Advice needed on Non-Gaming rig

Hi BGMcG,

This is what I suggest :  699754

Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master 942 HAF X
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 3930K 3.2GHz (Unlocked CPU for Extreme Overclocking) (Six-Core)
Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth X79 (Intel X79 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s)
System Memory: 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 850W Corsair TX850 V2 (Dual SLI Compatible)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (1TB Western Digital/Seagate/Hitachi/Samsung (7200 RPM) (32MB Cache)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 2GB (Includes PhysX)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 2: Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 Extreme Performance
H20 Tube Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: - No Thanks
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
LaserMark: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: Stage 2: Overclock CPU 4.5GHz to 4.8GHz (Requires Pro/Deluxe/Sabertooth Motherboard)
Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)
Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD)
Virus Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
Game: - No Thanks
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
External Storage: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: - No Thanks
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 10-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty

Here are the reasons :

6 core is more suited for video/image editing than a 4-core processor. If you are requirements are light, 3770k will be perfectly fine. But since it is in budget, it is a way to go. A good place to shave money if you want to as well.

Drop the 2133 MHz to 1600 MHz, not that useful IMO. You will not see much of a difference.

I chose the GTX 670 in stead of 570 since it is a newer and much better card.

I dropped the SSD. SSDs are great, but personally, I like to go for better processors/graphics card etc.

I changed the case to HAFX which is way bigger, much better airflow and gives you potential to add multitude of components later.

You can save money in my build by :

1. Dropping to 4 core from 6 core.
2. Dropping to 8 GB from 16 GB.
3. Using a lightly inferior case than HAFX like the one you chose. But this will not be my recommendation. Also drop the special upgraded fans if you stick with HAFX. They will not help much.
4. Drop to stage 1 overclock and use a stage 1 cooler.

Thank you both for your quick response and recommendations.

I am not entirely sure about the cases. That said:

The 3930 would be much faster for video editing, which will benefit from all six cores. The major goal from Nvidia in the 600 series was lower power consumption, and (because of the lower power consumption) you might see lower temperatures, although I am not sure about that one. The 670 also has an extra 800MB of vram, compared to the 570 that you were looking at. I would definitely recommend the 670 over that 570 with a two monitor setup, and if you care more about speed than cost, the 3930 would be a good idea.

Edited by Orange7 - 17 Jun 2012 at 1:22pm

Interesting.  I would have expected that the configurator would not have allowed selection of incompatible components like you are saying about the 550D case and the Noctua cooler.  I also noticed that the Noctua website specifically says that the  Vengeance RAM will not work with NH-D14 due to interference between the fins and the cooler and it didn't stop me from doing that either.  I would really prefer to go with air cooling and the D14 appears to be the best available.  Would you happen to know if it fits in the 650D?

Adobe works with nVidia so their product line runs better than anyone elses. Take a look at this. <-- click

And LOTS more RAM will allow for big piccies to be handled easier -- and quicker. Games don't need too much, but Photoshop will glom onto anything it can find, and the more the merrier.

Edited by taw2015 - 18 Jun 2012 at 5:47pm

Cooling: Don't know.

PSU: Generally, future-proofing in that sense refers to when the graphics cards are upgraded, because they consume a huge amount of power. Unless you plan on going triple SLI in the future, you don't need to upgrade.

SSD: If you have a 1TB secondary drive, you do not need to increase the capacity of your primary drive.

RAM: It is cheaper, with just about (if not exactly) the same performance. Upgrading it wouldn't be worth the cost if the price difference were half of what it actually is.

Edited by Orange7 - 09 Jul 2012 at 5:44am

Hi BGMcG,

I am late to the party but let me toss in a monkey wrench into the mix.

You state that you will be moving to CS6 and the information you have received was true to the currant CS6. However, Adobe has changed the latest issue of CS6 to be more graphics dependent. Both CS6 and Premiere Pro CS6 have the Mercury Graphics Engine. If I was building a photo computer now I would go with more graphics.

I don't have time to go in to it right now. You should get Adobe's recommendations before you proceed. I suggest you get a copy of PC World magazine. It has an article on the new Adobe programs.

Wife is calling.

Frank

Edited by FrankW - 09 Jul 2012 at 1:20pm

Hi Martys,

Thanks for that link. From what I have read the GPU doesn't do everything and a strong CPU is still needed. Is that your understanding? I also would think that you still need a lot of RAM for manipulating big files or has that requirement changed?    

BGMcG, I think that the ball game has changed and you need to rethink your build before you pull the trigger. According to the Adobe link you would be better off with the ADM 7950 or 7970. My choice would be 7970.   You also need to think about more RAM now or in the future. I don't know about the new CS6 but the last one needed 32Gb of memory to prevent calls on your HDD.

Frank

I am really impressed by the level of knowledge here and people's willingness to share it.  It seems like I've opened up a real can of worms now.  I guess I need to decide how likely it is that I will go to CS6 anytime soon, or if I should just go with LR4, which appears to not utilize the GPU and seems to be more user friendly than CS6.   It seems the only complaint is that it runs much slower than LR3.  Any thoughts as to whether or not my suggested config would be up to the challenge?

BGMcG,

The causes of the decreased responsiveness of LR4 are still a little unclear as some users experience it while others don't, even with similar hardware. For sure the new algorithms in the Develop Module of LR4, which are the same as those in ACR7, are more compute intensive than those in LR3, but they don't appear to be the major reason for slowdowns. In any case a 3930K is about as speedy as it gets (the 3960K is only slightly faster), and the 3770K is no slouch.

If you go with LR4 here are Adobe suggestions on how to optimize performance.

       Marty

Finger is on the trigger.  Thanks to advice received here, the almost-final configuration is listed below. I've bumped the PSU up to the 1050W to cover me in the unlikely event I will want to add another video card, and the SSD up to 180GB.   I dialed back the OC to Stage 1 with the hope that this would be reduce the risk of stability problems, and with that change went back to the Noctua air cooler.  Finally, I went with the Radeon HD7870 to save a few bucks based on my understanding that it would be a respectable game player (a plus but not a big priority for me) and that Photoshop would not noticeably benefit from the 7970.  So if you wouldn't mind, how about one last round of comments? Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Corsair 650D
Processor: Intel Core i7 3930K 3.2GHz (Unlocked CPU for Extreme Overclocking) (Six-Core)
Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth X79 (Intel X79 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s)
System Memory: 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Corsair Dominator DHX (High-Performance)
Power Supply: 1050W Corsair Pro Silver 1050HX (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible)
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (180GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: 520 Series)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Western Digital Caviar (7200 RPM) (Model: Black Edition)
Optical Drive 1: ASUS Blu-Ray Player/DVD Writer (Play Blu-Ray and Burn DVDs) (Model: BC-12B1ST)
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card(s): 1x AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 2: Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 Extreme Performance
CPU Boost: Stage 1: Overclock CPU 4.0GHz to 4.4GHz
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-Bit Edition)
Recovery Tools: Advanced Recovery Kit (40GB Hard Drive Partition of Image With OS & Drivers)

I second what xii said.  I would however drop the Advanced Recovery kit.  The 40 Gb partition is nice and fast, unless you lose the drive, then I don't believe you'd have any discs to fall back on. 

Order placed!