Considering a new build for a photo editing only PC.

[Philmar]

My 11 year old i7 3700K build was masterful and while overkill at the time it still serves me well. I spent the time to understand the needs of a photo editing rig and the components that were available then but things have changed. I only process one raw photo at a time, no large event photography batches, no video and no gaming. For years I have been using the ASUS bios auto-overclock feature in my ASUS P8Z77 mobo and that has helped me get more performance from the build. I was even able to survive with only the onboard graphics until I purchased a second 1440p monitor. However I am noticing that it is now slowing me down in Lightroom when I make use of the newer adjustment mask features...and also when I occasionally use Topaz Suite. I have recently retired so I have plenty of free time now to monetizing my hobby. I post on Facebook neighborhood groups and get weekly requests for prints from neighbors. I am going to buy a printer soon and also create photo books so I think the whole experience will be better on a snappier machine. My budget will be up to US$2250 though I could get a Z760 set up much cheaper ....I have to purchase my components in inflated CDN dollars though.

I definitely will go with a i7 13700K though a i5 is probably the sweet spot. I have the funds to buy a better CPU and if this rig can last a decade like the last one it will be wise to go with the more powerful one. I have been agonizing for weeks over a costlier Z790 mobo with DDR5 vs. a cheaper Z690 mobo with DDR4. Seems like the builds would have no perceptible difference in performance (according to my usage) so why throw money away for nothing with a Z790 set up? However I think that a Z790 might be a good choice as it would be more future proof. Who knows what improvements there will be to DDR5 RAM? I will buy a K version of the i713700 as I will overclock but only conservatively using the mobo autoclock software.

Most of the online mobo reviews seem to be from a gamer's perspective where mobos are valued on their overclockability (VRM and heatsink arrays). The few mobo reviews that I read from the perspective of image editing judge mobos based on ability to edit massive video files, or networking features or i/o connectivity to upload massive batches of wedding photos/videos. I don't want to pay for Thunderbolt, 10gb ethernet or even WIFI.

I plan to use two new SSDs and a new 8-12GB HDD spinner as well as include HDD data drives from my current build: My Cdrive which is a Samsung 840 pro SATA 600, a Samsung 850 pro SATA 600 drive that I use as Lightroom catalogue/scratch drive and also 2 SATA HDD spinners with data. So my mobo will need to support ALL of those.

Any thoughts and advice?

And if it only drives two 1440p monitors do I really need a GPU for my usage (no video processing, gaming)? If so, is my Radeon RX 460 of any value?

 

[CherylL]

My tech guy that built 2 systems for me retired. For my last build I went to Micro Center for the components. My daughter's neighbor works there and he built the computer for me. I gave him my budget and the specs required to run Adobe Pr Pro and PS with a possibility of getting AE again.

What was helpful is he gave me several options and I then researched those specifics before buying. I did a few swaps of $$$ item for $$.

A good starting point is to look at Lightroom's specs.

 

[ac12]

IMHO, you will need a Graphics Processor card. If not now, then eventually.
Many of the new photo editing software use AI processing, which needs the GPU.

I am currently running a 4th generation i7, which was fine for MANY years.
But to run the current AI noise reduction software, I had to add a GPU card. One sw would not even install without a GPU card.

For specifics, check the system requirements for the various editing programs.
You don't need a full blow gaming GPU card, because you are dealing with individual images, not continuous video.
But you do need something that will not be obsolete in a year, as the newer editing SW demands more GPU functions/memory.
What was fine 3 years ago, may not meet todays minimum system requirements for the AI sw.

Luckily the GPU prices are not as astronomically crazy as they were.
But the higher end cards are still pricy, to me.

From your post, I count SEVEN drives.
You will need to add a PCIe controller card for some of the drives.
Your builder will need to know this, because you need enough SATA power connectors.

And you will need a LARGE case with good cooling for the drives.

Gud Luk

 

[jeffashman]

I build my own rigs, and they are dual purpose, both photo editing and gaming. I've had my current rig for a few years. The biggest boosts that I got for photo editing were from the graphics card and doubling the memory to 32GB. The CPU is an older generation Ryzen CPU, and still does a very good job. Processing time on a Canon RAW CR3 from beginning to end only takes a few minutes with a workflow of Topaz Photo AI>LightRoom CC>Photoshop Elements 19. You don't have to spend a lot for a respectable machine, although the sales reps will be glad to upsell you as much as they can.

Gigabyte X470 AORUS
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X
32GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 12GB
Windows 11 Pro
Samsung SSDs

 

[wobe]

Being a tech I have always built myself but last time I upgraded went in a completely different direction and purchased an Intel NUC Extreme - Mine is an '11' (meaning 11th Gen CPU's) but the current one is 13 (Google - Intel NUC 13 Extreme) and goes all the way up from i5, i7 to i9 CPU's.

It's small, very well ventialted (I'm in a hot and humid place - though room is aircon of course...), silent (even when loaded) and fast - Mine has 32Gb RAM, 8Tb total NVME SSD drive space (3x NVME Drives, 1x Boot and 2x for data on Windows Spaces drive pool) plus a full size desktop nVidia 3070 GPU (which takes up half the space inside!) - Has a ton of ports, thunderbolt, latest USB, HDMI and most important a front loading flash card reader

I game also and it does that with ease - gets heavy use, maybe 7 hours a day when I'm working from home and so far no issues at all.
Photo below shows the size compared to my phone. There are cheaper clones/copies from 'the place that copies everything' - but if I'm spending this much money I prefer to know it has been built by the people who designed it from scratch and from who everyone else copies their designs

The new 13's are a different shape now but still super compact, my old i9 tower weighed about 2 tons, took up a large amount of floor space and sounded like a fan on full when it got hot.

As a final footnote on cooling etc, as it's the biggest concern for miniPC's - I have a 2012 Mac Mini sitting under the TV which has been on 24/7 since it was new acting as media streamer, a Minecraft server for the children and internet TV box - it just gets vacuumed every few months and that room is not always aircon (eg. when we go out/are away), its a pretty constant 32 C, highs touch 40 maybe and close 100% humidity most of the year- it has never been switched off and no problems.
Not sure if one of the cheap knock off 'miniPC' clones would do as well, just for your consideration - power doesn't necessarily mean size.

With an iPhone for scale.

 

[smoke665]

However I am noticing that it is now slowing me down in

The latest features in Lr and Ps leverage the processor power of the GPU. So much so, that some of the tools won't even work without a compatible card.

NVIDIA GeForce series does an outstanding job for me. Adobe recommends a minimum of 2gb VRAM, but 6-8gb works better. RAM isn't as important anymore with the way Adobe splits tasks. I started with 16gb RAM and the intention of adding more but never found a need. I routinely work 40-50 plus images at a time in LR or a half dozen or so in Ps without slow down.

I would recommend you look at HP's Omen game series. The off the shelf model has most everything you need in the price range you're looking at.

 

[AlanKlein]

Unless you're a tech, I wouldn't build it but buy something complete from a reputable company that comes with service and backup tech manuals. Are you capable of analyzing problems and fixing them. Who ya going to call?

 

[John 2]

I have always built my own since being ripped off by a national retailer. RAM and a decent graphics card with enough on board memory (32GB + 6GB card) made the biggest difference for me when I began to struggle as PS developed. With that setup I often run a TV App in screen when I'm post processing an image. The processor has less effect because the problems only get serious when you run out of memory and your machine starts file swapping with the Hard drive. Hard drives are probably the slowest component in the processing chain. I am in fact thinking of upgrading but only because the processor I am currently using is not compatible with Windows 11. Nothing wrong with Windows 10 but I'm anticipating that eventually I will have no choice. That might be a consideration for you.

 

[smoke665]

@John 2 one of my biggest problems early on was with LR and brush tool adjustments to multiple images. It seemed to be cumulative slowing to a crawl the more you made. Now i run a 1TB primary that only has the necessary apps, Adobe and my Lr catalog. I have a secondary 2TB SATA drive that runs my apps that don't require speed and store my most recent image files. As images age they are transferred to a 10TB external drive. I also have a 1TB external SSD connected via a Thundrbolt port that stores my catalog backups, and is the scratch disk for Ps. I use a GeForce card with 6MB and NVIDIA's Studio driver. Slow down is a thing of the past now.

 

[Scott Whaley]

I build my own rigs, and they are dual purpose, both photo editing and gaming. I've had my current rig for a few years. The biggest boosts that I got for photo editing were from the graphics card and doubling the memory to 32GB. The CPU is an older generation Ryzen CPU, and still does a very good job. Processing time on a Canon RAW CR3 from beginning to end only takes a few minutes with a workflow of Topaz Photo AI>LightRoom CC>Photoshop Elements 19. You don't have to spend a lot for a respectable machine, although the sales reps will be glad to upsell you as much as they can.

Gigabyte X470 AORUS
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X
32GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 12GB
Windows 11 Pro
Samsung SSDs

I just purchased an ASUS gaming computer back in December & it is close to your build. I am going to bump it up to 32 gig of RAM. It has an 3080 GeForce video card and is super fast. No waiting for processing using Topaz Photo AI.

 

[Chase McCloud]

Let's see something.

 

[Philmar]

My tech guy that built 2 systems for me retired. For my last build I went to Micro Center for the components. My daughter's neighbor works there and he built the computer for me. I gave him my budget and the specs required to run Adobe Pr Pro and PS with a possibility of getting AE again.

What was helpful is he gave me several options and I then researched those specifics before buying. I did a few swaps of $$$ item for $$.

A good starting point is to look at Lightroom's specs.

Sadly i live in Canada (well, sad for pc purchasing purposes) and the mythical Micro Center is a world away for me.

 

[Philmar]

IMHO, you will need a Graphics Processor card. If not now, then eventually.
Many of the new photo editing software use AI processing, which needs the GPU.

I am currently running a 4th generation i7, which was fine for MANY years.
But to run the current AI noise reduction software, I had to add a GPU card. One sw would not even install without a GPU card.

For specifics, check the system requirements for the various editing programs.
You don't need a full blow gaming GPU card, because you are dealing with individual images, not continuous video.
But you do need something that will not be obsolete in a year, as the newer editing SW demands more GPU functions/memory.
What was fine 3 years ago, may not meet todays minimum system requirements for the AI sw.

Luckily the GPU prices are not as astronomically crazy as they were.
But the higher end cards are still pricy, to me.

From your post, I count SEVEN drives.
You will need to add a PCIe controller card for some of the drives.
Your builder will need to know this, because you need enough SATA power connectors.

And you will need a LARGE case with good cooling for the drives.

Gud Luk

My 3rd gen i7 forced me to a GPU when I bought a 2nd monitor. I was hoping the iGPU on the 13th gen would be sufficicent....GPU prices are still crazy. Maybe I'll add on when I need to - am forced to - might be after the first week LOL.

Upon further reflection I will probably use external storage to load my data on to the new rig and I'll just go with 2 spinners and 2 sata SSDs - and have 2 NVMe drives.

 

[Philmar]

Unless you're a tech, I wouldn't build it but buy something complete from a reputable company that comes with service and backup tech manuals. Are you capable of analyzing problems and fixing them. Who ya going to call?

I have a bevy of 6-12 year old nephews - LOL The teenagers in the family can't be pried off their phones.

 

[Philmar]

@John 2 one of my biggest problems early on was with LR and brush tool adjustments to multiple images. It seemed to be cumulative slowing to a crawl the more you made. Now i run a 1TB primary that only has the necessary apps, Adobe and my Lr catalog. I have a secondary 2TB SATA drive that runs my apps that don't require speed and store my most recent image files. As images age they are transferred to a 10TB external drive. I also have a 1TB external SSD connected via a Thundrbolt port that stores my catalog backups, and is the scratch disk for Ps. I use a GeForce card with 6MB and NVIDIA's Studio driver. Slow down is a thing of the past now.

That's my plan- 2 NVMe SSDs for OS and programs and to store whatever project I'm working on. I plan to use one or both of my sata SSDs for scratch/LR catalogue internally.