Help with a custom Computer build
 

Needs to work fast, Photoshop #1 use (installed not in the cloud).
Running Dual monitors.
Looking at http://www.digitalstorm.com and http://www.ecollegepc.com, but not locked in to any site.
Want to keep it under $2k.
I have additional storage available so that's not an issue.

Thanks in advance for any help.

So you aren't building it yourself?

The units on the collegepc site you link are bare-bones, running last year's cpu, don't include solid state memory, mediocre graphics card.

DigitalStorm is very customer friendly; I considered buying from them a few months ago before deciding to go the build route.. If you are considering them I recommend you go to their call their Community Forum and Config Help. Also if you call them and tell them what you are doing they are very helpful in helping you configure.
However they are a gaming builder, not sure what they do for Photoshop requirements?

Thanks for the input.

Got ya. I just built my first two gaming rigs and am configuring a third build now. I'm pretty sure photo editing and gaming require the same components but I'll let the board experts speak.

I'm sure either Fish or Pants or Big Richard etc. can help you once they notice this thread. Good luck.

*edit* one thing i can tell you is you want a 1080 gpu and Intel i7 cpu, preferably 7th gen. (Kaby Lake).

I don't know if you'll find anyone who can recommend a good site because everyone builds their own.

It literally takes like 4 hours max and will cost you drastically less.

Good luck.

Digger, let me build it for you. I can put together any system you want for cheaper than what they will charge you.

No need for a 7th gen, they are exactly the same as the 6th gen.

However, you may consider looking at broadwell-e (6800k) over skylake (6700k) as you will lose about 10 % of single core speed but gain about 30% in multi threaded applications like photoshop. If you are saying 'its for photoshop!' but care more for games, then a 6700k is the right choice.

Compare something like

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6800K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($408.58 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($99.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: ASRock X99M Extreme4 Micro ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($169.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($209.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Corsair Force LE 960GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($274.97 @ Jet)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Superclocked Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card ($559.89 @ B&H)
Case: Fractal Design Define S ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G3 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ B&H)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($94.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $2037.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-12 15:38 EST-0500

This will absolutely SLAY photoshop.

vs

something that is high up in the digital storm line, over $1200 more for LESS of a PC. I chose this as an example because its the same 'sort' of setup.

BEST
Level 3
$3,118
OR $260/MONTH*
CUSTOMIZE

Specs:
- Intel Core i7 6800K CPU They advertise 'basic' OC at this price, that takes about 5 minutes to do
- 32GB DDR4 2666MHz Memory compare to 3000mhz above
- GeForce GTX 1080 8GB This is a reference card compared to OCed/ACX cooler card
- CPU Liquid Cooling Similar part here, but theres is no-name, self built uses Corsair
- 500GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD Half as much SSD space
- 2TB 7200RPM Storage HDD Generic HDD
- X99 Chipset Motherboard Similar mobos
- 1000W EVGA GQ PSU Good, but way more than you need. 9 and 10x Nvidia cards take about half as much wattage as they used to, no need for 1000 it just sounds good cause its a big number
- DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW ZzzZz
- Microsoft Windows 10

https://www.digitalstorm.com/configu...asp?id=1239337

Configured to match the self built PC - nearly $3400 for 2000 worth of retail parts.

If you can wait it out for a bit, I think the next line AMD cpus are gonna hit in March and will have good performance at a much lower cost.

Intel has really artificially inflated the market lately.

This too. Regardless of what happens with the new Ryzen CPUs, it will drive the cost down of intel products, AND Ryzen looks to be a lot higher multi-threaded performance per dollar than intel chips. That = more power in photoshop for less money~

The entire pc builder world is waiting for ryzen before they do anything. This includes my suspended personal build.

http://www.ecollegepc.com/intel-kabylake.html
CPU: Intel Core i& 7700K 4.2Ghz 8MB Cache Quad-Core
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-B250M-D3H (Intel B150, HDMI, PCI-E, 6xSATA, 4xDDR4)
Mem: 32GB (8GBx$) PC4 17000 DDr4 2133Mhz
SSD: 256GB Intel 600p M.2 NVMe PCTe 3.0 X4
SSD2: 256GB Intel 600p M.2 NVMe PCTe 3.0 X4
HD:1TB 7200RPM 64MB Cache SATA3 6Gbps Toshiba P300
HD2:1TB 7200RPM 64MB Cache SATA3 6Gbps Toshiba P300
Optical drive: 24X LG SATA Dual Layer DVD /-RW/CDRW
OS: Win 10 home 64bit
Power: 430watt EVGA 100-W1-0430-KR 80
$1312

This has more storage than I think I need.
The two M.2 SSD
one for OS
one for scratch disk space

The video on the motherboard is what for this setup I'm not sure about.
Do I need to have one or more video cards?

Vailpass can attest to this, building you're own computer these days is not that daunting. It'll take you a day/half-day for you to build your own and you'll save a ton of money.

For photoshop use you'll want -

i7 processor
lots of ram (I'd go 32gb)
lots of HD space (Photoshop files can take up a lot of space, though not as bad as video editing)

You'll want a decent video card. You don't need a top of the line 1080 or anything like that though. 1060, 1070, or the AMD RX 480 would all be fine.

I agree about holding off until AMDs new release if you can.

Here is a computer i threw together on PCpartpicker.com that is a ton better/higher quality than the one you just listed and its about the same price.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($299.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI Z170-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($101.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($208.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($97.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($92.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 480 8GB GAMING X Video Card ($244.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 w/Window (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($88.89 @ OutletPC)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($94.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $1327.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-12 16:43 EST-0500

Have you heard anything about Optane coming closer to market?

You could go that way. I would also get a cooler, and a K CPU for ocing.

one video card is going to be fine. Please i beg you let me help you lol

Last question how much you think I would save if I waited till March when the AMD is released?

Final build on ecollagepc $1504.00
Final parts list(below) $1258.83
price to build $245.17

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/sGXmWX

CPU Intel Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor $349.99
CPU Cooler Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler $59.99
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z270M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard $119.99
Memory G.Skill Value Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory $189.99
Storage ADATA Premier SP550 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive $73.99
Intel 600p Series 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive $108.99
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $49.99
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $49.99
Case Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case $69.99
Power Supply Corsair Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply 54.99
Optical Drive LG GH24NSC0 DVD/CD Writer $19.99
Operating System Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit $99.99
Total (12 Items): $1258.83

You are going to save money. My guess is if you wait even a little longer for Intels return salvo (skylake-E) then you can save some big bucks.

Gotta kind of wait and see what happens but hardware prices are constantly falling outside of 'current gen'

This build is horrendous. Like, really, really bad. It makes no sense whatsoever.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($343.33 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI Z170-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($101.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($214.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($168.01 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($92.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 470 4GB ARMOR OC Video Card ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 w/Window (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($78.89 @ OutletPC)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($94.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $1392.03
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-13 23:19 EST-0500

Take the video card off if you really think you wont need it.

build one or have someone build for you.. If you intent on purchasing cyberpower is pretty good.

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/G...ty_8800_Pro_SE

and you can use the code SUMMIT at checkout for anything over $1299 for 5% off.

A couple of notes here, as i somewhat recently built a work machine to handle photoshop/Premiere and studied up and what's best for those applications in particular....

1. Your video card shouldn't be judged by gaming benchmarks. Aside from virtual memory, aim for a card that has a high Cuda Core count, or in AMD's language, "stream processors" as Adobe's programs are really built to utilize cuda cores/Stream processors. On high end non-gaming cards, you'll find that they have a very high Cuda Core count. So if you're planning on using a mainstream gaming card, check the Cuda Cores.

DO NOT simply look at gaming benchmarks for a video card. That's wrong if you're trying to build a graphics processing computer. Nvidia generally makes better cards for Video/Photo editing.

2. Adobe products are built to utilize every core in a processor. Unlike video games that generally utilize a maximum of 4-cores, adobe Photoshop & Premiere can and will utilize more cores if they're available.

With that said, i know AM3+ is out of date and soon to be replaced, but during my research i found that AMD's 8-Core processors outperformed Intel's 4-core processors in applications such as Adobe Premiere mostly due to the fact that Premiere could utilize all 8-cores on an AMD processor. Now, that doesn't ring true for gaming, as traditional benchmarks will have Intel's products eek ahead of AMD's dated processors. But again, we're talking about work, not gaming.

It's completely understandable if you don't want to invest into an outdated architecture, so with that in mind, if you go Intel, make sure you select an Intel processor with at minimum 4 physical cores.

NOT that hyper-threading shit that's generally found on I3's and lower end I5's. Generally Intel's budget CPU's are 4-core hyper-threaded. Remember that "4-Core Hyper-threaded" can also mean 2 PHYSICAL cores, and 2 Virtual cores. Get at minimum a high-end I5 that has at least 4 PHYSICAL cores, which equates to 8-core hyper-threaded. The more physical cores, the better for Adobe creative applications.

3. RAM is your friend. Don't be afraid to load up on RAM, the fastest you can buy. Because RAM is your friend, i would highly suggest a new Skylake build since those MoBo's can utilize the newer DDR4.

If i had to build yet another machine, i'd build a Skylake rig with ample DDR4 Ram (especially if you run dual monitors) and a 6-Core I7 (12-core Hyper-Threaded), a great SSD and a video card with a high Cuda Core count.

Keep in mind that Intel's 6-core I7 CPU's = 12-core Hyper-threaded....

And if you really wanna get crazy with it, Intel makes a 10-core I7....(20-Core Hyper-threaded)

Thank you, very helpful for what I'm trying to do.

Sent from my SM-G900T3 using Tapatalk

This is why my original build was a 6800k.. 6 cores, 12 threads, 32mb ddr-3000, lots of SSD space.. photoshop users dream.

Skylake doesnt have a 6 core, the broadwell-E is intels current offering above 4 cores~

My 2k build still reigns supreme as mega photoshop master in this thread~

The AMD cores are due around March 3rd, so the wait isn't extreme.

If they are back to the era where they actually give a shit, AMD did well in the multi-processing sector. I'd wait it out.

Agreed. EveryONE is waiting on these to drop. In fact, preliminary leaks show you could get extreme multi-threaded performance for less money than intel.

You shouldn't be buying a cpu at all right now, ryzen is literally a couple weeks away.

Buy is on hold until sometime after March 3rd.

Good. Ryzen pre-orders opened today and it looks you are going to be able to get godlike performance per dollar for multi threaded applications like photoshop compared to intel.

I have to buy for my next build by 3rd week in March. Hopefully there are enough reviews out by then to see if it's worth not going Intel.

It's only money.

In that case can you throw me a few bucks?

I would but I like spending it myself.

This is where I am at.

Currently have a New case, 16gb ram, a new hard drive (will use my old drive as well) with a new GeForce 1070 arriving tomorrow. (Got one for 369.99 from amazon with a 10 dollar gift card. Also has a $20 MIR)

All I have left to buy is the processor/motherboard/cooling combo. Hoping reviews of AMD come quick and prices drop.

I've mainly used PC gamer to find the best deals, examine best builds (http://www.pcgamer.com/best-gaming-pc/).

/reusing psu, dvd, and a few fans from my old build
//what does everyone do with their old parts? Donate? Sell? Trash? I feel like my AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition still has a lot of life in it.

Here is what PC Gamer is projecting for the highest tier:

http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/X8u...maC-650-80.png

http://www.pcgamer.com/amd-ryzen-7-p...ch-on-march-2/

http://www.pcgamer.com/live-benchmar...vs-intel-core/

I like the reviews on Newegg as well. They tend to be detailed and a lot of them contain useful info. Hopefully they'll be cranking out Ryzen reviews soon.

I think I read reviews can go live on the 28th?

Shit. Too late for me. Thanks for the heads up.

Can you dorks recommend a very quiet CPU cooling fan for a I3 processor? My son's stock fan is just way too loud.

How much room do you have in the case? There are relatively good, no fan,100% silent coolers, but they sometimes can be tall/big

Noctua or be quiet.

Looking at reviews, it looks like Ryzen is pretty underwhelming. :deevee:

.. lol are you kidding? So underwhelming its dropped prices of Intels across the board, so underwhelming that Intel is bending over backwards to pay for bad reviews, sign exclusivity agreements with PC builders at huge loses etc, they play dirty just like they did last time.

In multi threaded tasks it is at times 2x as much power per dollar.

In gaming its off by 5%-10% from big clock intel stuff, and it hasnt even had time for support to form.

For OPs purpose, a Ryzen 1700x will get him almost twice as much Photoshop performance per dollar.

In fact, I would recommend it for this build for most bang for the buck.

:thumb:

I havent kept up on kaby lake prices but outside of a Microcenter in store pickup only discount I havent noticed these price drops people have been talking about. The i5 in my pcpartpicker build I made months ago is still sitting at the same price and the i7 upgrade is still the same price at $100 more.

Are we referring to the forbes article announcing a price drop on intel cpu's linking you to microcenter when its not uncommon to see deals like that for in store pickup? And for the majority of people building their PC those in store pickup deals aren't even worth it. I live 90 mins away from St. Louis and it would take about 3/4 of a tank of gas round trip + tax added onto the price of the cpu which would be around break even with the online retail stores, so unless I REALLY need the CPU that day it's no benefit.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/VKx...bx80677i77700k

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/dQM...bx80677i57600k

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/xwh...-bx80662i56500

Those are the 3 processors I ever really paid attention to the price and there is literally no dip in the price graphs.

It's still going to take at least take one good AMD cycle for me to even think about building an AMD computer regardless of what the benchmarks are showing. Let me see in 6+ months if anything has changed with optimization.

7700k bringing 299 now.

Microcenter is the test bed for pricing changes.

Make a date day out of your visit :P

God damn, my 1080 has lost so much value in just one week. Paid $720 for it in September and now I can buy a 1080ti for that price.

Yep.

Think about people that bought Titan Xs lol. The 1080TI is like within 2% of the Titan X and starts out 300 cheaper

The thing about Titans are people who buy them KNOW it's absolutely terrible when it comes to value. They pay that asking price to have that level of performance months before anybody else. If somebody bought a titan and didn't know there was to be a xx80ti card, then that's on them.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/QNqkm8

Any tweaks to this to make it better?

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/QNqkm8
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/QNqkm8/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6800K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($402.58 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($57.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X99-UD3P (rev. 1.0) ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($193.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($97.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Intel 600p Series 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($108.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GT 710 1GB PCIE x1 Video Card ($43.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($40.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0B DVD/CD Writer ($16.88 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($88.58 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1407.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-03-12 14:17 EDT-0400

As a n00b builder imho you upgrade that power supply to gold 750.

And that gpu? You don't want any more capability than that?

Windows 10 retail costs a little more but you might want to look into it. Thumb drive loaded is handy.

What is the thinking behind 4 randomly assorted hard drives with a 2k budget when you are at 1400?

You are paying $95+ for 2 TB of storage spread across 2 drives when you can get the same brand with 3TB in one drive for $15 less. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...D=3938566&SID=

And if you are going to go down the NVMe route, why the 600p? I'm not completely sold on the real world price to performance advantage over SATA drives, but that one is particularly mediocre and you arent trying to shave every last penny off the total price to squeeze it into the budget.

Four questions.

1) Why that motherboard? That is way, way more mobo than you need.

2) Why 50 gazillion different hard drives? You only need two. An SSD for boot/active files and a mechanical HD storage drive. You really don't need the M.2 drive at all. Get a 500gb Samsung Evo and a 2 TB Western Digital/Seagate HD and save some dough.

3) What the hell is with the video card? You might as well use onboard video.

4) What the hell is with the power supply?

One more question. Yes, I know I said 4 questions. Sue me.

Why no Ryzen processor? It is better for productivity than Intel.

A r7 1700 or 1700x build will be cheaper and superior to that x99 build. Also you would be throwing away $44 on that video card, FAR better cards at that price on the used market. Low price doesn't always mean value.

I just bought an I5 7600k. Unless you are going to be doing alot of video editing, streaming, hardcore multi tasking, there is no reason to get an i7. For just pure gaming i5 is plenty and if you OC it, you get some serious bang for your buck. I passed up the Ryzen for an I5. I just game on my PC though.

This guy is building a PC for photoshop

Here we go

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD RYZEN 7 1700 3.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($328.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME B350-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard ($99.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($209.97 @ Jet)
Storage: Corsair Force LE 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($130.20 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi Ultrastar 7K3000 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($58.97 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 480 4GB ARMOR OC Video Card ($174.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12G 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($56.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.88 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1248.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-03-13 11:06 EDT-0400

Stronger Photoshop build, less power usage, better PSU (seasonic makes everyone elses PSUs FYI) Win 10 PRO (never get HOME) Same amount of SSD and HDD space, MUCH better GPU in bang for the buck/performance. Much faster memory, which matters for PS use.

If you are going to dabble in OCing that 1700 should be able to get up to 3.9/3.9 on stock cooler and you are now talking near 6900k multi-threaded performance, on a 65w TDP, for less than 1/3 of the price.. amazing.

Thank you all for the great input. Purchased at ecollegepc.com. will be shipping out in the next 5-7 days. I went with the Intel over the new amd, because they are too new. No reason to be first. The many hard drives are for os, scratch disk for photo shop and already have a few 1tb drives I'll be adding after the fact. In the end will have more storage than needed. The lower end video is only to run dual monitors with and to push the process off the mobo. Again, thank you all for the great feedback, you guys rock.

Sent from my SM-G900T3 using Tapatalk

Why ask for our advice if you aren't going to follow it? :(

Let us know how it runs for you. Enjoy your new rig!

I got a ton of advice and I followed lots of it. Thanks again to everyone.

http://www.pcgamer.com/amds-ryzen-9-...ffer_pcgamerfb 16 cores 32 threads

http://www.pcgamer.com/intel-core-i9...line-in-years/ Chip Wars 2017! Damn it I might have waited 6 months.

Still what I got it still running great...