are the best, but its really expensive, so what do you recommend? I think the GTX 650 should be enough.

PSU - is there any difference? Gold series are a bit more expensive, but are they a lot more better?

Case - what do you think? Is the Cooler Master HAF X better or Zalman GS1000 Titan?


Thank you for your advice.

 
zared619

zared619

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Sep 9, 2012
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This build is fairly un-balanced and you won't utilize everything fully. Try this build out.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/niul
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/niul/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/niul/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.99 @ Amazon)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ NCIX US)

Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB Video Card ($112.99 @ Microcenter)

Case: Cooler Master HAF 922 ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($53.99 @ NCIX US)

Total: $846.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-11-11 10:49 EST-0500)
Note: The GPU is that price at microcenter, but an NewEgg, it is just a couple dollars more.
If you have any questions, just ask.
 
GoldenI

GoldenI

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Nov 11, 2010
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I agree with everything except for the Seagate Barracuda HDD. I would recommend Western Digital for a HDD. . . . .
 
S

squirrelonfire

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Sep 25, 2008
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1) First, lay out how many HDDs will you be using in the future. The z77 pro has only 2x SATA 6 gbs connectors.
2) No I don't think the 650 will help your photoshop as much as a real workstation video card. So read up the chart to see if your expectations are met by the 650.
3) Photoshop will create huge files. And SSD is the fastest drive material out there. So get a SSD if you can.
 
zared619

zared619

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Sep 9, 2012
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You kind of contradicted yourself on the third point. Photoshop does make huge files. SSD's are also the fastest available, but they are still rather small in capacity. Unless you want to shell out a couple grand to get 1TB worth of storage in SSD, an HDD is still the best economical decision for photo storage.
Additionally, the motherboard I suggested also has 4 3GB/s SATA ports. To be honest, an HDD can't really utilize a 6GB/s, but an SSD could. Most people don't get more than 2 SSD's so that should be enough.
 
G

gesek

Honorable
Nov 11, 2012
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10,510
Unfortunately in Slovakia there is no G.Skill memory and Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX motherboard.

I can choose motherboard from these(there is second page if you click to "Nasledujúce") Asus+Asrock:
http://www.alza.sk/zakladni-desky-s-chipsetem-z77/18853664.htm#f&pg=1&prod=2379,1284,1294&po=1

And memory Corsair, Crucial and Kingston, but low profile only these:
http://www.alza.sk/pamate/pre-pc/ddr3/18849305.htm#f&pg=1&prod=1638,3107,1459&po=1&par530=530-1878

HDD:
http://www.alza.sk/pevne-disky/interne/3-5-hdd/18849714.htm#f&pg=1&prod=1487&po=1&par284=2--3&par281=281-1036

Video Card:
MSI R7770 Power Edition 1GD5/OC



 
C

curtkram

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Mar 8, 2012
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I think you would benefit from having the os on an ssd and file storage on a platter drive. photoshop thinks alot and it should be able to write some of it's thinking to the ssd instead of to the file saved on the platter drive. the ssd would be photoshop's scratch disk once it runs out of memory. if you want, you should be able to get smaller drives for storage and raid0 (stripe) them. that might be a bit faster.

here is a link from photoshop that could be worth a read for you:
http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/optimize-performance-photoshop-cs4-cs5.html

you should be able to get a quadro 600 for roughly the same price as that video card if you wanted to go that route.
 
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blane2

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Nov 10, 2012
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i-7 is overkill for photoshop. Real world experience, your Hard Drives bottle necks photoshop much more than an i-5 would.

invest the money into lots of Ram and a solid state drive for scratch disk. Those are the two things that photoshop chews through quickly more than anything else. Your 3-5 second wait for effects rendering on an i-5 verse your 2-3 second wait for rendering on an i-7 means nothing compared to ....

a 3-5 second wait for a brush stroke because photoshop is trying to write to a 7200RPM Scratch disk.
 
G

gesek

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Nov 11, 2012
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Thank you very much, you pretty quicky learned Slovak language :)

This combo you suggested looks great. I checked, but the XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze is not available here, but I can choose power supply from Cooler Master:
http://www.alza.sk/skrinky-a-zdroje/zdroje/18849164.htm#f&pg=1&prod=3425&po=1

Seasonic:
http://www.alza.sk/skrinky-a-zdroje/zdroje/18849164.htm#f&pg=1&prod=1828&po=1

Corsair:
http://www.alza.sk/skrinky-a-zdroje/zdroje/18849164.htm#f&pg=1&prod=1638&po=1


 
G

gesek

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Nov 11, 2012
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Starting to be confused, because I learnt everything from forums what is good for photoshop. Every time I read that photoshop can benefit from i7 and its LOT better, than i5. But as I said, I can completly reconfigure the whole set, so it will be no problem to buy something else as i7-3770K.
 
zared619

zared619

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Sep 9, 2012
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I wish I could learn that quick. Google translate helps a lot :lol:

Both Seasonic and Corsair are good. Seasonic is in general the best you can buy, but corsair is still good. It depends on how much you want to spend. Both will do just fine. I will recommend one of each.

http://www.alza.sk/seasonic-ss-500et-f3-d167022.htm

http://www.alza.sk/corsair-cx500-d367327.htm

 
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curtkram

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Mar 8, 2012
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just one more opinion to confuse things

i'm pretty sure i7 is going to be better. however, i'm also pretty sure the new photoshop is going to be a bit more concerned with GPU and less concerned with CPU compared to past releases and your hard drive is likely to become a bottleneck. if you can get the i7 plus faster harddrives (ssd plus platter drives, maybe even raid0), my advice would be to go that route. if you have to choose between a faster processor or faster drives because of cost, i would lean towards faster drives.
 
G

gesek

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Nov 11, 2012
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So I do not need the Seasonic S12II-620 Bronze bulk(http://www.alza.sk/seasonic-s12ii-620-bronze-d199655.htm), but the SEASONIC SS-500ET-F3 is enough.




I know the i7 with SSD and Quadro GPU would be the best, but its really expensive, so I have to make a compromise. If you can recommend a good combo I would be glad.

 
zared619

zared619

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Sep 9, 2012
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A 500 watt is enough. Even with an overclock.

I think your best option is an i7 with an SSD, and a standard GPU, such as the 7770. Obviously, you will still need a HDD for storage, but like a few people said earlier, an SSD would be useful as a scratch disk and for the OS.
 
B

blane2

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Nov 10, 2012
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Are you doing any 3D work in photoshop? If not go for the i-5, and skip the quadro card.

What people don't seem to understand is that the blanket statements "i-7 is better for photoshop" or "a good GFX card is required" only holds true if you are using the 3D tools they added in CS4.

If you are not doing 3D modeling you do not need a high powered GPU or an i-7 CPU for photoshop to work really well.

If your goal is really to build a great 2D photoshop computer (with no gaming), get an i-5 with integrated graphics.

take the money you saved from the i-7 and the Quadro cards and purchase more RAM, a SSD, and a Good ISP panel monitor.
 
C

curtkram

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Mar 8, 2012
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i would prioritize the ssd first. that has to be set as a scratch disk in photoshop and keep it empty (don't put files or other programs except maybe the os on it). get a 256MB if you can, or smaller if you can't. you can maybe go down to 80MB and still be good? 128MB should be better than 80.

next, if you can get the quadro 600 for the same price as another card you're considering, go that route. i would not do integrated graphics for photoshop. i think the 7770 is fine if you want to cut cost here.

third i would consider processor. if you need to take money out somewhere, i think i would start with cutting the i7 down to an i5.

it's easier for me, because it's not my money :)
 
G

gesek

Honorable
Nov 11, 2012
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No, Im not doing 3D modeling, and yes, my goal is to build a non gaming computer for photoshop, you are right.

More RAM? 16GB would be enough?


Blane2 vs zared619 = i5 vs i7 = integrated graphics vs 7770


Yes, Im starting to be even more confused :eek:


 
C

curtkram

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Mar 8, 2012
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here is a big long white-paper from adobe. about page 13 is specific to photoshop cs6, most of the first part explains how adobe works with hardware. this whitepaper covers other adobe products too, which are not specific to what you're looking for. Blane may not have considered newer features when he suggested photoshop only uses the GPU for 3d manipulation.

more ram might be good. photoshop will write to ram first, then the scratch disk (ssd we were talking about previously). if you have enough ram to avoid the scratch disk entirely photoshop will run faster for you. that costs more though, and we're mostly talking about what you can cut out instead of add.

http://www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/products/creativesuite/production/cs6/pdfs/adobe-hardware-performance-whitepaper.pdf
 
k1114

k1114

Titan
May 2, 2010
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Not sure pming me was necessary but to sum up the thread thus far:

From the original post, you seem to have the budget for an i7, drop the gpu for an ssd. You can always get a graphics card later, this is an easy upgrade. Cs6 continues to be mainly cpu/ram. Even today's integrated are powerful enough to handle large format easily. 16gb should be enough. Go with 2x8gb in case you ever need more, another easy upgrade. If you want to save some money, the i5 is fine but you seem to have the budget for an i7. Even in gpu accelerated tasks, cpu performance matters. It is gpu accelerated not a gpu task. But if you aren't even doing anything strenuous than you won't notice a difference between an i5.

I'd have to agree a nice ips monitor is essential for anyone who works in photoshop professionally. But it would still help to have a lesser tn monitor if your work isn't printed so you see what normal people may see.

There's no point in having a high end case. You could go down to the 400r or fractal arc midi. I'd recommend others but it seems a lot of the cases on that site are still the older versions with usb 2.
 
G

gesek

Honorable
Nov 11, 2012
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10,510
Thanks you, everyone helped me a lot. Sometimes confused me, but at the end Im trying to decide between these option:

1. configuration:

Intel Core i7-3770K
Cooler Master Hyper 212+ EVO
ASUS P8Z77-V LX2
Intel HD Graphics 4000
Corsair 16GB KIT DDR3 1600MHz CL10 Black Vengeance Low Profile
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1000GB 64MB cache *1
OCZ Vertex 4 Series 128GB
SEASONIC SS-500ET-F3
Cooler Master HAF 922 *2


2. configuration:

Intel Core i5-3570K
Cooler Master Hyper 212+ EVO
ASUS P8Z77-V LX2
SAPPHIRE HD 7770
Corsair 16GB KIT DDR3 1600MHz CL10 Black Vengeance Low Profile
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1000GB 64MB cache
OCZ Vertex 4 Series 128GB
SEASONIC SS-500ET-F3
Cooler Master HAF 922


*1 - later add another, because 1TB is not enought, hope its not problem for this config, I will need at least 2TB, but maybe 3TB would be even better
*2 - to k1114: its almost the same price as the 400R 82€ vs 77€
 
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