Build your "dream" editing PC

flameshots · Mar 5, 2012

What would you put in your "dream" PC? What would be your hardware? I'm not trying to start an Apple vs PC debate. I really want to know about your requirements for an editing PC. I'm about to either buy one of the shelf or build one. I'm not an IT geek but I can hold my own with electronic hardware. (I worked as a Motorola repair tech in a previous life.) I have been using my Laptop for editing for the last few years and it has done "OK" but I really want to take my work to another level. It has become painfully obvious that I need more computing power and a PC with a dedicated graphics card appears to be a must. Thanks for the input and help.

matthewo · Mar 5, 2012

you could build it yourself, or just find a place that you pick the components and build it for you. because computer technology and speed has come so far you really dont need a huge budget for a very fast photo editing computer.

i just spent $650 and built a 6 core 4.0ghz computer with 16 gigs of ram, etc... its way faster then i need it to be. it has no problem with any raw files. and will edit 1080p video with no problem.

but i really hate editing on a laptop. the screen, the keyboard, the mouse, just hate it. deffently build a desktop and spend some money on the monitor, i think thats where your going to get the most benefit, because $1000 worth of a computer right now should be excellent for any photo editing needs.

personnally i would just pick an off the shelf computer, unless you buy it from a place that doesnt skimp on a part or two to keep the price down. places like best buy will skimp on power supplies and video cards, sometimes hard drive and ram, to keep the price down. thats why its nice to have a place build a computer to your specs.

i just did a little research and purchased everything through newegg

flameshots · Mar 5, 2012

Thanks matthewo, that's pretty much what I thought. I would love to hear the detailed specs of your $650 6 core PC. I really haven't found anything like that yet. Of course I haven't looked real hard yet. I know I want a graphics card but I have no idea which one or what to look for. I guess anything would be better than what I'm using now. I just want to get the most "bang for my buck". I already have a new IPS monitor and I'm very happy with it. I have just had a hard time getting my Laptop to adjust the color for this monitor. I think the monitor is too much for the integrated graphics on my laptop. Thanks for the input.

Marc.

DorkSterr · Mar 5, 2012

I have it. Just finished it last November cost me roughly around $8000 Cad including monitor keyboard, and its already outdated.

Foxx · Mar 5, 2012

DorkSterr said:
I have it. Just finished it last November cost me roughly around $8000 Cad including monitor keyboard, and its already outdated.

Mmmmm Filco cherry switch. I have a rosewill with cherry mx switches, absolutely love the typing experience.

480sparky · Mar 5, 2012

All I want for Christmas is a new main monitor. I'm using a 23" now, with a 15" off to the side. I wanna dump the 15, replace it with a 27-30" and make my current 23" my sidecar.

rexbobcat · Mar 5, 2012

However many cores are possible, 6 gig of ram, nvidia 5xx GTS/GTX video card. The other stuff I couldn't care less about

fokker · Mar 5, 2012

Why stop at just 6 gig?

LightSpeed · Mar 5, 2012

There's not much out there that take advantage of hexacore processing.
The most graphically intense video game out there only uses 4 cores. I think.
It might only use 3. Most applications use 2 -4 threads.
A quad core processor, something like an AMDx4 975 which can easily be overclocked, 8 gigs of memory, a 500 gig hard drive with an external terabyte drive, would be more than enough.
I run a amd 6970 , 2gig of memory on board, 980 mhz video card. But I game.
I can't see where a video card like this is needed for editing images. It's big , expensive and won't fit in some ( most ) computer cases.
Windows 7 - 64 bit, as close to a perfect OS as I've ever used.
Some might recommend MAC = reduced instruction set chip/computer.
Screw mac.

Ysarex · Mar 5, 2012

If a "dream" editing PC doesn't start here:

ColorEdge | EIZO NANAO CORPORATION

or here:

LaCie - LCD Monitors

then, no matter what else you do, it's a failure.

Photography -- you either see it or you don't.

Joe

EchoingWhisper · Mar 6, 2012

Wow, I'd love to edit my dreams with PCs! That way I'll always have happy dreams.

chuasam · Mar 6, 2012

a Mac is a personal computer too..and hence a PC
let's see...

A Mac Pro with two 2.93 Ghz 6-Core Intel Xenon.
64GB of RAM
2 512GB Solid State Drives (one for applications, one for virtual memory)
2 2TB 7200 HDD.
ATI Radeon 5870
Two Apple LED Cinema Displays

Wacom Cintq 24HD

NERDGASM!!!

flameshots · Mar 6, 2012

chuasam said:
a Mac is a personal computer too..and hence a PC
let's see...

A Mac Pro with two 2.93 Ghz 6-Core Intel Xenon.
64GB of RAM
2 512GB Solid State Drives (one for applications, one for virtual memory)
2 2TB 7200 HDD.
ATI Radeon 5870
Two Apple LED Cinema Displays

Wacom Cintq 24HD

NERDGASM!!!

I just can't justify the added expense for a Mac. New Mac= new software= not affordable. It's kinda like making a change to Nikon from Canon. $3000. in glass is prohibiting me from changing.

cgipson1 · Mar 6, 2012

Posted this in another thread.... it is pretty fast... opens a RAW in CS5 in well under 2 seconds... and no hesitation with any editing! Even the liquify tool with a large brush is real-time. Of course, I game on it too...

I7 3.8 on air, running stable 4.2 ghz OC'd.
Booting Win7 64 off a fast OCZ 512 GB SSD
6 Tb (3x 2 TB Black Label WD) in a Raid5 array.
2x EVGA GTX580's running in SLI (slight OC on these)
24 GB DDR3 1600 Ram
3x 2 TB Esata External drives for backup
Dell U3011 30" monitor
Large Antec server case

Big Mike · Mar 6, 2012

I just bought a new one. Budget was a big concern, so I certainly couldn't build or buy a 'dream machine'. But I did get an i5 processor and 8GB of Ram.
I was really temped to get a solid state drive of the OS & programs. The IT guy as work just built a new machine with an SSD and he said it boots up an opens his internet browser in 4 seconds.

My old machine, took 2-4 minutes to boot up, and if you clicked on Firefox, before everything else had settled down, it took another minute or two to open. It actually ran LR and PS4 well enough. I was even able to work on files from my 5DmkII. It just took a long time to get going.