Need advice for an Office PC Build [format followed]

RbSX

Diamond Member
Jan 18, 2002
8,351
1
76
1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

This office is primarily going to be used in an office atmosphere. It will be used to do a lot of photoshop work, photo editing, website editing, as well as running accounting and inventory software.

My only requirement is a TON of ram/storage since I am going to need a big page file for all of the Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop work I'm going to be doing.

Raid wouldn't be the worst thing ever in case a hard drive dies, as this computer will be the primary storage for a lot of the media designed for my company.



2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread.


Price isn't really an object, it's being purchased by the company I work for, so long as it isn't significant overkill. Without a screen I would say no more than $1500, but if someone can make an argument to make it higher, I can do it.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

USA or Canada, I live 20 minutes from the US border and I know stuff is cheaper down there, and the Canadian Dollar is almost at parity.

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.

I have no fanboy affiliation, that stuff is weak sauce.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

None.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.


Nope.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.


Default speeds.

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.

Don't plan on gaming, but it would be nice, would prefer higher resolution.

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?

ASAP.
 

theevilsharpie

Platinum Member
Nov 2, 2009
2,322
14
81
If you're buying a computer for a business, particularly if you need it up and running ASAP, I'd strongly recommend getting a pre-built business PC. An HP Z400 workstation should provide more than meet your requirements, and a 6005 Pro Microtower will also work if you need something cheaper.
 

elconejito

Senior member
Dec 19, 2007
607
0
76
www.harvsworld.com
+1 for buying off-the-shelf from a major OEM for business purposes. Especially if you're just going to be running at stock speeds.

If you really want a DIY though, depending on the type of work you do anywhere from an i5 on the budget end up to an i7 920 on the high-end would do.

My first question is what is a typical workflow for you? There is a lot of variation in photo editing. Editing 50 web graphics is one thing, stitching a huge panorama is another, processing several thousand RAW photos from an event is yet another. Each one has pros and cons to how you would setup your RAM and hard drives.

As a rule though, if you can keep everything in RAM (what are your scratch sizes like in photoshop?) that is the best bet, and will negate the need for fancy/expensive RAID or SSD solutions.
 

RbSX

Diamond Member
Jan 18, 2002
8,351
1
76
+1 for buying off-the-shelf from a major OEM for business purposes. Especially if you're just going to be running at stock speeds.

If you really want a DIY though, depending on the type of work you do anywhere from an i5 on the budget end up to an i7 920 on the high-end would do.

My first question is what is a typical workflow for you? There is a lot of variation in photo editing. Editing 50 web graphics is one thing, stitching a huge panorama is another, processing several thousand RAW photos from an event is yet another. Each one has pros and cons to how you would setup your RAM and hard drives.

As a rule though, if you can keep everything in RAM (what are your scratch sizes like in photoshop?) that is the best bet, and will negate the need for fancy/expensive RAID or SSD solutions.



I would prefer to build on my own, just because up here OEM off the shelf computers are a bit more expensive than they are down there.

Currently I have 4 gigs of ram and it's still overflowing onto my hard drive which is supremely annoying.

My reason for a raid array was simply that if the hard drive dies with thecomputer that I'm using the company will lose a lot of important documents.
 

elconejito

Senior member
Dec 19, 2007
607
0
76
www.harvsworld.com
What type of files are you working with? Is a single file eating up all your space? or do you have a bajillion smaller files open? It makes a difference deciding where to put your money.

As a rule of thumb I always tell people to look at a 2 drive setup. (I had brought up the RAID for performance, not necessarily for backup... more on that later)
1 for OS/apps.
2nd for storage.

All you're trying to avoid is having windows swap, PS swap, saving files, opening files, all reading and/or writing on the same drive at the same time. THAT will kill performance more than anything else. Keep all your files in RAM and you will get the most out of your processor.

That's why I ask about the file size (Photoshop scratch sizes) of what you are working on. So go open up all your apps, do your work as normal for a little while. Then check your PS scratch size, and look at memory usage in Windows Task Manager. Let's see if we can figure out how much you need.

If you're only using, let's say, 5GB total. Then you can go for an i5 750 or i7 860 and load up with 8GB of RAM. No need for uber fast hard drives, or crazy RAID or really pricey SSDs.

If you're using, let's say, 7GB or more, then you're best best is probably an i7 920 and load it up with 12GB of RAM. Still no need for uber fast hard drives, or crazy RAID or really pricey SSDs.

Now if you're reading and writing huge amounts of data to and from the disk (HD video comes to mind, which you didn't mention, or maybe massive panoramas), then we will need to either add more disks (to further segregate concurrent reads/writes) or move up to uber fast hard drives, or crazy RAID or really pricey SSDs. To keep the budget in check, we might back down somewhat on the CPU/RAM (since the bottleneck will be the drives, not CPU/RAM anyway).

It's been my experience that most people in the photoshop world can *easily* get by with 8GB (4GB is often too little) and just a regular 2 drive setup. This includes having multiple apps open, switching back and forth, etc.

Now for the backups....
The easiest thing to do is just plug in an external USB drive, and backup your data to that drive. This is best for a couple of reasons...
If the computer explodes, your data is still OK.
If there is a fire or other emergency, it's easier to snatch the external drive and run.
If you accidentally delete a file, you still have the backup on external.
It can be easily setup to backup automatically on a schedule you create, or whenever you feel the urge.
Did I mention it's easy?

I would recommend RAID *if* you have a need to not have *any* downtime whatsoever. however, even with RAID I'd still recommend a backup drive since "RAID is NOT a backup".
-RAID1 (mirroring) will keep going even if a drive fails so you can keep working (no downtime). With the external solution, you'll need to replace the drive first and then copy all data (may take a while).
-RAID1 (mirroring) will have some performance benefits in certain situations (i.e. reads are faster IIRC)
-RAID1 will cost you another drive
-RAID1 takes some tech-savvy-ness to setup

If you go the RAID route, then your looking at 1 drive for OS/apps, and 2 drives in RAID1 for storage.
 

RbSX

Diamond Member
Jan 18, 2002
8,351
1
76
What about the Core 2 Quad processors over the lynnfield core?
 

elconejito

Senior member
Dec 19, 2007
607
0
76
www.harvsworld.com
What about the Core 2 Quad processors over the lynnfield core?
The *only* way that makes sense is if it is a drop-in upgrade for an existing machine. There is no reason to build a new C2Q system today. For literally the same price (unless you find a part on sale) you would easily have at least 10-20% better performance. You'd be silly to put together a new C2Q, in my opinion.

If the powers that be are trying to save a few bucks, look at an AMD system based around the Phenom II quads. The PhII quads perform similarly to the C2Q and would be marginally cheaper than an i5/i7 based system. However, i believe the cost difference would be well worth it to pick up an i5 or i7 based system.