desktop computers for photography?

[cfusionpm]

- 32 or 64 bit - doesn't matter if application doesn't run in 64 bit mode or can't get drivers for 64 bit mode.

...

Yes, you can up the memory to 6 GB or more but honestly unless you need instant gratification buying a mega computer may be a waste of money - it's outdated in a year or two. Hit a button and it takes 2 seconds vs 5 - no big deal IMO, multiple screens - never used them - may be OK - need the room for them.

You'll need a 64bit OS if you want more than 3GB of usable RAM. I ran out of RAM quite a bit when doing After Effects and Premiere work:

Even with my full 4GB now, I find it running really thin when editing 400+ 15MP raw files through LR.

 

[JClishe]

Don't forget that if you build a computer you'll need to pay full retail price for Windows 7. $200 for Home Premium, $300 for Pro, $320 for Ultimate. Home Premium will more than likely suit your needs just fine, but you need to keep this cost in mind. Some of the posters that are quoting costs for building your own PC aren't including the cost of Windows. Granted, you may qualify for the upgrade price if you own a qualifying previous version of Windows.

Regarding 64 bit Vs 32 bit, you can't buy a 32 bit PC anymore (unless you're buying a netbook w/ an Atom processor) so IMO this topic is a non-issue.

I agree with the posters that have cautioned against building your own PC. If you're a novice this probably isn't the best choice as troubleshooting will be difficult and you'll have no one to call for technical / warranty support.

My advice? Go to Best Buy and get the best machine you can afford. More RAM is better. You'll be fine.

 

[usayit]

My advice? Go to Best Buy and get the best machine you can afford. More RAM is better. You'll be fine.

Same advice I would give... Definitely max out the RAM. My fairly old workstation has slowly been upgraded 16GB and it runs lightroom and PS just fine. Just as important is a good monitor and a calibration unit.

Granted building a computer can be cheaper more effective in the end but it isn't for everyone. Kinda like building or restoring a car project. Mechanic down the street probably thinks it is easy. Vice versa for some of us with computers.

 

[Vinny]

I thought the memory limitations went away with Windows 7 ... learned something here.

Are you batch processing those 400+ RAW files?

- 32 or 64 bit - doesn't matter if application doesn't run in 64 bit mode or can't get drivers for 64 bit mode.

...

Yes, you can up the memory to 6 GB or more but honestly unless you need instant gratification buying a mega computer may be a waste of money - it's outdated in a year or two. Hit a button and it takes 2 seconds vs 5 - no big deal IMO, multiple screens - never used them - may be OK - need the room for them.

You'll need a 64bit OS if you want more than 3GB of usable RAM. I ran out of RAM quite a bit when doing After Effects and Premiere work:

Even with my full 4GB now, I find it running really thin when editing 400+ 15MP raw files through LR.

 

[Village Idiot]

Better to build one, you get better parts, last longer, and is faster. For 600 you can build a computer that would cost 2k to buy from HP, ect. Plus NEVER buy an HP, Dell, or any of those crappy brands. They all last a year and burn up, plus they are made from crap parts.

This isn't necessarily true. It's difficult to build for cheaper than Dell or HP at lower prices because they're getting the same parts as you for a lower cost because of bulk purchases and building computers without charging much more than you would spend on building your own. Plus it's one warranty to cover all parts.

Where it really saves to build your own is if you're using newer technology. I built a beast of a machine for $1700 and that would have cost a lot more from Dell or HP because it was using a new quad core CPU, a GTX 295, etc, etc... Stuff that was basically "cutting edge" at the time I built it.

The two things I'd really want in a photo editing computer would be processor and RAM. My 2.5X C2D Macbook Pro is sluggish when putting 5D MKII batches through Light Room 2 when all I'm doing is downsizing and converting to JPG.

 

[JClishe]

I thought the memory limitations went away with Windows 7 ... learned something here.

32 bit hardware can only address up to 4GB of RAM. The "usable" RAM that will be available to the OS will be less than this, usually around 3.2GB.

This limitation has nothing to do with the operating system, and there's no way the operating system can get around it. It's a hardware issue, not software.

 

[Dao]

Interesting comparison from Dell.

Apple Compete | Dell

Of course, since it is from Dell. And it just compare the price with hardware ONLY. Nothing else.

 

[Vinny]

THIS is why I stopped building my own computers! Technically I can do it but there are too many "gotchas" that can cause problems that I don't care to learn.

Question - if you take a computer built today and put Windows 7 32 bit vs Windows 7 64 bit - wouldn't the 32 bit be the limiting factor in memory handling since the machine is capable of handling a 64 bit OS and able to handle more memory? The OS would be the only difference.

I thought the memory limitations went away with Windows 7 ... learned something here.

32 bit hardware can only address up to 4GB of RAM. The "usable" RAM that will be available to the OS will be less than this, usually around 3.2GB.

This limitation has nothing to do with the operating system, and there's no way the operating system can get around it. It's a hardware issue, not software.

 

[robertwsimpson]

THIS is why I stopped building my own computers! Technically I can do it but there are too many "gotchas" that can cause problems that I don't care to learn.

Question - if you take a computer built today and put Windows 7 32 bit vs Windows 7 64 bit - wouldn't the 32 bit be the limiting factor in memory handling since the machine is capable of handling a 64 bit OS and able to handle more memory? The OS would be the only difference.

I thought the memory limitations went away with Windows 7 ... learned something here.

32 bit hardware can only address up to 4GB of RAM. The "usable" RAM that will be available to the OS will be less than this, usually around 3.2GB.

This limitation has nothing to do with the operating system, and there's no way the operating system can get around it. It's a hardware issue, not software.

I don't know if you can put 32 bit windows on a 64 bit system. But even if you can, why would you want to?

 

[JClishe]

I don't know if you can put 32 bit windows on a 64 bit system. But even if you can, why would you want to?

Yes, you can install a 32 bit operating system on 64 hardware. But as Robert says, you generally wouldn't want to. There used to be hardware and software compatibility issues with 64 bit OS's, but those have lagely been resolved. I've been running exclusively 64 bit OS's on all of my machines for about 3 years (since Vista SP1) and haven't had any issues.

 

[Vinny]

I upgraded my son's laptop from Vista Ultimate to 7 Professional and stuck with 32 bit because of possible compatability issues. I don't have much confidence in his college's IT department after speaking to them to be able to handle 64 bit OS problems if they arrise ... I guess when I eventually upgrade my old desktop it'll be with a 64 bit OS! I told him when he graduates - go for whatever he wants (probably be an Apple).

 

[robertwsimpson]

I upgraded my son's laptop from Vista Ultimate to 7 Professional and stuck with 32 bit because of possible compatability issues. I don't have much confidence in his college's IT department after speaking to them to be able to handle 64 bit OS problems if they arrise ... I guess when I eventually upgrade my old desktop it'll be with a 64 bit OS! I told him when he graduates - go for whatever he wants (probably be an Apple).

you know you can't put a 64 bit OS on a 32 bit system, right?

 

[JustAnEngineer]

If you're afraid of building your own PC and you don't know which components you want, you can start with something like a Dell Studio XPS 8100 or Inspiron 580. These have the Intel H57 chipset and the LGA1156 processor socket. You want a Core i5-750, Core i7-860 or Core i7-870 quad-core processor for that socket, not one of the lesser dual-core processors available (e.g.: Core i3-530 or Core i5-660). If the budget is tight, a refurbished model from the Dell Outlet store is a bargain.
Studio XPS 8100: Dell Factory Outlet
Inspiron 580: Dell Factory Outlet

If you're shopping for new Dell systems, they usually have good prices for the base system, but they overcharge for upgrades like memory, hard-drives, Blu-ray and graphics cards. You can pick up these items much more affordably from e-tailers like Newegg, Amazon, ZipZoomFly, Directron, etc. and easily add them to a system that you purchased from Dell.

If you know which components you want in your PC and you just want someone else to assemble it for you, there are folks like CyberPowerPC that let you choose exactly which components you want to use. If the budget is tight, then an AMD processor + motherboard + integrated graphics could save you some money.


If you're up for putting it together yourself (it might take you half a day), you can buy your components on-line (from Newegg, etc.) and put them together for slightly less money.
Here's an example:

AMD processor + motherboard + graphics:
$100 AMD Athlon II X4 635 quad-core 2.9 GHz socket-AM3 processor with HSF
or $200 AMD Phenom II X6 1055T six-core 2.8 GHz socket-AM3 processor with HSF
$100+7½ Gigabyte GA-880GMA-UD2H micro-ATX 880G+SB850 socket-AM3 motherboard
$0 integrated Radeon HD4250 graphics
or add-in PCIe X16 graphics card

or Intel processor + motherboard + graphics:
$200 Intel Core i5-750 quad-core 2.66 GHz LGA1156 processor with HSF
or $280 Intel Core i7-860 hyper-threading quad-core 2.8 GHz LGA1156 processor with HSF
$120 Gigabyte GA-P55-USB3 ATX P55 LGA1156 motherboard
$80 HIS Radeon HD5570 low-profile PCIe X16 graphics card

Memory:
$230 8 GiB = 2x 2x2 GiB PC3-12800 G.Skill F3-12800CL7D-4GBECO (DDR3-1600, CAS 7, 1.35V)
or $194 8 GiB = 2x 2x2 GiB PC3-10600 G.Skill F3-10600CL9D-4GBNT (DDR3-1333, CAS 9, 1.5V)
or $265 8 GiB = 2x4 GiB PC3-10600 G.Skill F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL (DDR3-1333, CAS 9, 1.5V)

Storage:
$110 +7 1½ TB Western Digital WD1501FASS Caviar Black hard-drive (for OS, programs and storage)
or $60 ½ TB Western Digital WD5001AALS Caviar Black hard-drive (for OS and programs)
and $120 2 TB Western Digital WD20EARS Caviar Green hard-drive (for storage only)
$25 +3 Samsung SH-S243N DVD-RW
or $98 Lite-On ihes108-29 Blu-ray ROM / DVD-RW with PowerDVD

Case + power supply:
$90 Antec NSK4482 with EA-380D PSU

Operating system:
$100 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM
or $135 Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit OEM (for remote desktop)

Input devices:
$35 Microsoft 69C-00006 Wireless Laser Desktop 5000 keyboard & 5-button mouse
or $60 + 9 shipping Logitech Cordless Desktop LX 310 wireless keyboard & 5-button mouse

Speakers:
$50 -10 Logitech Z313

Monitor:
$431+tax: UltraSharp U2410 H-IPS
$239+tax: UltraSharp U2311H e-IPS
$223+tax: UltraSharp U2211H e-IPS
$360+10 shipping NEC EA231WMI e-IPS


I hope that some of these components suit your needs or inspire you to select the ones that work best for you.
P.S.: There are numerous PC enthusiast forums available to help you if you choose to build your own PC. Stop by the Tech Report system builders' anonymous forum if you want more help.

 

[Vinny]

Since I don't follow computer systems too closely anymore I just assumed that when the dual core processors came out - they were all 64 bit processors and the only difference was the OS being 32 or 64 bit. If I remember correctly I ran the Windows 7 advisor and I was able to get either.

Personally, I never bought a latest and greatest computer, always "yesterday's" almost latest and greatest but I only use the computer for non essential stuff. Even for photgraphy I don't think I will be batch processing a ton of photos if I even do any batch processing. If I have to wait another 10 seconds - no big deal for me. My son's laptop is a Pentium Dual core and it is about 2x as fast as this old desktop - for college - it's plenty fast for papers and surfing the internet. When I looked at the specs the college had for their computers, his is almost up there with theirs in processor, they wanted Core 2 duo he has a Pentium Dual core and everything else is better. When he gets to his major classes if his machine can't handle it, we can buy another laptop and it will be better than what he would have gotten had he bought it through the college and I still would have saved money!

I upgraded my son's laptop from Vista Ultimate to 7 Professional and stuck with 32 bit because of possible compatability issues. I don't have much confidence in his college's IT department after speaking to them to be able to handle 64 bit OS problems if they arrise ... I guess when I eventually upgrade my old desktop it'll be with a 64 bit OS! I told him when he graduates - go for whatever he wants (probably be an Apple).

you know you can't put a 64 bit OS on a 32 bit system, right?

 

[David Hawkins]

I would suggest you to go for a desktop rather than a laptop,since you don’t travel very often,which is why people prefer laptop over desktop as it comes in handy when you travel a lot.


Desktop Hard Drives