I need help selecting components for my new computer.
I built my last computer 4 years ago and I haven?t kept up with the latest technology.
My requirements:
My computer usage falls into 4 main categories:
1. Photo editing (35%). I have a Nikon Digital SLR and I take a lot of pictures
in the Raw format about 6 Meg per photo. I use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (new) and
Adobe Photoshop CS3 (beta) to edit my photographs. I believe both of these programs
can take advantage of multi-core processors.
I keep to copies of each photograph ? the original unedited NEF file and the final edited
copy. Lots of storage space required.
2. Digital music encoding and storage (25%). I have lots of music stored in
FLAC, WMA and AAC formats. The computer also serves as a Midi hub for my Yamaha
keyboard YPG-620.
3. Video Games (15%). I don?t consider myself a hardcore gamer, but I enjoy
playing games from time to time. My new system should be capable of playing DX10
games. The new system should have hard drives that minimize game load times. I
have a Sony Artisian GDM-520K Monitor that I run at 1600 x 1200 @ 85 MHz. My
graphic card should run games at very high FPS at that resolution. This monitor has the
standard VGA connector. However, I plan to purchase a large widescreen LCD monitor
in the fall, so the graphic card must support VGA and DVI connectors.
4. General Computing and Internet Surfing (25%) ? I use Microsoft Office ,
IE , Quicken 2007 to do normal everyday task.
Other considerations:
1. I want a motherboard that will allow me to upgrade my CPU to Quad core when
prices come down.
2. I have no experience OCing, but I want to learn. I need a motherboard that
makes it easy to OC.
3. I would like to buy the 4 Gb of the fastest Ram that I can buy now. So that when
I upgrade my CPU to a Quad core and can OC it without replacing the memory (Is this a
good idea). I need as much Ram as I can get for photo editing.
4. My plan is to purchase one Nvidia 8800 GTS now and purchase another one in the
Fall to run them in SLI. So what size power supply should I get to run two 8800 GTS in
SLI and Quad CPU and 4 SATA hard drives?
5. I plan to store the OS and all applications and games on the Raptor Drive (no partition).
I will use one 320 GB drive to store photos and video files. I will use the
other 320 GB drive to store my music files. In addition, I will partition one of the 320
GB hard drive into two drives 300 GB and 20 GB. I will use the 20 GB partition as a
scratch disk for Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. Can anyone suggest a more efficient
use of the drives and back-up strategy (Raid 5 maybe)
My preliminary Hardware choices are:
Case ---------------- CM Stacker 832
CPU ----------------- Core 2 Duo E6600
Motherboard ------- Asus Striker Extreme
Power Supply------- PC Power and Cooling 750 Quad
Memory------- ------ 4 1GB
Hard Drives---------- 1 150 GB WD Raptor SATA
------------------------ 2 320 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA
------------------------ 1 500 GB WD My Book eternal drive eSATA
Video Card----------- 1 EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS
OS-------------- ------ Windows Vista
I built my last computer 4 years ago and I haven?t kept up with the latest technology.
My requirements:
My computer usage falls into 4 main categories:
1. Photo editing (35%). I have a Nikon Digital SLR and I take a lot of pictures
in the Raw format about 6 Meg per photo. I use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (new) and
Adobe Photoshop CS3 (beta) to edit my photographs. I believe both of these programs
can take advantage of multi-core processors.
I keep to copies of each photograph ? the original unedited NEF file and the final edited
copy. Lots of storage space required.
2. Digital music encoding and storage (25%). I have lots of music stored in
FLAC, WMA and AAC formats. The computer also serves as a Midi hub for my Yamaha
keyboard YPG-620.
3. Video Games (15%). I don?t consider myself a hardcore gamer, but I enjoy
playing games from time to time. My new system should be capable of playing DX10
games. The new system should have hard drives that minimize game load times. I
have a Sony Artisian GDM-520K Monitor that I run at 1600 x 1200 @ 85 MHz. My
graphic card should run games at very high FPS at that resolution. This monitor has the
standard VGA connector. However, I plan to purchase a large widescreen LCD monitor
in the fall, so the graphic card must support VGA and DVI connectors.
4. General Computing and Internet Surfing (25%) ? I use Microsoft Office ,
IE , Quicken 2007 to do normal everyday task.
Other considerations:
1. I want a motherboard that will allow me to upgrade my CPU to Quad core when
prices come down.
2. I have no experience OCing, but I want to learn. I need a motherboard that
makes it easy to OC.
3. I would like to buy the 4 Gb of the fastest Ram that I can buy now. So that when
I upgrade my CPU to a Quad core and can OC it without replacing the memory (Is this a
good idea). I need as much Ram as I can get for photo editing.
4. My plan is to purchase one Nvidia 8800 GTS now and purchase another one in the
Fall to run them in SLI. So what size power supply should I get to run two 8800 GTS in
SLI and Quad CPU and 4 SATA hard drives?
5. I plan to store the OS and all applications and games on the Raptor Drive (no partition).
I will use one 320 GB drive to store photos and video files. I will use the
other 320 GB drive to store my music files. In addition, I will partition one of the 320
GB hard drive into two drives 300 GB and 20 GB. I will use the 20 GB partition as a
scratch disk for Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. Can anyone suggest a more efficient
use of the drives and back-up strategy (Raid 5 maybe)
My preliminary Hardware choices are:
Case ---------------- CM Stacker 832
CPU ----------------- Core 2 Duo E6600
Motherboard ------- Asus Striker Extreme
Power Supply------- PC Power and Cooling 750 Quad
Memory------- ------ 4 1GB
Hard Drives---------- 1 150 GB WD Raptor SATA
------------------------ 2 320 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA
------------------------ 1 500 GB WD My Book eternal drive eSATA
Video Card----------- 1 EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS
OS-------------- ------ Windows Vista
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