Looking for suggestion on new photo editing build

[clemsonace]

My current pc is about 5 years old and i have recently gotten into photography... so the old one isn't keeping up with processing the raw images. Definitely time for an upgrade and i'd like to try building one to get maximum performance out of my budget.

1. Primary purpose will be photo editing (photoshop, elements, lightroom) and some gaming

2. Budget: $800 (would like this budget to include the OS, but monitor is not included in the 800 budget)

3. buying parts in the US, primarily amazon.com because of gift cards i've got

4. Looking for an intel build, other than that, no major preferences

5. only keeping keyboard and mouse from my current build, also will buy my new monitor separate from the budget above


7. would like the ability to overclock but not stuck on it either way

8. resolution: 1920x1080

9. I plan to build this within the next month

Thanks in advance for the help... looking forward to the suggestions

 

[Ken g6]

Hm, tight budget. You wouldn't happen to be near a Micro Center, would you? Any chance you could re-use your current case? Is this Photoshop CS6? How much do you have tied up in Amazon gift cards?

Here's a build for $840, or $790 if you reuse your current case:
CPU: I5-3330 $180 AP
Mobo: ASRock B75M $55
RAM: G-Skill 16GB DDR3-1333 $62 AP HARDOCPX912E, ends 9/18
GPU: Sapphire 7850 $190 AR
SSD : Samsung 830 128GB $94 @Amazon
HDD : 1TB Hitachi Deskstar $70
DVD : Samsung $17
PSU: Antec Neo Eco 400C $30 AR
Case: NZXT Source 210 $50 @Amazon
OS: Win7HP $91 @Amazon
Total: $839

 

[Puppies04]

3570K
Z77 mobo of your choice to fit budget (MATX model will be fine but look for 4 RAM slots is possible)
300-500W PSU (decent brand/see anandtech review http://www.anandtech.com/show/2371 )
4 x 4GB RAM (speed is pretty irrelevant)
Any case that your mobo fits in and matches your budget/taste
120GB SSD for OS/programs
1TB HDD for storage (reuse from old rig if possible)
DVD RW

Looking at newegg you should be able to easily put this together for $800 although if the OS pushes you over budget swap it for the 3570k which will be almost as good and $100 cheaper.

Edit. Sorry I don't work in $ usually so I made a slight error advising on the I7 which isn't going to fit into this budget, go for the I5 instead.

 

[Ken g6]

@Puppies04, nice plan, except...

and some gaming

Which reminds me, @clemsonace, what games?

 

[DSF]

@Puppies04, nice plan, except...



Which reminds me, @clemsonace, what games?

Speaking of which, check your build Ken. You have an SSD listed under GPU.

 

[Ken g6]

Speaking of which, check your build Ken. You have an SSD listed under GPU.

Thanks. Must've overwritten the GPU when I moved the SSD link to Amazon.

 

[clemsonace]

As far as games, i might venture back into the likes of star wars or wow...

If i'm willing to go up a little in price, what about mfens build but with the following changes:

9/9/2012 update:
i5 3570K $230 AP - switch to the i5-3330 (save about $40)
ASRock Z77 Extreme4 + G.Skill DDR3 1600 8GB $135
XFX 7950 3GB $290 AR - switch to Radeon 6870 (save about $120)
Samsung 830 128GB $100
Seagate 1TB $80
Lite-ON DVD Burner $18
Seasonic S12II 520W $60 AP
Source 210 Elite $50
Add in OS for $100 and new estimated price ~$860

is this heading in the right direction or am off base here?

 

[Ken g6]

ASRock Z77 Extreme4 + G.Skill DDR3 1600 8GB $135

Sadly, this particular deal is gone. Plus, it seems like you ought to have more RAM for photo editing. Still, a Z75 mobo ("Usually ships within 1 to 3 months." ) plus 8GB RAM would fit there.

switch to Radeon 6870 (save about $120)

Might work. Saves only about $20-$40 AR off a 7850 though, and loses significant performance.

You didn't answer all the questions back in my first post.

 

[clemsonace]

here you go, thanks for the help so far.

No micro center near by
it's an old xps 400 dell case
yes photoshop cs6
$500 tied up in giftcards on amazon

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Dells are btx. You'll need a new case or mod it

 

[clemsonace]

I may be blowing my budget a bit here, but what about this build?

CPU: Intel Core i5-3450 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($193)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme3 LGA1155 ($120)
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 ($43)
SSD: Samsung 830 series 128GB SataIII SSD ($120)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB ($80)
Video Card: GeForce GTX 660 2 GB ($225)
Case: CoolerMaster HAF 912 ($60)
Power Supply: OCZ modxstream pro 6002 modular 80plus ($50 AR till the 19th)
Optical Drive: Lite on dvd/rw ($22)
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium ($99)
Total: $1012


I picked the Nvidia card because i've read that photoshop seems to work better with those over radeon...

 

[AnonymouseUser]

300-500W PSU (decent brand/see anandtech review http://www.anandtech.com/show/2371 )

That's from 2007.... this is the latest roundup.

 

[Ken g6]

OK, let's deflate your budget a little.

Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme3 LGA1155 ($120)

As long as you're buying the mobo from Newegg, go ahead and get the $85 Z75. The only thing it's missing is using the SSD as a cache, which you don't need. Plus unless you get a K processor you can only overclock 4 "bins" (400MHz). If you've given up CPU overclocking, go for an H77 or $55-60 B75.

The Amazon links above still have the SSD for $100 (Though not $94. ) and Windows for $91.

Power Supply: OCZ modxstream pro 6002 modular 80plus ($50 AR till the 19th)

OCZ isn't a great name in...well...anything I can think of. If you need to go cheap, go for a Corsair CX430. If you want modular, go for PC Power & Cooling 500W for $10 more AR than the OCZ.

 

[mfenn]

OK, let's deflate your budget a little.

As long as you're buying the mobo from Newegg, go ahead and get the $85 Z75. The only thing it's missing is using the SSD as a cache, which you don't need. Plus unless you get a K processor you can only overclock 4 "bins" (400MHz). If you've given up CPU overclocking, go for an H77 or $55-60 B75.

:thumbsup: At this budget, and for this use, I don't think that a Z series is worth it. The ASRock B75M is only $65.

The Amazon links above still have the SSD for $100 (Though not $94. ) and Windows for $91.
OCZ isn't a great name in...well...anything I can think of. If you need to go cheap, go for a Corsair CX430. If you want modular, go for PC Power & Cooling 500W for $10 more AR than the OCZ.

Both the 7850 and GTX 660 are low enough power that you can use a 400W PSU like this Silencer MK III 400W for $35 AR AP.

EDIT: Go Tigers!

 

[sperho]

Unless you do a lot of heavy 3D rendering and the like in Photoshop, ditch the GPU and buy a hyperthreaded CPU with integrated graphics (3770K or the like). CS6 supports OpenCL with the 3770K... A GPU does nothing in LR. How important is gaming to you? Maybe leave it off for now and see how the 3770K does with what you do and if you need to save money for it later, you can.

Also, buy a bigger SSD (256GB Samsung 830 goes for about $200 and change right now) and put your OS/apps/LR preview cache/Adobe RAW cache, and LR catalog on it. I recently went through this and I've been a LR/PS user for years with a photography focus. Do a search on lightroom and you'll see my thread pop up with my build questions and choice.

 

[mfenn]

Unless you do a lot of heavy 3D rendering and the like in Photoshop, ditch the GPU and buy a hyperthreaded CPU with integrated graphics (3770K or the like). CS6 supports OpenCL with the 3770K... A GPU does nothing in LR. How important is gaming to you? Maybe leave it off for now and see how the 3770K does with what you do and if you need to save money for it later, you can.

Also, buy a bigger SSD (256GB Samsung 830 goes for about $200 and change right now) and put your OS/apps/LR preview cache/Adobe RAW cache, and LR catalog on it. I recently went through this and I've been a LR/PS user for years with a photography focus. Do a search on lightroom and you'll see my thread pop up with my build questions and choice.

OP will be gaming as well, so ditching the GPU likely isn't an option.

1. Primary purpose will be photo editing (photoshop, elements, lightroom) and some gaming

 

[sperho]

OP will be gaming as well, so ditching the GPU likely isn't an option.

I saw that, but wondered how important it was to the OP and whether it made sense to delay the purchase of one until seeing how the integrated graphics worked out... obviously it wouldn't if heavy duty gaming was a priority...