jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Every so often, I think about buying components and building a computer. I've read a lot of online articles, and of course, there are different opinions and suggestions for components.

Obviously, my main concern would be processing photos and some videos. I'm not setting a budget, so that might make it difficult to offer suggestions, but go ahead anyway. I'd like a tower with a faster Core i7 processor, Windows 10, and an SSD - and I read about a type that's much faster than a standard SSD. I figure 32GB of DD4 memory would be sufficient. I'll have at least one internal HDD for data, probably taken from my current machine. I'd like a separate video card, but I don't need a game-quality card. I want to make sure it stays cool enough and is ready for upgrades in the future. And lots of USB 3.0 ports.

I'm sure I'm overlooking something, so go ahead and offer ideas.

Thanks!

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Case - mini tower
Motherboard - that supports a 6th gen Intel i7 processor and 32gb of memory or more and USB-3 with as many slots for video cards etc that you may want
Power supply - absolutely no less that 450 watts, I'd go with 600 watts
RAM - 32gb DD4
SSD - no less than 256GB but I'd probably go with 512GB look for read and write speeds of 530 or higher
-- brand probably isn't important but google and look at other reviews of them.
HDD - You can use one you have, but I'd invest on one that is 7200RPM; they are much faster than 5400RPM
Video card - No less than 1gb RAM; I'd probably go with 2GB on the video card and look for one that is compatible with Photoshop so that the Paint filter will work;
-- support for 2 monitors is also what I'd be absolutely looking for
WiFi - Look at your WiFi options
Wireless mouse and keyboard

That's my view on what to get; I may have left out software but that's something you'll have to think about; I'd probably stick with Win7. It's never let me down.

PS - a CD/DVD drive is optional. I rarely need one since software is usually downloadable now. But the other day I needed it to read a disc that came with a new OBDII scanner for my car.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Thanks. Any reason to suggest a mini over a tall tower?

What kind of slot is better to have in larger numbers? I know PCIe is popular now.

I have an HGST 3TB 7200 RPM drive, so that should be good for now. My C drive is a Samsung 500GB SSD. It about 25% full with the OS and programs.

I read that Adobe has designed its programs to work well with NVIDIA cards.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

This is the faster SSD I read about - M.2

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1187806-REG/samsung_mz_v5p256bw_256gb_950_pro_m_2.html

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Jerry, I'd be surprised if you don't already have this link 😀, but just in case, this will allow you to balance CPU performance vs cost (which varies widely): http://m.cpubenchmark.net/ . You'll probably want an I7, but the AMD 8-core can be very fast and cost effective, and while I've built a number of AMD machines (which were rock solid), I haven't built one specifically for image processing. Gene51 may have some info. Regarding that. Personally, I like Asus main boards, and if you get one with an M.2 slot, you can increase your SSD access speed assuming you're not going to reuse your old SATA SSD. I like NVidia cards, and I'd get one with 2 GB (min) that will support multiple monitors as has already been suggested. 32 GB RAM is a good number, and I concur with at least 600 W. Power supply as modern graphic cards and CPUs are power hogs. When picking your case, pay attention to cooling fans for the same reason. Any modern board will support gigabit (GigE) Ethernet, and I would want a DVD/Blu-Ray drive so you can take advantage of Mdiscs. You will have to buy an OS, so unless you pick Linux, it will need to be Win 7 or 10 - buying an OEM version can save you money. Good luck with your build - lots of fun.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

mini or mid sized tower. I just don't like huge towers. One that is large enough to hold 3-4 hard drives is good.
PCIe is good; I don't know if there's any better
Both good



This drive looks good, but I'm not familiar with them. The PCIe bus may not be as fast as the SATA III interface. Don't know. I'd have to check into this but I know from experience that SSD is way faster than a spinning drive, especially a 5400RPM drive.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

The question of SATA 3, M.2, PCIe and SSD speed can get a bit complicated.

First of all, the quoted max SSD drive transfer speed for popular SSDs, such as the Samsung 950 Pro is approx. 2.5 GBytes/sec for sequential reads and 1.5 GBytes/sec. for sequential writes, DEPENDING on the interface. If the interface is SATA-3, the limitation will be the SATA bus speed of 600 MB/sec., so it will determine the max sequential transfer when the drive is SATA connected.

If the MB has an M.2 slot and the SSD has an M.2 interface, then the interface speed will depend on the speed and lane width of the PCIe bus that the M.2 interface resides on. PCIe comes in multiple revs (2.0, 3.0 & 4.0) as well as multiple numbers of lanes (1,4,8 &16) with each lane being able to support either approx. 1GByte/sec for PCI 3.0 or 2 GBytes/sec. for 4.0. Assuming PCIe 3.0 and at least 4 lanes available for the M.2 slot, then the interface will be capable of approximately 3.9 GBytes/sec., so the drive will be the limiting factor, BUT there are other devices residing on the same PCIe bus such as the GPU and other peripheral devices which also use lanes, so it's good to do some architectural planning when laying out a new machine.

nicksr1125 Loc: Mesa, AZ

I usually order my parts from newegg.com. They usually have very good prices, a very large selection, and a lot of their items have free shipping. They're to computers what B&H is to photo.

PCIe is currently the best connection there is for video & other interface cards. Most motherboards will have onboard networking. I only had to add a video card & wireless NIC when I built mine a couple years ago.

Look for a case that is big enough to work in & has screwless installation for the drives. I tend to like full tower cases for better air circulation. I can add extra fans to help the cooling.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Jerry, while not a computer whiz I have done this a few times, my main objective was a stable system, I researched Mother board and processors using not just the fastest but the most stable, my last build lasted nine years, with only one HD failure which I caught and replaced before it failed completely.
SSD's were not an option at the time.
Today I purchase a PC, its much cheaper than a build.
I do all of my Photo work on an iMac. I don't jump on the band wagon every time a new OS comes out, I did it once , boy what a mistake lol it cost me a bunch. I would still be using XP for my laptop, but when it died I was forced to get win 8.1 it works okay but my Auto diagnostic programs will not work on it, my option : purchase new programs, most of which are web based with a yearly fee to keep using them, not just for upgrades. My scanner up grade will cost me in excess of $800. Sorry for rambling. Have fun building, maybe it will Keep you out of bars and back seats of cars. I gotta retire!!!!

OnDSnap Loc: NE New Jersey

Save yourself some time and compatibility issues...What I have done in my build days... go to a reliable computer site, configure something I think will work for me, then go out and buy and build...a couple good ones...

Great for Graphics/gaming ideas....configure then compare to you building it.
http://www.xoticpc.com/?gclid=CjwKEAjwu8m-BRDM8KTcjdj8qy0SJACdjSZpKK3FYScg5Ex-nF4X_iH3hnmukGf5z3wdbzrUlqLUaRoCZQXw_wcB

Although the following is one I use for my Cad stations, there are some killer machines to be configured, and quoted. Compare to a self build.
http://www.xicomputer.com/company/welcome.asp

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

I like a memory card-reader in one of the 3.5 inch front slots.

flyguy Loc: Las Cruces, New Mexico

I agree --- ventilation is very critical with a machine that has multiple hard drives and GPU's and over heating is something you certainly don't want! So a lot a lot of fans are required and consequently a bigger power supply is required and that produces even more heat.

When I assembled some PC's awhile back, I obtained a book titled "Building the Perfect PC" by Robert Bruce Thompson & Barbara Fritchman Thompson, O'Reilly pub. 2004 --- I don't know if it is still in print or not, it was an invaluable resource for me.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Thanks. That's one reason I'm going with a full tower - more room inside. I'll have an SSD for OS and programs and a 4TB HDD for data. Using PCPartPicker, I'm up to 440W now, not counting the 4TB drive which I swap out of my current machine.

Looking online for articles about building a PC, I avoid anything before 2014, although general advice could come from any year - just like photography.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I'm leaning toward an Intel Core i7 6700k. I'm looking for an NVIDIA card - GTX 770 - because they say that Adobe is optimized for them. My C drive will be a Samsung SM951 256GB M.2-2280.

Yes, it is "fun," but I've spent hours online reading articles and recommendations.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Ah, yes! Essential.