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Worthy alternative to Core i5 10600?

lumencreative

lumencreative

lumencreative

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Joined
19 May 2014
Posts
290
Need to build a new computer for one of our workbenches at work. It will be used mostly for photoshop but one file in particular is 1GB in size and has around 1,000 layers.

We are on a bit of a budget so have been looking at the Core i5 10600.

Is there an alternative that’s worth looking at? Would like to keep the budget as close to £500 as possible.
 
1000 layers. Omg. How do you work on that image? Lol. That thing must eat ram for breakfast and more

I think you will struggle to get anything close to that budget that will give you hassle free editing for that 1GB file.
 
pc-guy said:
1000 layers. Omg. How do you work on that image? Lol. That thing must eat ram for breakfast and more

I think you will struggle to get anything close to that budget that will give you hassle free editing for that 1GB file.
Click to expand...
To be fair, the file is a lot of different images, with up to 10 layers per image, one group per image. Currently using a 4th gen Core i5 with 16GB Ram and the biggest issue is that photoshop makes multiple 60GB temp files so have had to stick a mechanical drive in there to make space for that.

Whether that is the reason, I’m not sure, but photoshop regularly hangs for 30 seconds or more when using the search function which is one of the main reasons I want to build a new pc.
 
I think you will benefit from more ram and a SSD without needing to upgrade your cpu motherboard etc. 4th gen i5 is also only 4C4T which is a bit mean as you can’t really operate anything else while photoshop is running.

do you know how much ram that file is taking up? I suspect it will far exceed your 16GB. I work on my A7iii 40mb raw file that can get quite memory hogging if I have around a dozen layers especially if I do any sort of exposure stacking.
 
pc-guy said:
I think you will benefit from more ram and a SSD without needing to upgrade your cpu motherboard etc. 4th gen i5 is also only 4C4T which is a bit mean as you can’t really operate anything else while photoshop is running.

do you know how much ram that file is taking up? I suspect it will far exceed your 16GB. I work on my A7iii 40mb raw file that can get quite memory hogging if I have around a dozen layers especially if I do any sort of exposure stacking.
Click to expand...
The PC we current use is a Dell Optiplex which only supports SATA drives and not m.2 (it’s already been upgraded to an ssd for the boot drive) and 16GB ram is the maximum (I believe). My only option for upgrading the mechanical drive to a larger ssd would be to use a pci m.2 card (the computer cannot boot from one but can use it for the massive temp files that photoshop creates).

I also think the cpu is an ‘S’ model so is slower than a normal 4th gen would be.
 
4K8KW10 said:
This will be also mean but on the other extreme - extremely excellent:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £650.46 (includes shipping: £10.50)
​
Click to expand...
Thanks. Quite a lot more than I can spend given that I’ll also a need case & psu unfortunately :(
 
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lumencreative said:
Thanks. Quite a lot more than I can spend given that I’ll also a need case & psu unfortunately :(
Click to expand...

Case and PSU can be had for not too much money:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £64.08 (includes shipping: £11.10)
​

Do you also need a graphics card?

Surely you can afford to save but while saving you save from the performance of the system and the quality of work.
More expensive components will be possible to be used longer and the return on investment will come.
Higher performance will save you lots of time.

Cheaper components mean that in one-two or three years you will again be looking for upgrades.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £553.64 (includes shipping: £11.70)
​
 
lumencreative said:
The PC we current use is a Dell Optiplex which only supports SATA drives and not m.2 (it’s already been upgraded to an ssd for the boot drive) and 16GB ram is the maximum (I believe). My only option for upgrading the mechanical drive to a larger ssd would be to use a pci m.2 card (the computer cannot boot from one but can use it for the massive temp files that photoshop creates).

I also think the cpu is an ‘S’ model so is slower than a normal 4th gen would be.
Click to expand...
how many dimm slots does the motherboard have? if it is 4 you can get 32GB. i think on ddr3 the maximum each dimm slots can have is 8GB on consumer grade boards. so have a look at your resources in task manager see how much ram is available after your openned that 1GB file and started doing some edits.

in terms of SSD, you wont need NVMe to notice difference when you put your files onto a SSD - a 1TB drive should be sufficient for your need - dont get QLC drives. - £90

also the 30s hanging may due to the processing and the graphical update.

processor - you have an option to get cheap 4770k second hand which is 4c/8t - i used that for a very long time and perfectly capable but never tried a 1GB file before. the most i got as stictching 20+ imagines for a massive high res pano, that was big file too and i had no issues of hanging - £50

graphics - i dont know if those dell come with a dedicated GPU at all. if not you can always stick one in there. again second hand market is best - something like GTX970 or old quadro cards if you fancy - £80

i think if you can get more values out of your current system it is the best and cost very little

basically to move on from your current system you need a new computer. a decent photoshop computer for your need doesnt come cheap - certainly not less than £500 considering you cant reuse any parts from your old machine. and tbh you dont really want to skimp on that cos you will soon end up in the same situation - buying cheap buy twice.
 
Yes, this is why people say 'I am not so rich to buy cheap things'.
Also, why would a business need to save when for instance the likes of Nvidia say 'The more you buy the more you save'.
 
lumencreative said:
We are on a bit of a budget so have been looking at the Core i5 10600.
Click to expand...

The 10400 is a bit cheaper. If you need a GPU - and Photoshop can benefit from a GPU - then go for the 10400f.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £632.55 (includes shipping: £11.70)​
​
 
4K8KW10 said:
Case and PSU can be had for not too much money:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £64.08 (includes shipping: £11.10)
​

Do you also need a graphics card?

Surely you can afford to save but while saving you save from the performance of the system and the quality of work.
More expensive components will be possible to be used longer and the return on investment will come.
Higher performance will save you lots of time.

Cheaper components mean that in one-two or three years you will again be looking for upgrades.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £553.64 (includes shipping: £11.70)
​
Click to expand...
Crap case I can live with. Crap psu, no thanks :)

Yes, I can afford more if absolutely necessary but it a 3700x at £300 really better value than the i5 at almost £100 less?
 
pc-guy said:
how many dimm slots does the motherboard have? if it is 4 you can get 32GB. i think on ddr3 the maximum each dimm slots can have is 8GB on consumer grade boards. so have a look at your resources in task manager see how much ram is available after your openned that 1GB file and started doing some edits.

in terms of SSD, you wont need NVMe to notice difference when you put your files onto a SSD - a 1TB drive should be sufficient for your need - dont get QLC drives. - £90

also the 30s hanging may due to the processing and the graphical update.

processor - you have an option to get cheap 4770k second hand which is 4c/8t - i used that for a very long time and perfectly capable but never tried a 1GB file before. the most i got as stictching 20+ imagines for a massive high res pano, that was big file too and i had no issues of hanging - £50

graphics - i dont know if those dell come with a dedicated GPU at all. if not you can always stick one in there. again second hand market is best - something like GTX970 or old quadro cards if you fancy - £80

i think if you can get more values out of your current system it is the best and cost very little

basically to move on from your current system you need a new computer. a decent photoshop computer for your need doesnt come cheap - certainly not less than £500 considering you cant reuse any parts from your old machine. and tbh you dont really want to skimp on that cos you will soon end up in the same situation - buying cheap buy twice.
Click to expand...
I've just had a look at the system specs. The current PC is a Dell Optiplex 7020 SFF. It has 4 slots which the specs say can take up to 8GB but the system has a total ram limit of 16GB.

The main problem I have found with Dell computers from experience is that there are bios limits to what the computer will take. I can't recall what the exact model CPU is but I believe it was the best that would work in the motherboard (will look to see if the 4770k would work though but might have issues with the form factor/cooling).

The PC has got a dedicated GPU but not a great one - again due to it being an SFF pc. Another reason for looking to upgrade so we can put a decent GPU in there.
 
Quartz said:
Is Photoshop the best tool for the job?
Click to expand...
What other tool would you suggest? It needs to be software that will allow us to print with specific ICC profiles, so narrows it down to very few.

We are planning on splitting the file then we will still likely have all files open at the same time - just makes it a bit more manageable.
 
lumencreative said:
I've just had a look at the system specs. The current PC is a Dell Optiplex 7020 SFF. It has 4 slots which the specs say can take up to 8GB but the system has a total ram limit of 16GB.

The main problem I have found with Dell computers from experience is that there are bios limits to what the computer will take. I can't recall what the exact model CPU is but I believe it was the best that would work in the motherboard (will look to see if the 4770k would work though but might have issues with the form factor/cooling).

The PC has got a dedicated GPU but not a great one - again due to it being an SFF pc. Another reason for looking to upgrade so we can put a decent GPU in there.
Click to expand...

this dell is £440 and have a single stick of 16GB ram, so i imagine this can be expanded to 32GB. so what you need to do is to get a match sticking (usually crucial ram) and also get that GPU out of your current PC and put it in there. and you need to get a bigger SSD to use as storage. but you best check with Dell to see if this system can take 32GB ram etc

*** competitor link removed ***
 
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