Hey guys,
So my laptop is no longer cutting it. Ever since my Canon 60D, 18Meg pictures and shooting/editing video…the laptop just cant handle it.
So im building a new PC and I have a few questions. My primary use for the PC is updating my facebook…wait what
No no no, what I really need it for is picture editing (photoshop, lightroom etc) and editing/creating 1080p videos.
Some questions:
Would buying a Intel Core i7 over an i5 really help me out alot or is it a waste of money?
Im thinking a workstation video card would be better for me then a gaming video card ( i have a 360 so I wont really be playing games on it)
I was thinking of buying a solid state hard drive for the OS and other programs then a internal 1.5 or 2TB hard drive for storage. When ever I want to work on a picture or movie I would move it to the solid state so I could work / update / save faster. I just wonder if it would take longer and be more of a pain to always be moving files from one HD to the other and then back again
The SSD drive is huge if you are accessing stuff. I have one in my macbook air and it runs photoshop and even basic video editing great and is only a core 2 duo with 2gb of ram.
If you want something with substantial improvements over your notebook, you really should get a current gen i7 quad. I assume you don’t plan on overclocking it, so just get one that is affordable and is reviewed well. I would not recommend overclocking unless you have a high end board, cooling, PSU, and know what you’re doing. It just tends to create more hassle than its worth. Fast processors are absolutely critical when it comes to rendering video, but most other processes can be managed fine with lower end stuff. Even my 1.4Ghz Core 2 Duo MacBook Air edited 20MB RAW images in CS5 no problem. However, with only 2GB of RAM it started to choke if you crack open 20 at a time, which I tend to do.
SSD’s are without a question key. Get a 60 or 120 GB one and throw your OS and main programs on it. Media can go on a 2TB drive. This is going to give you the biggest noticeable improvement in speed.
Video card’s are not very important. You can get a workstation card that will murder 2D, or a low end gaming card. It wont matter much if you don’t play games. Just get a $50+ card and it will do fine.
RAM capacity is absolutely critical. Speed of it isn’t all that important, since it barely increases bandwidth as the frequency increases due to slower timings. Get a lot of cheap RAM and you will be much happier. Increasing RAM does not make your computer any faster, but it does make it less likely to run out, and resort to the slow HDD as virtual memory. With a SSD this isn’t horrific, but the stuff is cheap enough that 8GB is absolutely the minimum I would use in any machine. I would buy 16GB+ of cheap stuff for a render desktop.
Building computers is probably the most I ever have.
Anyway, if you want to take it the easy way go to http://computerforum.com/
Post up what you want to do with it, your budget, and they’ll give you tons of different machines you can build.
I personally go on newegg when I buy, and figure out what I definitely need for it… then settle on something it’s bundled with to save some $$$. (Like picking out the processor I absolutely want, then bundling it with a PSU or case I may not normally have bought to save $50)