Question Building a high end Lightroom / Photoshop PC, how does this build look?

[waterjug]

Over the past couple of years Adobe has done a lot to increase usage of multi-core processors, so I'm excited to see what they can do. When I do game on this I want max performance on bleeding edge games, although I don't game that often. Single monitor setup for now. I will be OC'iong to 5.0Ghz I haven't built a machine in the past 5 years, so I'm a bit out of the loop on compatibility; I think what I have below in the list will work together though. If a part isn't listed below I already have it (monitor, external storage, spindle disk drive).

I'm going delidded i9-9900KS (or K) from silicon lottery, and 2x32 on RAM as opposed to 4x32 for now; if I recall that makes an OC easier. No SLI on video card for the time being since I haven't read anything saying it helps with LR/PS, plus no games I play utilize it well. The 2TB NVMe is going to be the system disk, the 1TB will be storage for photos / video data from the current year that hasn't been archived and that I'm working on actively, and also a scratch disk. Maybe I should bump it to 2TB?
I don't want to go with a custom loop for the water cooling this time, I'm going to try a prefab solution from Corsair. I want to stay under $5K total, but I'm not married to that.

I had thought about Ryzen, but I'm reading quite a bit that says they can only hit peak speed on one or two cores at a time, whereas with a 9900 you can get 5Ghz on all of them...

Anyway, how does this look, for max performance

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i9-9900KS 4 GHz 8-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Corsair H115i PRO 55.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Thermal Compound: Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut 1 g Thermal Paste
Motherboard: Asus ROG MAXIMUS XI FORMULA ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
Storage: Samsung 970 EVO Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB FTW3 ULTRA HYBRID GAMING Video Card
Case: Corsair 750D ATX Full Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit
Total: $3922.34

Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-24 11:52 EST-0500

 

[RLGL]

Looks good. What are you planning on for a monitor?

 

[UsandThem]

Not sure I would personally go spend a pretty good amount of $$$ on top-of-the-line components, and then only go with DDR4 2666. I think something like DDR4 3200 could be had for almost the same price right now.

While Intel doesn't scale as well as Ryzen does with faster memory, for games there is a nice bump in minimum and maximum FPS. Even if with your overclock you can't run the memory as high as it is rated for, you could always manually dial it back to say DDR4 3000 speeds (or at least run it a tighter timings). That said, running something like DDR4 3200 at stock speeds shouldn't be that difficult even for an overclocked 9900k.

I had thought about Ryzen, but I'm reading quite a bit that says they can only hit peak speed on one or two cores at a time, whereas with a 9900 you can get 5Ghz on all of them...

Are you going to benchmark your PC, or actually use it to do stuff? At least to me, it doesn't matter what clocks the CPU (or what the individual cores) hits, it's the overall performance it provides in what I use a computer for. If you are going to pay a premium for a 9900KS (especially one binned by Silicon Lottery), you can get a 12 core 3900X for less. Once again, it comes down to what your expectations/needs are.

 

[waterjug]

Looks good. What are you planning on for a monitor?

I have a 27" LG 4K IPS panel (LG 27UD68P-B 27" FreeSync IPS LED Monitor ), I love it for photo editing, I just wish there were larger monitors that ran at 4K, I'd love a 32" IPS panel at 4K.

Not sure I would personally go spend a pretty good amount of $$$ on top-of-the-line components, and then only go with DDR4 2666. I think something like DDR4 3200 could be had for almost the same price right now.

While Intel doesn't scale as well as Ryzen does with faster memory, for games there is a nice bump in minimum and maximum FPS. Even if with your overclock you can't run the memory as high as it is rated for, you could always manually dial it back to say DDR4 3000 speeds (or at least run it a tighter timings). That said, running something like DDR4 3200 at stock speeds shouldn't be that difficult even for an overclocked 9900k.

Are you going to benchmark your PC, or actually use it to do stuff? At least to me, it doesn't matter what clocks the CPU (or what the individual cores) hits, it's the overall performance it provides in what I use a computer for. If you are going to pay a premium for a 9900KS (especially one binned by Silicon Lottery), you can get a 12 core 3900X for less. Once again, it comes down to what your expectations/needs are.

That's a good point about the memory, thank you for the video!

Not benchmarking, I just want highest performance for video / photo editing and rendering. I would occasionally game on it, and in those cases again I want top tier performance. I'm not sure the 12 cores would benefit over say an 8 core (or whatever).

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Crazy how things have changed since Sunday. A 9900KS is barely HEDT now. You are building a great system, and yet it is suddenly a budget HEDT.

at 4K. Not benchmarking, I just want highest performance for video / photo editing and rendering. I would occasionally game on it, and in those cases again I want top tier performance. I'm not sure the 12 cores would benefit over say an 8 core (or whatever).

For video editing, new threadripper is in an entirely different class ( read higher class) than the 9900 series. Heck, it even trades blows gaming at 1080p now, at 4K it is probably a wash. Have not seen benchmarks for that res yet. Outside of gaming, a 9900 is far from the highest performance now. Photoshop may still be an exception, yet more benchmarks I have not seen yet.

 

[KentState]

The motherboard is somewhat of a waste since you are doing AIO cooling for the CPU and GPU. Either do a custom loop at spend the AIO money on blocks or do something else like the Gigabyte, ASRock or MSI boards.

 

[waterjug]

Crazy how things have changed since Sunday. A 9900KS is barely HEDT now. You are building a great system, and yet it is suddenly a budget HEDT.

For video editing, new threadripper is in an entirely different class ( read higher class) than the 9900 series. Heck, it even trades blows gaming at 1080p now, at 4K it is probably a wash. Have not seen benchmarks for that res yet. Outside of gaming, a 9900 is far from the highest performance now. Photoshop may still be an exception, yet more benchmarks I have not seen yet.

oh my goodness...I assume that's what you're talking about? That thing is amazing, looks spectacular for lightroom too....but still, 9900KS overlocked to 5.0 on all 8 cores, I'm wondering if it would still outperform the 3970. I haven't read much about OC'ing the new TR yet, so I could be completely incorrect. Maybe if it could get up to 4.7 or so it'd outperform. I may just have to get it and hope Adobe catches up to the technology.

 

[waterjug]

The motherboard is somewhat of a waste since you are doing AIO cooling for the CPU and GPU. Either do a custom loop at spend the AIO money on blocks or do something else like the Gigabyte, ASRock or MSI boards.

Is there a reason to not get an Asus in this case?

 

[KentState]

Is there a reason to not get an Asus in this case?

There are just better built motherboards for the same or less price. I got mine before all the reviews started pouring in last year or would have gone a different route. Mainly the VRM's are weak for what you pay and the 9900K can give them a workout.

 

[Markfw]

oh my goodness...I assume that's what you're talking about? That thing is amazing, looks spectacular for lightroom too....but still, 9900KS overlocked to 5.0 on all 8 cores, I'm wondering if it would still outperform the 3970. I haven't read much about OC'ing the new TR yet, so I could be completely incorrect. Maybe if it could get up to 4.7 or so it'd outperform. I may just have to get it and hope Adobe catches up to the technology.

From their own conclusion:
"For Lightroom Classic, it is all about sticking with AMD right now. The new Intel X-series CPUs will certainly get the job done, but the AMD Ryzen 3rd Gen processors are overall faster and less expensive. And while the higher price point of the new AMD Threadripper CPUs will put them out of reach for many users, their frankly absurd performance when exporting and generating smart previews will likely make them well worth the investment for many of Lightroom Classic's "power" users. "

There is no way a 9900ks will be able to touch a 3960x by what they show.

 

[jhansman]

There is no way a 9900ks will be able to touch a 3960x by what they show.

This. Intel just got their a** handed to them with the release of the Ryzen 9 3950/60x. Costly, yes; but you will know where that money went and it should easily last you several years.