New Windows PC Build for Post-Processing

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Abinoone said:
I applaud you for having the skills, knowledge and drive to build your own computer, but I’m surprised that you’re not able to find one available suited for photo editing in the marketplace. I’m certainly no geek, but from my view seem to be a number of commercially available units that work quite well for most post processing tasks, and serve the professional community well. Personally, I always like to consider warranties and long term support whenever I purchase a new unit, but then I readily admit that I don’t have the skills to do it all myself. In any event, best of luck in whatever you decide to do.
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My experience is just the opposite. Off the shelf computers frequently don't allow for multiple internal HD's, upgrading RAM, adequate cooling, and being VERY quiet, etc. While today's gaming computers may have better graphics cards, they may still lack features I want for photography.

I don't have the skills to build my own computer, but by working with Puget Computer Systems I can get the perfect machine for my needs today and the future, while still getting superb warranty coverage and support for long after the custom build. Puget Computer Systems is a brick and mortar business in the state of Washington and when I call a knowledgeable person answers the phone and helps me.

Yes, it's a bit more expensive than an off the shelf computer, but it lasts me for 8-10 years - including upgrades. In fact, after the storms pass, I will open it up, clean 'er up a bit, install a new (pre-wired) internal HD, copy data to the new HD from 3 old internal HD's, and increase my storage capacity while reducing the number of drives in the case.
 
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The advantage of tier 1 (Apple, Lenovo, HP) computers and high end custom pre-built as with Puget Systems, is that you get excellent technical support when there is a problem. With Puget Systems they have a limited number of components and so are aware of issues and can make substitutions quickly with their build to order approach.

People who have bought pre-built computers from those selling on Amazon get no post sale support, even when the computer is dead on arrival. Important to check the negative reviews before buying one of their computers.

I bought a "business class" desktop from Lenovo and when the motherboard needed to be replaced after talking with tech support on a Saturday evening, the new motherboard and a technician arrived at my house on Monday. There is real value in buying from a tier one computer company if you value your time.
 
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Butlerkid said:
My experience is just the opposite. Off the shelf computers frequently don't allow for multiple internal HD's, upgrading RAM, adequate cooling, and being VERY quiet, etc. While today's gaming computers may have better graphics cards, they may still lack features I want for photography.

I don't have the skills to build my own computer, but by working with Puget Computer Systems I can get the perfect machine for my needs today and the future, while still getting superb warranty coverage and support for long after the custom build. Puget Computer Systems is a brick and mortar business in the state of Washington and when I call a knowledgeable person answers the phone and helps me.

Yes, it's a bit more expensive than an off the shelf computer, but it lasts me for 8-10 years - including upgrades. In fact, after the storms pass, I will open it up, clean 'er up a bit, install a new (pre-wired) internal HD, copy data to the new HD from 3 old internal HD's, and increase my storage capacity while reducing the number of drives in the case.
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I’m in awe of anyone who knows the exact elements they want and need in a computer, and has the wherewithal to piece it together. As just an enthusiastic amateur photographer, my fairly pedestrian photo editing needs are fairly well met by my high-end Lenovo laptop. It’s by no means right for everyone, but it works for me and I can carry it anywhere. To each his own I guess. 🥸
 
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I use Capture One and Adobe Photoshop. I built my own PC three years ago around a Ryzen 7 3700X with 32GB of RAM, a few samsung 870 evo SSD's and started off with a very modest graphics card GTX1650.
It worked OK, but once I upgraded my display from a 1.920 x 1.200px display to an Eizo 4K display, and got the Sony A1 with its 50mp's, things started to go downhill as software gets increasingly demanding, and the system as a whole was just not able to output 4K smoothly.

Still, most cutting edge modern processors and graphics cards are completely overkill for someone who intends to use the system mostly for photo editing, and the power consumption has gotten ridiculous. It's mostly for gaming.

I simply solved my problems by getting a fast NVME SSD as an OS disk while sticking with sata SSD's for storage, and swapped the graphics card for a Nvidia RTX3060 with 12GB of fast VRAM. Things run so smoothly and fast now that even though I can imagine someone wanting a higher specced system, it just would not make any meaningful difference for me. I would have to speed up myself in an unnatural way to take advantage.
Enough RAM, enough VRAM and a fast OS disk are beneficial with high mp RAW files, but you don't need a super powerful power supply or a liquid cooler, a top of the line processor or a very expensive graphics card. Unless you start to edit prolonged 4-8K video I guess...
I still have my Seasonic platinum 500W power supply, it's more than enough.

I mostly hope that processors and graphics cards will develop into using much less power instead of getting cray fast. My future PC does not need to be much more powerful, 8K is lost on me for desktop use, but I would like it to use very litttle power, develop little heat and stay very quiet.
 
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Calson said:
There is the concept of bottlenecks and with my batch processing of PSD files it was the available memory. Much faster with the same hardware on a computer running the Mac OSX that allowed the application to address more than 3.5GB RAM as with Windows XP.

Most editing applications do not make use of multiple GPU cores and performance depends primarily on the CPU and the clock rate. For gamers a i7 CPU and a RTX 4090 provides the best performance for their needs. For content creators a i9 CPU is more important than a particular GPU. If all use a computer for was email and gaming then the i7 plus RX or RTX board would be the way to go.

For my needs a i9 GPU (and the latest have double the performance of my 2020 version) and lots of RAM and fast I/O with the onboard data storage and a 10GB Ethernet for connecting to a NAS and a Firewire board for connecting to a film scanner is what are important. I have been using dual internal drives with RAID1 for the past 10 years to maximize performance. I started with hard drives and later with SSD ones and most recently with NVMe M.2 "drives".

The NVMe are what the computer manufacturers have migrated to in order to compensate for the space lost to very and very power hungry large graphics cards. The downside I have found is that the NVMe are very heat sensitive and rely on passive cooling with heatsinks. I have had two of mine fail after 12 months of use. I am thinking of switching back to dual 2.5" SSD drives with my next workstation.
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Thanks for your comments. Why do you prefer the Ethernet for the NAS? Isn't ethernet 10Gbps? Whereas Thunderbolt 4 provides 40Gbps.
 
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Calson said:
There is the concept of bottlenecks and with my batch processing of PSD files it was the available memory. Much faster with the same hardware on a computer running the Mac OSX that allowed the application to address more than 3.5GB RAM as with Windows XP.

Most editing applications do not make use of multiple GPU cores and performance depends primarily on the CPU and the clock rate. For gamers a i7 CPU and a RTX 4090 provides the best performance for their needs. For content creators a i9 CPU is more important than a particular GPU. If all use a computer for was email and gaming then the i7 plus RX or RTX board would be the way to go.

For my needs a i9 GPU (and the latest have double the performance of my 2020 version) and lots of RAM and fast I/O with the onboard data storage and a 10GB Ethernet for connecting to a NAS and a Firewire board for connecting to a film scanner is what are important. I have been using dual internal drives with RAID1 for the past 10 years to maximize performance. I started with hard drives and later with SSD ones and most recently with NVMe M.2 "drives".

The NVMe are what the computer manufacturers have migrated to in order to compensate for the space lost to very and very power hungry large graphics cards. The downside I have found is that the NVMe are very heat sensitive and rely on passive cooling with heatsinks. I have had two of mine fail after 12 months of use. I am thinking of switching back to dual 2.5" SSD drives with my next workstation.
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Sorry I got caught up smelling the ethernet and did not finish all of my thoughts. As Adobe starts adding features that use more GPU I think a larger (yet not largest) GPU is best. For the latest LrC denoise features Adobe suggests a GPU with a minimum of 8GB VRAM. [See, <<https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2023/04/18/denoise-demystified>>] I only see GPU use increasing but the GPU is also simple to upgrade later.
I have concerns about longevity of the NVMe drives but I am adding extra fans to help cool the large case.
 
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Abinoone said:
I applaud you for having the skills, knowledge and drive to build your own computer, but I’m surprised that you’re not able to find one available suited for photo editing in the marketplace. I’m certainly no geek, but from my view seem to be a number of commercially available units that work quite well for most post processing tasks, and serve the professional community well. Personally, I always like to consider warranties and long term support whenever I purchase a new unit, but then I readily admit that I don’t have the skills to do it all myself. In any event, best of luck in whatever you decide to do.
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I too am an amateur (in almost everything I do). I am surrounded by many folks with more computer knowledge who are providing advice and help when I need it. Just one more thing in life to learn!
 
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One more comment I will share with the group - almost 9 years ago I purchased the HP Z440 with a Xeon processor and a 4GB Quadro K4200 that I believed would last forever - it even had Thunderbolt 2 and two 256GB SSD cards. It cost a lot but I learned that it is not as amenable to updates as I thought it would be although it has worked well for a long time. It has processed a 2GB PSD file composed of 350 images in a Gigapan panorama - albeit grinding for 10-12 minutes. But, the time has come for something new.
I am a computer amateur but I have studied and asked a lot of questions of many knowledgeable folks (at times getting conflicting answers) - and of course I have sought comments from this esteemed group as well. I use windows PC at work and my brain cannot handle a shift to Apple. I got an Asus ProArt laptop and have been impressed with its performance. I need a better motherboard, more boot drive OS space, more RAM in two slots, and faster transfer rates to storage drives. [I also need to upgrade monitors.] Hence, I am on a knowledge quest for a better home PC.
Thanks to all who have responded and provided input, comments, and suggestions.
 
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I build all my PC’s over 20 years.
My suggestion.

Asus is a good choice for a MB

Filling up ALL ram slots is important! Rather get lower GB ram sticks, but fill them all.

GPU is your friend! Don’t cheap out on it. That’s number one! And 12 gig ram is essential for Z8/9 video.

Get a BIG case (I like corsair) that has magnetic dust filters (easy cleaning) and mount a corsair CPU water cooler with a 3 fan radiator, mount it on top of the case to keep the CPU at full performance.

Remember to control the air flow in a single direction in the case, Front fans intake, top fans intake, rear fan out the heat.

Add a white LED strip so you can see the status of the case, when a cleaning is due.

Regarding CPU.
My take is to use the i9, rather less cores, but all of them at a higher stock clock speed above 3.5 ghz with option to turbo to about 4gh. 8 or 10 cores is enough.

Fastes Ram speed isn’t the deal breaker.

Do get a bigger power supply then needed. And get a good quality. Going 1000, or 1200 isn’t overkill. Rather it will run cooler.

For photos/videos, A slolid MB with enough bus lanes, i9 with 8/10 cores and 3.5ghz (all of them) a beefed up GPU, 64 or 128 Ram, invest in cooling and good case air flow, and your good to go!

Enjoy!
 
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One thing sometimes not considered when spec'ing and building our own PC's or even buying an off-the-shelf system is scratch/cache drives for the image and video editors we use.

It can be helpful if a separate system drive is dedicated for scratch/caching use. Lightroom etc, and video editors such as Davinci Resolv can make good use and have performance enhanced with use of dedicated separate drive for scratch and caching. SSD obviously preferred for speed.

I have a 500gb SSD in my system dedicated to scratch and caching with Lightroom, PS, etc,. and Resolv scratch/cache set to use it.
 
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JoelKlein said:
I build all my PC’s over 20 years.
My suggestion.

Asus is a good choice for a MB

Filling up ALL ram slots is important! Rather get lower GB ram sticks, but fill them all.

...

Enjoy!
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Thank you. I very well could be wrong (and would love more explanations) but my understanding of the RAM is that with a dual channel MB (2 x 64 bits = 128 bits) you are better off with with larger amounts in two slots because it is dual channel and filling all four slots may slow down the RAM (not being able to use XMP). None of the Intel MBs certify the working of four sticks of RAM. Xeon processors recognize quad channel (4 x 64 bits = 256 bit) in which case filling all four slots with lower RAM amounts is better. I am just learning this computer stuff.
 
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When I was checking the performance of the various graphic processors using the Puget Systems test results it was surprising to see that laptops with a nvidia GPU had test results comparable to desktop computers with the same GPU on a massive board mounted inside. There are also from Lenovo what are termed Mobile Workstations and these are designed to be operated while connected to AC power and so can have more power hungry devices inside.

benchmarks.pugetsystems.com

PugetBench List

Build your own computer, workstation, mini pc, or server at Puget Custom Computers.
benchmarks.pugetsystems.com benchmarks.pugetsystems.com


For one using the i9 CPU and 4090 GPU there is this one from Lenovo (who still has U.S. based tech support)
 
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French Avocado said:
Thank you. I very well could be wrong (and would love more explanations) but my understanding of the RAM is that with a dual channel MB (2 x 64 bits = 128 bits) you are better off with with larger amounts in two slots because it is dual channel and filling all four slots may slow down the RAM (not being able to use XMP). None of the Intel MBs certify the working of four sticks of RAM. Xeon processors recognize quad channel (4 x 64 bits = 256 bit) in which case filling all four slots with lower RAM amounts is better. I am just learning this computer stuff.
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The Motherboard has bus lanes hardwired running to and from from the Ram to different parts of the MB.

Leaving empty Ram slots, is like having a multi lane highway and not using all lanes.

Ram is so fast these days, you don’t need to pay for the fastest speed, nor would you see any difference in Photoshop.

I think I have my Asus MB set to XMP.
I can double check though.
 
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Butlerkid said:
For comparison I suggest you contact Puget Computer Systems! I have worked with them to build two systems for me. I am very clear about HOW I intend to use the system and how far into the future I want to "future proof" it. (i.e. over spec it now to keep it viable as technologies/requirements increase in the future).

You will pay a bit more than doing it your self, BUT they have tremendous customer support! My current system was built in 2020 and they still take my calls! AND I got exactly what I wanted.
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Interesting. The Photoshop recommended system at Puget is nearly identical to my list.
 
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JoelKlein said:
The Motherboard has bus lanes hardwired running to and from from the Ram to different parts of the MB.

Leaving empty Ram slots, is like having a multi lane highway and not using all lanes.

Ram is so fast these days, you don’t need to pay for the fastest speed, nor would you see any difference in Photoshop.

I think I have my Asus MB set to XMP.
I can double check though.
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There is zero benefit to running 4 sticks unless using a quad channel cpu and mb. In fact there is a downside in power consumption, price, and stability when XMP is enabled.
 
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JoelKlein said:
What’s the reason the Asus workstation MBs provide 4 Ram slots? To slow down performance?
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If its a "workstation" MB its likely quad channel. The real reason dual channel MBs have 4 DIMMS likely has to do with flexibility.

Max DIMM size on DDR4 is/was 64 gig. So if you needed more than 128 gig of ram you needed to use 4 DIMMS.
 
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My sons are gamers so we have built and rebuilt several computers over the years (I use a Mac). They are easy to physically put together in that its pretty much a lot of Tab A into Slot B. But there are a lot of nuances to be aware of or you can wind up buying a lot of high end parts that get bottlenecked by something you had not considered. For instance: is the motherboard PCI-E 3, 4 or 5? What is the latency and timings on the RAM? what type of memory is in that SSD? how to arrange for optimal cooling with minimal noise and heat blowing into your room? ect, ect, ect. Best of luck.

Also, nVidia just announced the new Super cards so look at those.
www.theverge.com

Nvidia’s RTX 4080 Super arrives on January 31st at a more reasonable $999

Nvidia is offering more performance for similar or better price points.
www.theverge.com www.theverge.com
 
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I recently built almost the same machine. Same motherboard, same CPU, same amount of RAM. Kept the 3070 Ti I already had, so you have an edge there. The machine edits very well, I am satisfied with the performance. I think you will be also. You do have to watch your temps, even with your 360 liquid cooler. That motherboard has two places you can limit temps by throttling the CPU. I highly recommend you do so. Even with your cooler, I suspect you will find there are some things that will run your temp into the 90's quite quickly.

But overall, I suspect you will find it a powerful machine and it will get the job done for you.
 
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Butlerkid said:
For comparison I suggest you contact Puget Computer Systems! I have worked with them to build two systems for me. I am very clear about HOW I intend to use the system and how far into the future I want to "future proof" it. (i.e. over spec it now to keep it viable as technologies/requirements increase in the future).

You will pay a bit more than doing it your self, BUT they have tremendous customer support! My current system was built in 2020 and they still take my calls! AND I got exactly what I wanted.
Click to expand...
I also use and recommend Puget
 
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