Moderator: E.J. Peiker

All times are UTC-05:00

  
« Previous topic | Next topic »  
Reply to topic  
 First unread post  | 7 posts | 
by Scott Fairbairn on Fri Jul 24, 2020 8:27 am
User avatar
Scott Fairbairn
Forum Contributor
Posts: 5131
Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Member #:00437
Hi,

I am looking for a bit of help with a new computer. I love Macs, but I'm a bit frustrated with that company at present so I'm considering a Windows machine to use strictly for image editing and processing. I sent specs for a new iMac to a local computer store and asked for a windows build that would be superior. 
What do you people here that know this stuff think of these specs? I have zero knowledge of these components. They said they can upgrade components if I like, recommendations?? I have a 4K monitor so I'm ok with that device for now.

[font=Calibri, sans-serif]Processor: New 10[sup]th[/sup]-generation Intel i7-10700[/font]
[font=Calibri, sans-serif]Mainboard: Asus Z490M-Plus[/font]
[font=Calibri, sans-serif]Memory: 32GB DDR4[/font]
[font=Calibri, sans-serif]Drive: Intel 2TB NVMe Solid State Drive (more drives can be added)[/font]
[font=Calibri, sans-serif]Optical Drive: Standard DVDRW Drive[/font]
[font=Calibri, sans-serif]Video Card: Nvidia GTX1660 Super 6GB Video Card[/font]
[font=Calibri, sans-serif]Power Supply: 700W 80+ Bronze[/font]
[font=Calibri, sans-serif]Chassis: Corsair 88R[/font]
[font=Calibri, sans-serif]Software: Windows 10 Pro[/font]
[font=Calibri, sans-serif]Warranty: Three Years Hardware[/font]
[font=Calibri, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Calibri, sans-serif]Price: $1999.99[/font]

[font=Calibri, sans-serif]Here's the link to the Mac machine I was originally considering upgrading to from my present iMac for reference.[/font]
[font=Calibri, sans-serif]https://www.apple.com/ca/shop/buy-mac/imac/27-inch-3.7ghz-6-core-processor-with-turbo-boost-up-to-4.6ghz-2tb#[/font]

[font=Calibri, sans-serif]Cheers and thanks for any input![/font]
Scott
 

by E.J. Peiker on Fri Jul 24, 2020 10:10 am
User avatar
E.J. Peiker
Senior Technical Editor
Posts: 86761
Joined: 16 Aug 2003
Location: Arizona
Member #:00002
Hi Scott, you can not cut and paste HTML formatted text and have it look right.  You need to remove the formatting to make the post not have a bunch of HTML code displayed.  An easy way to do this is to hit the little piece of paper icon right above the text entry box before writing your post (on the right side of the tiny icon strop). That will automatically remove the HTML formatting.

To your question,
I don't think 32GB of RAM is worthy of this system.  I'd opt for 64 at minimum.
On the NVME, I haven't checked prices recently but a Samsung one might be ore economical.
I no longer put DVD drives in my systems.  A USB one is like $30 or so for the very rare occasion that one is needed.
I would probably opt for a more current graphics card like a 2060 or 2080 if budget allows which are 2019 models rather than the 2018 model you chose.

One other thing to consider is CPU cooling.  These processors run very hot.  An aftermarket active cooler rather than the Intel standard will reduce the chance of thermal throttling in the system.
 

by Scott B on Fri Jul 24, 2020 2:44 pm
Scott B
Forum Contributor
Posts: 64
Joined: 30 Mar 2016
Scott, I have been tempted to replace my system for a year now so i will be watching this thread. My current system is 10 years old, the RAM is probably the only significant bottle neck I have and I can not add more. My current computer is a Puget Systems and my next one likely will be. I think their current suggested system is a good benchmark to compare against other systems (see link). I agree with everything EJ said above. Another way to spec your system is take the last one EJ recently configured and divide by 4 to get it down to the level for mortals and demigods. https://www.pugetsystems.com/recommende ... 39/Buy_150
 

by photoman4343 on Sat Jul 25, 2020 10:31 am
photoman4343
Forum Contributor
Posts: 1952
Joined: 1 Feb 2004
Location: Houston, TX
This may be a little off topic, but as you think about your new computer, also think carefully about how you will store backup copies of your images on external hard drives or use external hard drives as part of your processing workflow.

I needed to buy additional hard drive storage for my images. Instead of a traditional external hard drive, I bought two metal external hard drive cases with a built in fan and two large 3.5 inch NAS drives. I installed each drive in a separate enclosure (very easy to do) and formatted them using windows 10 Pro. I  will copy all of my image files to both drives this weekend. For just image storage, this may be overkill as heat build up should be minimal and a traditional external drive might work just fine.

If you are going to be using an external drive  as part of your normal image processing, the external case with its fan will get rid of the heat so much better than a traditional external drive. Some are using laptops as their main processor and in this case having an external drive properly cooled is a real need.

The external hard drive cases I got are made by Rosewill, model RX-358 U3C, 3.5 inch SATA to USB 3.0 & eSATA. You can fit any 3.5 inch drive into it. The 8 TB limitation sometimes found in documentation is somewhat misleading. I installed a 14 TB and a 12 TB.  

If I can do this, anybody can as I am not very techy.
Joe Smith
 

by Scott Fairbairn on Sat Jul 25, 2020 12:16 pm
User avatar
Scott Fairbairn
Forum Contributor
Posts: 5131
Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Member #:00437
photoman4343 wrote:This may be a little off topic, but as you think about your new computer, also think carefully about how you will store backup copies of your images on external hard drives or use external hard drives as part of your processing workflow.

I needed to buy additional hard drive storage for my images. Instead of a traditional external hard drive, I bought two metal external hard drive cases with a built in fan and two large 3.5 inch NAS drives. I installed each drive in a separate enclosure (very easy to do) and formatted them using windows 10 Pro. I  will copy all of my image files to both drives this weekend. For just image storage, this may be overkill as heat build up should be minimal and a traditional external drive might work just fine.

If you are going to be using an external drive  as part of your normal image processing, the external case with its fan will get rid of the heat so much better than a traditional external drive. Some are using laptops as their main processor and in this case having an external drive properly cooled is a real need.

The external hard drive cases I got are made by Rosewill, model RX-358 U3C, 3.5 inch SATA to USB 3.0 & eSATA. You can fit any 3.5 inch drive into it. The 8 TB limitation sometimes found in documentation is somewhat misleading. I installed a 14 TB and a 12 TB.  

If I can do this, anybody can as I am not very techy.
Hi, that’s pretty much what I do now. I have two external drive enclosures with two drives each, plus a 4 drive Raid enclosure. I also have a few external drives, both the small usb driven and standard style for backups. I don’t know what advantage to Raid setups there is when you can buy large drives and enclosures for not much money and have multiple backups.
I have so many old hard drives hanging around it’s ridiculous. I used multiple 1 TB drives,  then out grew them and did the same with 2TB, repeat a few more iterations and now I’m buying 6 or 8 TB drives. My regular library isn’t that big yet, and I could certainly trim my files down if I had a computer that could process things fast enough so editing wasn’t a miserable chore( I have around a 130,000 images in my “to edit” folder). Waiting 10 seconds for a file to render at 100% has deterred me from culling and it’s rapidly gotten out of control.
 

by photoman4343 on Sat Jul 25, 2020 2:34 pm
photoman4343
Forum Contributor
Posts: 1952
Joined: 1 Feb 2004
Location: Houston, TX
Scott, I am in the same shape as you. I have lots of ex hard drives filled with images and they all are of different capacities. Once I get my two new drives filled I can figure out what to do with the older drives. Hopefully get rid of some.
Joe Smith
 

by mlgray12 on Fri Oct 02, 2020 1:34 pm
User avatar
mlgray12
Lifetime Member
Posts: 1733
Joined: 17 Oct 2007
Location: Fort Davis, Texas
Member #:01023
I am also considering replacing my little over 87 year old Falcon NW Talon system 
It just had a 1 TB SSD failure which Falcon NW techs gave me a work around to save all the un-backed up data off that drive.
It has been really getting slow running LR and PS and I was suspecting a jammed up registry along with possible malware I could not find
But now I suspect the drive had a lot to do with some of it. Tech said the older SSD's have some weird problems that are pretty much eliminated with the newer tech
I am replacing the existing 1TB SSD with new Samsung 1TB SSD - It is on its way
This system has Intel I7 4930K 3.4GHZ 6 core 12MB
4 x 8Gb 1866MHZ DDR3 Ram - 32 total
Getforce GTX760 2GB Video Card
My other option is to let Falcon NW upgrade components 
But if i mess with that lots of shipping costs and still will have dated components plus my son is a computer tech and would love to get his hands on this tower and redo it- doubt his computer is anywhere close to this but who knows
Any suggestions will be appreciated
I have worked up a pretty expensive build on their site - lots of costs is in lots of HD space - still using spinning HD for storage which will be at least 16 to 20 TB - not best at tossing raw files 

Thanks
Mike
Michael L. Gray
Wildlife and Conservation Bum
 

Display posts from previous:  Sort by:  
7 posts | 
  

Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group