Computer for Photography (Photoshop/Lightoom Use).

Martin SH · 15 Apr 2008 at 23:05

I was thinking of building the following for Photography (Photoshop/Lightroom) use, but one of the motherboard reviews says: This board -WILL NOT- boot with 4x 1gb memory sticks of the double-sided type (which is practically all memory around these days) much to my distress. The only other option is to try to find 4x single-sided sticks or stay with 2x double-sided.

Are there any other suggestions?
G.Skill 4GB DDR2 PQ PC2-8000C5 (2x2GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit (F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ) £88.11

Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L Intel P31 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £46.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.66GHz (1333FSB) - Retail £117.49

Antec NSK 4480 Mini Tower Case (Silver) - 380W Earth Watts PSU £52.86

Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD501LJ)
£57.66

HIS ATI Radeon HD 3450 Silence 256MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £32.89

Samsung SH-S203PBEBN 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM 19.96

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-01939) £70.49

Total: £486.45

Also would the Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail be a better choice?

Thanks

Martin

Aod · 16 Apr 2008 at 09:02

yes, the quad would be better for photoshop work unless you're going to clock the crap out of your wolfdale.

also, i don't think the price-premium on PC2-8000 ram is worth it over PC2-6400, so i'd get this stuff instead:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-086-OC&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=

lastly, i'd get this card:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-151-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=708

over the 3450. the extra graphics grunt might be usefull.

siege2 · 16 Apr 2008 at 10:04

PS regarding software and drivers for hardware, make sure go to the manufactures web site and check to see if u can download drivers for vista 64 bit and check web site for software compatibility, before making the windows purchase.

Aod · 16 Apr 2008 at 12:05

all of that hardware has x64 drivers and all adobe products run on x64 too.

sid · 16 Apr 2008 at 14:21

Martin SH said:
I was thinking of building the following for Photography (Photoshop/Lightroom) use, but one of the motherboard reviews says: This board -WILL NOT- boot with 4x 1gb memory sticks of the double-sided type (which is practically all memory around these days) much to my distress. The only other option is to try to find 4x single-sided sticks or stay with 2x double-sided.

Are there any other suggestions?
G.Skill 4GB DDR2 PQ PC2-8000C5 (2x2GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit (F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ) £88.11

Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L Intel P31 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £46.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.66GHz (1333FSB) - Retail £117.49

Antec NSK 4480 Mini Tower Case (Silver) - 380W Earth Watts PSU £52.86

Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD501LJ)
£57.66

HIS ATI Radeon HD 3450 Silence 256MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £32.89

Samsung SH-S203PBEBN 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM 19.96

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-01939) £70.49

Total: £486.45

Also would the Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail be a better choice?

Thanks

Martin

Quad cores are significantly better.

Theres a thread in the photography forum about Photoshop filter times. Please take a look there before purchasing anything.

Can I also reccomend a decent screen + hardware calibration as well.

sid

Martin SH · 17 Apr 2008 at 12:38

Does anyone have a comment on the memory issue?

One reviewer says "This board -WILL NOT- boot with 4x 1gb memory sticks of the double-sided type (which is practically all memory around these days) much to my distress. The only other option is to try to find 4x single-sided sticks or stay with 2x double-sided."

Thanks for your help.

Martin

ins0mn1ac · 17 Apr 2008 at 13:01

Your spec is with 2x2GB, thats 2 sticks, it'll boot fine with that.

shadowake · 17 Apr 2008 at 13:11

Photoshop also runs better on a seperate physical drive to the OS. Might be worth getting a second cheap small 7200rpm disk for it?

GeX · 17 Apr 2008 at 14:29

shadowake said:
Photoshop also runs better on a seperate physical drive to the OS. Might be worth getting a second cheap small 7200rpm disk for it?

is this actually true still? I have a backup drive (250gb SATA) sat in my system, worth moving photoshop onto that?

Martin SH · 17 Apr 2008 at 16:11

deleted said:
Your spec is with 2x2GB, thats 2 sticks, it'll boot fine with that.

The reason for going Vista 64 is that I would like to use more ram and add as I can afford it. Thats why I am not sure about the motherboard.

Thanks

Martin

shadowake · 17 Apr 2008 at 16:21

GeX said:
is this actually true still? I have a backup drive (250gb SATA) sat in my system, worth moving photoshop onto that?

Can't do any harm, go for it

GeX · 18 Apr 2008 at 12:23

its currently on a RAID0 array withthe OS though!

slowrunner · 18 Apr 2008 at 13:59

Regarding the 3450, don't get it, other than having double the memory than my previous 9200se (AGP, in my old system), it doesn't seem any faster or more powerfull at all. Bump it up to at least a 3650, or even a 3850, I'd also get a 512mb version instead of 256mb aswell.