Bloomfield/Triple Channel versus Sandy Bridge/Dual Channel

[Sound Mind]

So, I'm planning out a new system to build over the holidays. And firstly, the important thing to know is that I'm a photographer that will be frequently using Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop, working with TIF files and PSDs that will be around 60mb-200mb at a time. Editing somewhat large, lossless images will be the heaviest load I ever put the machine under.

Now, the hardware. I'm debating between two combinations of CPU and memory (and obviously the motherboard that'll accommodate either). In either event, I'd be running Windows 7 Pro.

Option 1:
Intel Bloomfield i7 960 (1366), 3.2gHz quad-core
12GB (6x 2GB) Corsair 1600 DDR3
ASUS P6X58-E LGA1366 motherboard (triple-channel)

Option 2:
Intel Sandy Bridge i7 2600k (1155), 3.4gHz quad-core
16GB (4x 4GB) Corsair 1600 DDR3
ASUS P8Z68-V LGA1155 motherboard (dual-channel)


My main question is about the impact of triple-channel memory versus dual-channel memory. Photoshop is a very RAM-heavy program, and it'll be housing very large files on the RAM when open. So, instinctively, I want to say the increased bandwidth from triple-channel would come in handy. But, is what I'd be doing really even approaching the bottleneck of bandwidth on dual-channel of that speed?

And secondly, I'm all about building a system that will be upgradable for many, many years to come. I've been using this current system (Intel 478 P4 @ 3.0gHz, 1.5GB DDR400 RAM, AGP nVidia 6600LE) for seven years now or so until now when it's finally gotten to the point where it's maxed out and becoming more and more unusable (I can't even watch YouTube on full-screen anymore). So, I want to be able to get a good 5-7 years out of this next build, as well. The motherboard will have SATA 6GB/s, USB 3.0, and PCI-Express 2.0 isn't going anywhere for a long, long time. But (and I know this is a highly speculative question), which CPU platform is likely to be the most versatile and long-standing?



Thank you much.

[glc]

You will hardly notice the difference between dual channel and triple channel ram - so if you are building NOW, option 2 will perform better because of the amount of ram and the Sandy Bridge efficiency.

If you can wait, Sandy Bridge-E is starting to show up with quad channel ram. This is making Bloomfield obsolete. X58 never was a very stable chipset.

[Sound Mind]

Yeah, I figured the slight increase in RAM and processor power (for less money, even) would make up for whatever difference I might encounter from the differing bandwidths. And there's also the idea that going from this ancient build to a fully updated, high-power machine would be stunning in and of itself. But, y'know, why not do it right. I've got a single core with hyper-threading now. The change to four cores, each with hyper-threading, is going to blind me with excitement. haha


I was hoping to build this before the end of the year (to write it off the next tax season as an educational expense, get money back for it very soon). How long a wait are we talking for quad-channel memory?

[glc]

Let the dust clear for a bit - right now the X79 chipset for the -E isn't very impressive.

[Sound Mind]

Sounds good. We'll see how antsy I get. If I barely need triple-channel, I can't imagine how badly I'd need quad-channel. It'd be nice to have, but not if the wait costs me too much. Besides, it's that thing about waiting until the next latest, greatest technology comes out. Everything's always changing, you'd be waiting for an eternity. May as well just take the plunge and be happy rather than fret the 2% performance sacrifice and wait forever.


Anyway, while we're talking about my next build, a quick power question:
I'm going to go the Sandy Bridge route, so that combined with 3 hard drives (no SSD yet), a superclocked GTX560 (non-Ti), and two optical drives: A 650W PSU should be plenty, yeah? Single 54A +12 rail. SeaSonic X650.

[David M]

Agreed, it is almost never worth waiting for the next best thing. It is usually late, has bugs and underperforms.

[glc]

Excellent power supply.

[Sound Mind]

Excellent. Thanks much for all the helpful input!

I decided to eventually invest the extra hundred dollars over a hard disk for a 120GB SSD. The speed that'll offer as well, I just can't help but think that I'll thank myself for the extra money spent.

This is going to be a good build that should be very, very fast for a good few years. Can't wait. Thanks again!