Is a gaming pc a good choice for photography?
Sep 13, 2020 19:56:43 #
I admit I'm new here. I don't know everything about photography. Still learning a lot. Computers have been my business for over 20 years. There is a lesson I'm not hearing anyone talk about. What happens when you are looking at a Sigma 105mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art Lens for Nikon F for around $1600 and your wife says NO. I can justify the computer since it's used for so much more than photos. The wife agreed to $1600 to build the computer but plants her foot in my rear when I look at the lens. LOL. Computer easy, lens not so much.
Sep 13, 2020 20:47:40 #
TriX wrote:
Sorry, but I respectfully disagree. While you CAN run LR and PS in 8GB and on an 7200 RPM HD, for a very small additional investment for 8GB more DRAM and an SSD to run the OS, applications and PS scratch disk, you can increase performance dramatically.
Yes, I agree with that but dramatically means a few seconds I believe so unless one makes a living at this, a few seconds are not really significant and I continue to be happy with a very old iMac with 8GB running PS 7 which does everything in a very short time. If you are stuck with a newer Macbook you can't add any ram.
I do have a 4 core Dell laptop with 16 GB ram with latest PS and it is not much faster than my old, old iMac:)
So, save $ for the killer lens.
Sep 13, 2020 20:55:12 #
I suggest the Sigma 105 macro for less than $600. Outstanding lens for landscape, portrait etc.
Sep 13, 2020 21:43:59 #
bpulv
Loc: Buena Park, CA
Ednsb wrote:
I’m a Mac guy but a friend asked if a gaming pc desktop is a good choice for pp? It has a fast cpu but a video card rather than a graphics one.
A gaming computer is designed for just that, gaming. If you are serious about photography, invest in a 27" iMac or iMac Pro with along with an internal 1TB SSD and gobs of external storage for your photographs. Only keep programs on the SSD along with the photo file sets you are editing, printing, etc. As soon as editing is complete, move the files off the SSD to external storage including a primary storage system and three backup systems including offsite storage.
Sep 13, 2020 22:23:49 #
I visited Best Buy to replace a laptop several years ago and the sales guy called over another sales associate who was also a photographer. First question he asked was what I do for post processing and the conversation moved from there. He set me up with a Leveno Legion gamer which he said are better built than the more conventional laptops due to how gamers use them. Two drives (I have the software on one and everything else on the other), fast, great display and a 2-speed fan. Overheating was a problem with my other laptop. It travels with me and has survived several "oops!" that demonstrates it's durability.
Sep 13, 2020 22:25:15 #
Ednsb wrote:
I’m a Mac guy but a friend asked if a gaming pc desktop is a good choice for pp? It has a fast cpu but a video card rather than a graphics one.
Gaming system is ok but depending on the exact configuration, and what software he is using, he may be paying for things he doesn't need (a fast graphics/video card (same thing, really) with lots of ram, fast frame buffer, lots of CUDA cores (Compute Unified Device Architecture), fancy lighting and a hefty price tag. Neither Photoshop nor Lightroom are currently written to take advantage of CUDA technology. Other things like fast hard drives, lots of space for ram, liquid CPU coolers, etc are worthwhile and common to both uses.
https://www.pugetsystems.com/solutions/index.php
Sep 13, 2020 22:53:38 #
I agree, depending on configuration of a gaming unit it may exceed the needs by drastic amounts. At present the 2020 versions of LR and PS do not use graphic card processors for very much. If memory serves me I believe LR uses the GPU for Photo Grid, Square Grid, and Filmstrip. Typical on chip CPU graphics will serve very well. LED light arrays on motherboard and in case serve no purpose but entertainment and bragging for gamers. Why get into liquid cooling if you are not going to try and massively overclock the CPU. What gaming mother boards do provide are heavier caps, chokes and voltage regulation that average motherboards don't. Smoother voltage transition for CPU, memory and PCIe buss. Maybe in 2021 or 2022 LR and PS may start to use the GPU more. Who knows. It seems like the coming thing with crypto miners paving the way to using GPU power.
Sep 14, 2020 05:28:43 #
TriX wrote:
With modern cases, assembling a PC takes less than an hour and is really quite simple - just read the motherboard manual to set jumpers and BIOS settings and wire switches and indicators correctly.
Motherboard directions aren't always as clear as they should be. I made the mistake of using two different models of Asus board (lack of availability) for my computer and my son's Reading and re-reading eventually got me there.
Sep 14, 2020 19:41:05 #
nervous2 wrote:
A question from a non-expert (me), wouldn't a good monitor that gives the best color renditions be one of the more important considerations? Just a thought that I had not seen commented on too much in this post. 
Absolutely yes. I always think of the monitor separately from the computer for some reason, and it seems I'm not the only one. Of course with a laptop you have to consider both at the same time.
I have an inexpensive LG 4K monitor, which I've never bothered to calibrate, and just adjusted it until I liked the way it looks. Sure there are better or more accurate monitors available, but I'm happy with my current setup.
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