High End Build For Wife

[Rebel78]

First off, thanks for all the great info on the site!! I've found, at least for high end builds, it seems to be much cheaper to build yourself than Dell, HP, etc. Any opinions on that welcome.

So the computer is for heavy duty photo editing, large baches at a time. My wife has started doing a photography business part-time, and it's going very well, to say the Latitude is overloaded would be an understatement. We have stacks of DVDs of pics, USB sticks, and it takes forever for her to edit pics (typical shoot is around 500 shots). She's doing very well and gets a couple hundred dollars a session, so it will be a worthy investment.

So here's my thinking:

- I want a solid state drive for the OS, programs, etc., and a huge HD for file storage, with ability to expand HD storage if needed. I've heard solid state has come a long way with TRIM technology

- I think having lots of RAM will go a long way towards helping the editing go much faster

- I have no idea what to do with video card. We won't game at all on this thing, but there will be heavy photo and possibly some video editing.

- Audio card doesn't need to be anything special. We use ITunes, and might hook up something with a sub, certainly no 7.1 surround or anything like that.

- I'm still confused with the case, I understand how this stuff fits together, but getting a case that it all works with confuses the hell out of me.

=======================================

Here's what's in my newegg cart so far:

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

CORSAIR XMS3 12GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model HX3X12G1600C9 G - Retail

GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD5 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Intel Core i7-930 2.8GHz LGA 1366 Quad-Core Desktop Processor Model BX80601930 - Retail

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM

Pioneer Black Blu-ray Disc/DVD/CD Writer SATA Model BDR-205BKS - OEM

Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2M160G2R5 2.5" 160GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - Retail

Obviously, I'm running into some major $$$ and I'm still missing some things. The above is almost 1900, and I want to keep it under 3K (but could go more if needed), and I need EVERYTHING because all we have are laptops right now. So monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc.

I'm still missing audio and vid cards, case, power supply, keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, and I'm sure something(s) else.

BTW, this is my first build Kinda makes me nervous that I'm being too ambitious, this stuff is expensive.

Is the motherboard overkill (I want to be able to run 12GB RAM)? All the systems I price out on Dell, HP, and certainly Apple that even come close are well over 3K and none have the solid state drive.

Oh yea, for audio, the motherboard has on board:

Onboard Audio
Audio Chipset Realtek ALC889A
Audio Channels 8 Channels

Is that sufficient for just listening to itunes with a couple component speakers with a sub?

I also need wireless networking for this, how should I handle that?

Any and all help is appreciated!!!

[glc]

If you must go X58, use an Asus P6T Deluxe V2 or P6TD Deluxe.

Use Western Digital drives instead of Seagates. The Black series is the fastest, followed by the Green series. If she uses Photoshop, get a 3rd drive for a scratch drive, a WD Blue is good enough for that.

Onboard audio is plenty good enough.

I'd recommend the Antec Sonata 3 500 case, it comes with a high quality 500 watt power supply.

You don't need a powerful video card, you just need a video card. To keep up with the times, I'd suggest a Radeon 5670. Best brands are Asus, Diamond, and HIS.

What is the brand and model of your wireless router?

[Rebel78]

Originally Posted by glc If you must go X58, use an Asus P6T Deluxe V2 or P6TD Deluxe. Use Western Digital drives instead of Seagates. The Black series is the fastest, followed by the Green series. If she uses Photoshop, get a 3rd drive for a scratch drive, a WD Blue is good enough for that. Onboard audio is plenty good enough. I'd recommend the Antec Sonata 3 500 case, it comes with a high quality 500 watt power supply. You don't need a powerful video card, you just need a video card. To keep up with the times, I'd suggest a Radeon 5670. Best brands are Asus, Diamond, and HIS. What is the brand and model of your wireless router?

My router is a Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router.

I was thinking of changing the motherboard, seems the ASUS are much more popular than the gigabyte, I want it to be solid, and I've read of gigabyte failures (course any of them can fail really).

Is 500W enough? I'm going with at least a HDD and the SSD (probably gonna go with the 80GB instead of the 160), along with everything else.

The video card is a great choice I think, I'll be going with that.

I really appreciate your help!

[Khalil]

Hi,
For what your wife will be working on you are better off going with a more stable platform, the X58 is not that, it is an enthusiast tweaker type of chipset for those advanced gamers who build machines on regular basis and don't mind dealing with bugs.

I recommend you go with the P55 platform and sticking to 32 bit for a photography session.

I built a system recently for a professional Photographer who works with 21MP Camera and deals with massive sizes, he does his editing on a 30" monitor 2560x1600 and this is what I put into it:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131620
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115215
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820233087
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820211364
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136513 x 2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106289 x 2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151088
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814195061
Windows 7 Professional 32 bit

Good luck!

[glc]

The only thing that's overkill on Khalil's build is the PSU. It's great, but you don't really need 650 watts and you can save some money there. I *DO* agree with him on dropping down to the P55 platform. You COULD put an i7 into it if you can take advantage of the hyperthreading - look at the i7-860.

500 quality watts is plenty for either the 5670 or the Fire workstation card.

The best wireless card match for your router is a Linksys WMP54G.

[Khalil]

I agree glc, it was the Client's request that power supply be gold certified.

here is a great value with the mail-in rebate http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371007

[glc]

Yep, that's the PSU that comes in the Sonata 3 500 case.

[XenaWP]

Most pro photographers don't want or need a 30" monitor ... the more time you spend in front of a large monitor, the worse it's going to be on your neck.

A decent NEC or Eizo 24" monitor will do much better, as well as a calibration system. You can find better recommendations at photo.net for these items ... that site is by and for pro and serious amateur photographers. The monitor without calibration is useless for photography. Many NEC and Eizo monitors come with a calibration system.

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by XenaWP Most pro photographers don't want or need a 30" monitor ... the more time you spend in front of a large monitor, the worse it's going to be on your neck. A decent NEC or Eizo 24" monitor will do much better, as well as a calibration system. You can find better recommendations at photo.net for these items ... that site is by and for pro and serious amateur photographers. The monitor without calibration is useless for photography. Many NEC and Eizo monitors come with a calibration system.

I agree with you on the monitor size in relation to neck strain but most people will not go out and buy a high end chair, or set up there monitor at the correct height, angle, and distance. When you sit in front of a workstation for long periods of time, you must be setup ergonomically and visually correct. I learned the hard way years ago. I have an older NEC CRT 22" and it serves the purpose but it is a boat anchor. I think I payed around 400.00 back in the day .

That was a great spec by Khalil, should serve them well for a long time. I wonder how that build would compare performance wise to a xeon build?

[Khalil]

I agree totally, I think 30" is total over kill for a monitor regardless what you do with it, I use a 24" Asus and that is way plenty enough for me.
A Xeon would not give any advantage in this application.

[XenaWP]

Dell has their 22" IPS panel (UltraSharp 2209WA) for a great price, $249. Now, a pair of those on the desktop would make for some nice workflow.

[David M]

I would consider a 24 inch for the photo editing itself and perhaps a second 24 inch or 22 inch for other software that you want open and viewable at the same time. Excellent quality 24 inch monitors are not all that expensive anymore.

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&key...l_4636rgqpo9_b (not all here are excellent quality)