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Hey ya'll. I'm thinking about building a Desktop vice buying one. Has anyone built one for our photography needs? if so what do you recommend? Right now im on a Macbook pro works fine but i am looking for a longer run of a desktop. 

Thanks! 

-Nick

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Sorry for the delay. Life has intervened these last few days.

Right now my current build recommendation, as I type this,  that if you are not planning on over-clocking:

  • Intel i7 8700K or i7 8900K - PS is just starting to take advantage of what makes an i7 so fast. So don't stress out on thinking you have to fork out the cash for a i9. Not worth it with Photoshop. The 8700K has hyper-threading, but the 8900K is newer and is faster out of the box. So they are almost a tie when it comes to PS.
  • 1TB SSD or NVME m.2 Drive for your boot drive. I like Samsung Drives and going forward, I'd go with NVME m.2 technology. Since we are trying to keep it under $200, this drive is a good one for the money.
  • A second, larger traditional 7200 RPM HD, I like the Western Digital Caviar BLACK line. At least 4TB.
  • Motherboard: I like Asus Motherboards, Followed by MSI, and Gigabyte. For this, you want to not only match the CPU Chip, but also get the correct board to match the speed of the NVME m.2 Drive. So on Amazon, they will often link a motherboard with the m.2 drive.
  • RAM: Hands down, 16GB at a minimum. 32GB is preferred. Heck, I'm running 64GB in my iMac.
  • Power Supply: Do not cheap out on your power supply. I like EVGA Power Supplies. At least 650W, but you could go smaller, but pay attention to the video card requirements. Personally, I think 750 Watts might be a better fit in the long run. Especially with two displays.
  • Coolng: This is case specific. Don't cheap out on this either.  Also, don't forget about the CPU Thermal Paste and not to put too much on, or too little.
  • Video Card: This is a moving target. Adobe really hasn't update their list but I did see this card which caught my eye: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW. It's a bit expensive for just Photoshop use, and kinda over-kill but it's a "Buy it Right-Buy it Once" thing. Also, make sure you have enough Watts on the PS to support it. (See note above.) Oh, going forward, you want a video card that has multiple DisplayPort Ports, at least two. DisplayPort is the most flexible, gives you lots of choices via an inexpensive adapter to convert to HDMI or whatever and is better suited to 4K video if you ever went that route.
  • Case: Personal thing. I like Lian-Li, but there are plenty of cases out there to choose from at all different price points.
  • Monitors: Believe it or not, you don't have to spend a ton on a good quality IPS-Based Monitor. You could get a pair of nice 24" Dell Displays or a large 27" one. I usually recommend people getting a Dell IPS monitor. They average around $300 or less. Sometimes more for the 27" model...like around $500-ish.
  • Operating System: Since you are building your computer, I highly recommend spending the little extra and getting Windows 10 Pro. For me as a computer technician for the past 26 years, I find that the "Pro" versions are just easier to work with; the controls and setup screens just make more sense, and there is less "Layers" of Microsoft getting in the way for you to do things. The "Windows Pro" version just seems to run better overall. With the Home edition, I tend to stumble over the stupid Microsoft setup screens trying to "help" you. I'm like, just get out of my way...
     

Your thoughts?

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Brian,

 its been a while but been busy as can be. finally pieced something together. not sure if you can get to the link but any help would be great. 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/86ntK4

 

-Nick

Component   Selection Base Promo Shipping Tax   Price Where    
CPU   23cd3adfd50037c1b44d6d53edb15248.256p.jpg AMD Ryzen 7 3800X 3.9 GHz 8-Core Processor $339.99   amazon-prime.png     $339.99 logo2_merchant_amazon.png Buy  
CPU Cooler   ca16d42d3e187f96c728c09183df14a7.med.256p.jpg Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler $89.95   amazon-prime.png     $89.95 logo2_merchant_amazon.png Buy  
Motherboard   52fcf89a31a9e8e111ad2c41bbefef3c.256p.jpg MSI MEG X570 UNIFY ATX AM4 Motherboard $299.99   $3.99     $303.98 logo2_merchant_newegg.png Buy  
Memory   20348ef9eb7ca86600eefb50c6a56597.256p.jpg G.Skill Trident Z Neo 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory $179.99   FREE     $179.99 logo2_merchant_newegg.png Buy  
Memory   20348ef9eb7ca86600eefb50c6a56597.256p.jpg G.Skill Trident Z Neo 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory $179.99   FREE     $179.99 logo2_merchant_newegg.png Buy  
    Add Additional Memory
Storage   51U1fru0LzL.jpg Seagate IronWolf NAS 8 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $219.99   FREE     $219.99 logo2_merchant_newegg.png Buy  
Storage   51U1fru0LzL.jpg Seagate IronWolf NAS 8 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $219.99   FREE     $219.99 logo2_merchant_newegg.png Buy  
Storage   41qR7C253KL.jpg Samsung 860 Evo 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive $249.99   amazon-prime.png     $249.99 logo2_merchant_amazon.png Buy  
    Add Additional Storage
Video Card   1f14312711fd98528c52385a0d9a7d5a.256p.jpg MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Super 6 GB GAMING X Video Card $259.99   amazon-prime.png     $259.99 logo2_merchant_amazon.png Buy  
Case   3803ebb09f64ddc954a86cb7b45a8ebd.256p.jpg Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case $129.99   amazon-prime.png     $129.99 logo2_merchant_amazon.png Buy  
Power Supply   d70059fb4d0f5ba97dcd4d08728ea133.256p.jpg EVGA SuperNOVA P2 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply $179.99 -$30.00 1 $5.99     $155.98 logo2_merchant_newegg.png Buy  
Optical Drive   Choose An Optical Drive
Operating System   e2020af0d40a275d81e0eec3386efa7e.256p.jpg Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit $139.99   FREE     $139.99 logo2_merchant_otherworldcomputing.png Buy  
Software   Choose Software
Monitor   51Im7Pboh4L.jpg BenQ SW271 27.0" 3840x2160 60 Hz Monitor $1099.00   FREE     $1099.00 logo2_merchant_adorama2.png Buy  
    Add Another Monitor
Speakers   51DuZyY84aL.jpg Creative Labs Inspire T10 10 W 2.0 Channel Speakers $39.79   amazon-prime.png     $39.79 logo2_merchant_amazon.png Buy  
    Add Computer Speakers
     

 

   
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Not a fan of Seagate Hard Drives. To each their own. I'd also replace the Samsung 860 SSD Drive with a m.2 version. For your boot drive, you really don't need more than 1TB. Since that motherboard has m.2 slots, you should take advantage of them.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-970-EVO-1TB-MZ-V7E1T0BW/dp/B07BN217QG/ref=sr_1_1?crid=59W15QT0ZOMR&keywords=samsung+evo+970&qid=1580137804&sprefix=samsung+e%2Caps%2C160&sr=8-1

 

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