Photo editing rig

cavemanoc

cavemanoc

cavemanoc

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I've been looking around for a while for a laptop for my father-in-law who is a semi-professional photographer. He is quite keen to move from his current Toshiba laptop (rubbish) to a Macbook as all of his friends use them. Try as I might I can't talk him out of it, but there is one other option - he doesn't edit his stuff on the road, so really he doesn't need the laptop for editing, just as a mobile download machine, so the obvious solution is to get him a proper desktop to do the serious work when he gets back. So what do you guys think of this:

spec.jpg


It WON'T be Overclocked.
It WON'T be used for Games/TV/Movies.
It will be purely a Photo Editing workstation (Photoshop CS3 etc...)

Is this rig the best for the job?
Does it need the GFX card? Will the integrated one allow for proper calibration of the screen?
Can anyone see anything I've missed (he's got keyboard/mouse ;))

Edit: I've gone for the M-Atx format as he'll have to take it back to Zimbabwe with him and it's just more portable.
 
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If it's not for gaming then a 4850 is a bit overkill imo.

Go for an 8600 instead, and spend that extra cash where it matters most, the CPU.
 
I only looked at the card because ATI is supposed to have better 2D IQ than nVidia - and as this is a photo editing rig...

As for the CPU, again... photo editing rig ;)
 
The most important component is the monitor, specifically how well it can reproduce the sRGB gamut.

Check the detailed specifications and reject outright anything based on "TN" technology. (S)-PVA is the next one up the ladder (Samsung, some Dell models) and is likely to be acceptable to most home users.

Top of the tree and closest to the colour reproduction of a CRT is S-IPS (mainly Philips and Eizo).

Also factor in a Spyder 2 for colour calibration and do check that it's compatible with your OS.
 
He already has a calibrator which works a treat - I originally looked at the NEC s-ips monitor (21.1") that OCuK sell for exactly the reasons that you mention, but having read around it appears that the new pva monitors are actually pretty good and the Dell especially seems to be acceptable (+ it's 24" for the price of 20")
 
I am also looking at speccing a PC for photo editing, specifically Lightroom in my case.
Looking on Adobes forums, they all suggested high(ish) end Core 2 Duo or Quad Core CPUs.
I am looking at either an E8400 or Q6600.
There was very little mention of AMD (the Phenom was suggested though), which is not to say they are no good, but Intel was the common choice.
It was also commented that most graphics should be fine for 2d work, onboard or otherwise.

On the monitor side, I would really like to know how much of a difference some of the really high end 20" or 22" models make over a standard TN one? There are some that are close to £700 or even more, yet my 22" TN Film Belinea seems to calibrate pretty close to printed output.

Andrew
 
Double that, any of the 34xx or 36xx series with silent cooling will do :-).
GPU doesnt matter that much unless you go for the professional ones which will be very good choice if you got the cash, I think the cheapest models start from about 140-150 from ATI GL Series.

If you aint got this much just go with 3450 or 3650, both will do well.

Definitely go with the ram you have choosen.

I dont think you will need 500W PSU so you could go with cheaper case + psu if you dont mind it, can save there about 20-30quid.


On the CPU side you could take a look at the cheaper versions of x4 phenoms and take cheaper motherboard.

Or you could take Q6600 with GA P35DS3L.


Both are good choice for this rig.

If you plan to overclock however, then the Q6600 paired with Tuniq Tower will be your best bet but then you will need bigger case with some decent airflow as well to lower the temps :).
 
Do the GL cards have better 2D IQ? I thought the optimizations were only for 3D editing? If this is true then the option would probably be to get a 'cheap' standard card and simply flash it to FireGL - anyone know which card would be best for this (if it's needed of course - bear in mind that this rig will ONLY be used for 2D work!)

As far as the other boards/cpus are concerned - see my 1st - this rig will ONLY be used for Photo editing (RAW images via Bridge into CS3) so there is absolutely no need to overclock or for a faster/more expensive chip. TBH I have massively overspecced on the RAM and any old Cheap set would do - same for the Case/CPU - that was just the cheapest m-atx format one they had on offer - and considering it comes with its own psu - it's actually a bargain?

Edit: Disregard what I said about the RAM - turns out that it is outrageous value and the cheapest way to get 4Gb! ;)
 
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ajf said:
I am also looking at speccing a PC for photo editing, specifically Lightroom in my case.
Looking on Adobes forums, they all suggested high(ish) end Core 2 Duo or Quad Core CPUs.
I am looking at either an E8400 or Q6600.
There was very little mention of AMD (the Phenom was suggested though), which is not to say they are no good, but Intel was the common choice.
It was also commented that most graphics should be fine for 2d work, onboard or otherwise.
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I think a quad core would be overkill as CS3 is still single threaded and still annoyingly 32 bit. I noticed a good uptick in performance moving from Pentium 4 to Core2 Duo. Complex filters (e.g. noise reduction) running against 22Mp 14 bit scans (120Mb tiffs) ran much more quickly and didn't kill the rest of the PC when running. Performance does scale somewhat with CPU speed but I've read elsewhere that CS3 is pretty much limited by RAM bandwidth.

On the monitor side, I would really like to know how much of a difference some of the really high end 20" or 22" models make over a standard TN one? There are some that are close to £700 or even more, yet my 22" TN Film Belinea seems to calibrate pretty close to printed output.
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Yes for most people pretty close is good enough. If you're working for a client or an agency then anything other than perfect may result in an ex-client.
 
cavemanoc said:
As far as the other boards/cpus are concerned - see my 1st - this rig will ONLY be used for Photo editing (RAW images via Bridge into CS3) so there is absolutely no need to overclock or for a faster/more expensive chip.
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Overclocking will help in CS3. Filters run faster.

On the graphics card - I use a dual output card with my main 24" monitor used as the photo editing space and a second cheapo 15" dedicated to displaying all the CS3 toolbars and palettes. Works well and means you can dedicate the entire 24" monitor to the photo.
 
foxbat said:
Overclocking will help in CS3. Filters run faster.

On the graphics card - I use a dual output card with my main 24" monitor used as the photo editing space and a second cheapo 15" dedicated to displaying all the CS3 toolbars and palettes. Works well and means you can dedicate the entire 24" monitor to the photo.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that - nice to have a bit of constructive input from someone that actually uses the products I'm looking at. I can see the point in having access to a second screen and I will definitely mention it to him - not sure if it's worth £100+ but he may disagree! While I appreciate that the filters can be quite slow to apply he is a patient man - he's been doing this on Muuuuuuch slower machines without complaint - and I won't be there to help so overclocking is out, and high speed processors are unnecessary - hence the choice.

bledd. said:
wrong case, wrong graphics
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Awesome - thanks - a huge help :rolleyes: What would you recommend? Samsonite and pearlecent transfers?
 
foxbat said:
I think a quad core would be overkill as CS3 is still single threaded and still annoyingly 32 bit. I noticed a good uptick in performance moving from Pentium 4 to Core2 Duo. Complex filters (e.g. noise reduction) running against 22Mp 14 bit scans (120Mb tiffs) ran much more quickly and didn't kill the rest of the PC when running. Performance does scale somewhat with CPU speed but I've read elsewhere that CS3 is pretty much limited by RAM bandwidth.


Yes for most people pretty close is good enough. If you're working for a client or an agency then anything other than perfect may result in an ex-client.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. Probably stick with the E8400 idea then. Understand the point with the screens, so for my use (just hobby) I am guessing it would be overkill?
 
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