PC needed for photographer

kingkongballs

kingkongballs

kingkongballs

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Joined
25 Dec 2012
Posts
15
Hi,
I'm a photographer and looking for a high spec desktop that can cope with my workload.

For the last 5 or so years, I've been using various MacBook pro machines and bouncing between music software on the mac and adobe suites on windows (bootcamp).

My current configuration is the late 2011 15" i7 quad core 2.20GHz, 8gb ram
AMD Radeon 6700M 512MB

windows 8 64bit / OSX Lion

I need a machine that can run CS6 (Photoshop, Illustrator mainly), Lightroom and handle photoshop files in excess of 1.5GB without much lag/delay/freezing/PS shutdowns.

I have a dual monitor setup (one portrait, one landscape) so would need a graphics card that supports that or two powerful cards.

My budget is around £1200 (or less if it's possible) and would ideally like it to be somewhat future proof (is 5 years asking too much?)

If a prebuilt machine is recommended, which, or if building my own is recommended, what components should I be looking out for?

many thanks
 
give us more details of your old machine, tbh it doesn't seem that low powered.

need make of mother board and model number

as then maybe just need a memory upgrade to lets say 16gb at least for photo shop and another vga card, something with 2gb of memory onboard.

you havent also said what hdd you have so please say make and model / type etc

then maybe a sdd upgrade would be better or even newer larger drives with sdd caching etc
waiting for your reply
 
then can't use bits then, needs a new one as i know nothing about mac's at all

will just spec a setup from fresh and include all

dont need monitors so haven't picked one, but do need win 8
 
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1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £269.99
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 256GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-256M5P) £185.99
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Tomb Raider & Bioshock PC Games £173.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST3000DM001) HDD £104.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x XFX Pro 550W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £54.98
1 x Adata XPG Xtreme v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C10 2133MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AX3U2133XC4G10-2X) £44.99
1 x Phanteks PH-TC12DX CPU Cooler - Silver (Socket 775 / 1150 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £39.98
1 x BitFenix Outlaw Gaming Case - Black £39.95
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £1,111.32 (includes shipping : £11.25).

 
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1 x AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8350 Black Edition 4.00GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £184.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD250BW) £139.99
1 x Seasonic 460w FANLESS '80 Plus Platinum' Modular Power Supply £109.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST3000DM001) HDD £104.99
2 x GeIL Black Dragon 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD316GB1600C11DC) **OcUK Exclusive** £79.99 (£159.98)
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Gigabyte 970A-DS3 AMD 970A (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £53.99
1 x Adata Premier Pro SP900 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (ASP900S3-64GM-C) £52.99
1 x BitFenix Outlaw Gaming Case - Black £39.95
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £958.45 (includes shipping : £10.50).



32gb of ram,
64gb sdd for boot only
250gb sdd for work files/programs
3tb for storage
Seasonic 460w FANLESS '80 Plus Platinum' Modular Power Supply (no noise what so ever :)
amd 8 core cpu
 
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heres a nice spec which looks good and will last you many years, although the graphics card is way overkill, a 7770 would do.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £259.99
1 x MSI HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards w/ FARCRY3 & Sleeping Dogs PC Games £179.99
1 x Corsair Graphite 600T Midi Tower Case - Limited Edition White £145.99
1 x Crucial V4 256GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive £119.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C10 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI316G186C0K) £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Pioneer BDR-207EBK 12x BluRay RW / 16x DVD±RW 128GB - Retail £79.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £76.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £72.98
Total : £1,212.40 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 
or a pre built with a few mods
YOUR BASKET
1 x "Ultima 9650i Laser" Intel Core i7 3770K 3.50GHz @ 4.50GHz DDR3 Ivybridge Gaming PC £775.00
- 1 x 24 MONTH WARRANTY - COLLECT & RETURN £0.01
- 1 x Sapphire HD 7850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ FARCRY3 & Sleeping Dogs PC Games £137.99
- 1 x Standard Build Systems - Approximately 5-7 working days £0.00
- 1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 License 32/64-Bit - NO CD **INTERNAL USE ONLY** £79.99
- 1 x Corsair Carbide 500R Midi Tower Case - Black/White £93.95
- 1 x Microsoft Office Starter Edition £0.00
- 1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD120BW) £89.99
Total : £1,197.92 (includes shipping : £17.50).

 
Do you need OS/keyboard and mouse? I'm assuming you won't be gaming so I'd recommend the following:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £259.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) £209.99
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 650Ti OC Power Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £129.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Case - Black £64.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Blu 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C10D3B1K2/16G) £59.99
1 x PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III Series 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - White £59.99
1 x Arctic Cooling Freezer Xtreme Rev.2 High Performance Quiet CPU Cooler(Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
Total : £919.87 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
sorry for the super late response, ironically, my laptop broke down (again!)

I'm now ready to buy and like what has been posted so, thank you for your input.

two questions though;

with these configurations, do they come as parts or will the overclockers team build it for me?

secondly, has anything changed drastically in the last two months that I've missed? faster processor maybe or better graphics card?

I'm swayed slightly more to Zakblood's 2 x SSD option and considering 2 x 3tb's for storage and backup.

:D
 
#1 - All depends on if you want them as parts or built. What's been spec'd already would be parts that you need to build yourself.
#2 - Nothing's changed, the 3770k or AMD 8350 are still your best bet!

An 256GB SSD & 2x3TB HDD's should be fine.
 
You can run up to 3 monitors off that card I believe! I would think Landscape/Portrait mixes are fine too, I can certainly do that with my old Nvidia 330M in my MacBook with 2 monitors so I would think you would have no issue setting up a landscape & a portrait screen at the same time.
 
HD4000 graphics that is plenty for 2D, up to triple monitor support from motherboard.
32GB Ram, important for RAW files. SSD and 2GB WD black included
Seasonic Platinum and soundproofed Silverstone fortress case.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £279.95
1 x Silverstone Fortress FT02 USB3.0 Case - Silver (SST-FT02S USB 3.0) £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UP4 TH Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £161.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M4SSD2) £157.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD2002FAEX) HDD £149.99
1 x Seasonic 400w FANLESS '80 Plus Platinum' Modular Power Supply £99.98
2 x Kingston HyperX Blu 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C10D3B1K2/16G) £79.99 (£159.98)
1 x Arctic Cooling Freezer i30 Intel Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011) £32.99
Total : £1,229.36 (includes shipping : £13.75).
 
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here is what i have so far,
let me know if i'm off the mark

1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £279.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UP4 TH Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £161.99
2 x Kingston HyperX Blu 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C10D3B1K2/16G) £79.99 x 2 (£159.98)
1 x Crucial V4 256GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive £149.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST3000DM001) HDD £104.99
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 660 EX OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with a free copy of 3DMark advanced edition £179.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £76.99
1 x Arctic Cooling Freezer Xtreme Rev.2 High Performance Quiet CPU Cooler(Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
1 x TP-Link 450Mbps Wireless N Dual Band PCI Express Adapter (TL-WDN4800)£27.99
1 x Akasa USB 3.0 SuperSpeed Memory Card Reader (Internal header) (AK-ICR-14) £17.99
1 x Pioneer BDR-207EBK 12x BluRay RW / 16x DVD±RW 128GB - Retail £85.99

Sub Total : £1,090.68
Shipping : £11.75
VAT : £220.49
Total : £1,322.92

I would probably stick another 2-4tb hd in later to as a backup drive
 
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If it's really business / photography use I would ditch the graphics card and run of HD4000. That Gigabyte board supports thunderbolt that allows digital output to 3 monitors.

If you are having a graphics card would consider the Xeon E3-1230 V2, it will run very marginally slower then the i7-3770k, and no ability to over clock, you would save at least £80 over the i7 however.

The Seasonic G is a good PSU, but would consider the Platinum I if your not running a graphics card.

Case has no sound proofing, do you want to hear the fans / hdd while your working on photographs, or something that reduces the sound.

I would try not to run Wi-Fi, and always run fixed cable where you can.

Just my thoughts on my your build that's all, end of the day it's your choice :D
 
kingkongballs said:
thanks.

I'm looking at this case now http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-064-CS ? any good?

I'm considering following your advice and ditching the graphics card...for now.

Maybe see how i go with the HD4000 and if/when i feel the need to upgrade then i can.
Click to expand...

You could get a cheap 6400 series which supports 2/3 monitor output Something like THIS.

kingkongballs said:
thanks.

I'm looking at this case now http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-064-CS ? any good?

I'm considering following your advice and ditching the graphics card...for now.

Maybe see how i go with the HD4000 and if/when i feel the need to upgrade then i can.
Click to expand...

Very nice case. Corsair's cases are very well built & have plenty of room for cable management. Can't go wrong here.
 
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