[SyncGuy]

Hey guys,

I believe this would be the best place to ask for some advice on rigging up my own desktop specifically for photography!

Well, i'm kinda anal in making it as compact as possible. Mucked around in Google and most recommended build revolves around gaming rigs. I'm looking at something even smaller than the standard ATX or micro-ATX setup; namely, the mini-ITX in my case.

Say, I sort of shortlisted some of the hardware components that i believe would be good enough for my needs; post-processing in LR only... Perhaps i might touch a little bit in DXO Optics later on. (i believe both programs more or less will work relatively similar? )

Being a computer noob, these are the exact components that i'm needing help in, as it's really confusing to research on them in the vast sea of Google. Pardon me if i do trip on your toes for being a noob in this(help would very much be appreciated to zoom in on the recommended model/part name):

Processor: Intel i5 quad core (which one?)
RAM: 16gb 1600mhz (err....? Are there really any major difference between brands here?)
HDD/SSD : 120gb & 500gb+500gb HDD (RAID 1)
Motherboard: Looking at a mini-ITX board.

Budget-wise, let's just say i'm a little flexible here, as i don't know what are my choices for consideration yet. Therefore, perhaps a little help in telling what works for you in terms of running LR/PS/DxO smoothly is good enough. Don't think i would wanna pay for something that i believe would serve no purpose to my needs; e.g. graphic card, and such..

Any comments/questions are welcome but please do keep in mind i really am a noob in this. I'm planning to rig it up all on my own.

[thechumpen]

Similar recent thread here with lots of detail:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/digital-processing-software-printing/2220...ld-my-own.html

[SyncGuy]

Similar recent thread here with lots of detail:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/digital-processing-software-printing/2220...ld-my-own.html

Yea... I was reading that thread and was kinda worried that I might be OT-ing on the TS thread. Besides, he/she entitled the thread as "don't want to build my own".

I'm specifically looking for help in choices as I do plan on building my own, hence this thread.
I'm looking for help especially for those that actually owns a rig specifically for PP-ing.

But if that really is the only option that I have, I'll have to make do then. Thanks!

[thechumpen]

Yeah that's fair enough. I posted it as quite a few (myself included) went off on the tangent of build your own in that thread.

The only thing I would add to what I mentioned in the above thread is - Is there a specific reason you want mini-ITX? I ask as if you go with something larger you will generally get better spec for lower cost. Also, a larger board and case means you can have things like larger cooling fans and CPU cooler towers which will make them more quiet. Also larger board will give you the option of adding more storage later (for additional speed using RAID or for additional storage).

Personally if I was building something I would go with the spec I mentioned in my post in above thread. For storage I would concentrate on fast and total space rather than worry about redundancy and then use something like Crashplan for offsite backup (which is what I use now). Of course you need to be happy with cloud storage for that. Could use external USB instead.

If you want mini-ITX and small case then you will probably be limited to small number of drives so point above is especially valid.

[pxpaulx]

Could use external USB instead.

As long as it is a usb 3.0 drive and your case or board as a usb 3.0 port this is the way to go. I bought a USB 3.0 1tb drive and a 3.0 card reader and things transfer 2-3x or even faster than my older PCs. I would get a 120gb (or maybe 240 if you watch for a deal) as the only internal drive and then use an external drive (or 2 for backup).

No question on getting the i5 processor either. I built my own but did a standard mid tower so can't really help in the mini itx respect (this was also my first build). I use it for gaming primarily, but a good video card will likely be helpful with processing (someone correct me if I'm wrong!).

[thechumpen]

but a good video card will likely be helpful with processing (someone correct me if I'm wrong!).

Depends on the software (so check) but most photo editing stuff such as Lightroom will be fine with onboard video cards. Most software tends to be disk, CPU or RAM based rather than utilising video card power (unless we're talking gaming or 3D graphics etc). Just make sure it can handle the resolution you want on your monitor, or indeed whether it has dual monitor support if you require it.

[thechumpen]

Here we go:
Optimize performance

[reeftool]

I read a couple of DYI build articles and this board was well spoken of. It even has a PCI Express 16 slot for a video card along with USB 3.0. The tricky part of a small build is proper cooling and air flow.
GIGABYTE GA-H77N-WIFI Mini ITX Intel Motherboard - Newegg.com

[Miguel]

Lifehacker has a nice listing of five excellent small form factor PC cases.

Re: the innards, I think you are on the right track. I like keeping things as quiet as possible, which you are doing by not having a dedicated graphics card. 16GB of RAM is very correct.

It is quite easy to build a computer these days. I built a high-end Hackintosh last summer and it was the only computer I've ever assembled. The hardware was fun; the software a bit challenging but quite do-able.


M

[SyncGuy]

Yeah that's fair enough. I posted it as quite a few (myself included) went off on the tangent of build your own in that thread.

The only thing I would add to what I mentioned in the above thread is - Is there a specific reason you want mini-ITX? I ask as if you go with something larger you will generally get better spec for lower cost. Also, a larger board and case means you can have things like larger cooling fans and CPU cooler towers which will make them more quiet. Also larger board will give you the option of adding more storage later (for additional speed using RAID or for additional storage).

Personally if I was building something I would go with the spec I mentioned in my post in above thread. For storage I would concentrate on fast and total space rather than worry about redundancy and then use something like Crashplan for offsite backup (which is what I use now). Of course you need to be happy with cloud storage for that. Could use external USB instead.

If you want mini-ITX and small case then you will probably be limited to small number of drives so point above is especially valid.

Hmm.... Well, i do understand the trade-off. As all things in life especially so in this current era, there has to be a premium somewhere for going compact. I'm looking to make it as small and yet as practical as possible in terms of financial and space constraint. I'm a pretty anal guy in keeping my room neat and tidy, and so is my current laptop. Haha! (in fact, my policy for keeping my room neat is: if it's taking space and NOT being used for 3 months at least, out to the garbage it goes! And this applies to everything in the house that belongs to me, no matter the cost.. Haha! ;P)

Gave it some thought and concluded that a mini-ITX casing which houses 2-3 drive bays would suffice; 1 SSD(OS) and 1 or 2 HDD(data and everthing else). I've an external NAS with 4TB but it's pretty slow if i were to make LR "pull" my photos from it as WiFi is still very slow for such task. Hence, the need for an internal HDD in the rig.

Hmm... I took a look at CrashPlan but i figure transfer speed would be just as slow since it'll still be via WiFi. Maybe just like my NAS, using it as a backup for my photos is ok but using it as the source of photo data reference for LR would be pretty slow too..

As long as it is a usb 3.0 drive and your case or board as a usb 3.0 port this is the way to go. I bought a USB 3.0 1tb drive and a 3.0 card reader and things transfer 2-3x or even faster than my older PCs. I would get a 120gb (or maybe 240 if you watch for a deal) as the only internal drive and then use an external drive (or 2 for backup).

No question on getting the i5 processor either. I built my own but did a standard mid tower so can't really help in the mini itx respect (this was also my first build). I use it for gaming primarily, but a good video card will likely be helpful with processing (someone correct me if I'm wrong!).

Yep, seems that most mobo nowadays come with USB 3.0 ports, not much of a choice eh? It's a good "forced" choice though.. Haha!
Say, i've zoomed in an i5 processor, question is, which one? There seems to be various model numbers listed on the Intel website that i'm not sure which is better for me. Quad core with no need of overclocking, which one should i take?

SSD for sure at least 120Gb, but which brand and model? Understand that it's best to look up at individual's specs but there are so many brands out there, any help in shortlisting at 2-3 brands in particular for comparison?

Depends on the software (so check) but most photo editing stuff such as Lightroom will be fine with onboard video cards. Most software tends to be disk, CPU or RAM based rather than utilising video card power (unless we're talking gaming or 3D graphics etc). Just make sure it can handle the resolution you want on your monitor, or indeed whether it has dual monitor support if you require it.

I believe this is so true! Coz my current laptop running on an i7 with onboard graphic HD4000(or is it HD3000?) seems to move along fine with no lag at all. Back to space constraint, i don't think i'll be running dual monitor and will instead stick to single monitor. Zoomed down to Dell Ultrasharp series, either 24" or 27", not the 30" due to budget and performance gain ratio.

Would this then require me to have a video card?

Here we go:
Optimize performance

Nice! Never knew there's such a link!

I read a couple of DYI build articles and this board was well spoken of. It even has a PCI Express 16 slot for a video card along with USB 3.0. The tricky part of a small build is proper cooling and air flow.
GIGABYTE GA-H77N-WIFI Mini ITX Intel Motherboard - Newegg.com

Thanks for this! One of those that i kinda shortlisted... Will have to review and consider further. Airflow and proper cooling? This i'll ask my game nerd of a friend for help.. ;P

Lifehacker has a nice listing of five excellent small form factor PC cases.

Re: the innards, I think you are on the right track. I like keeping things as quiet as possible, which you are doing by not having a dedicated graphics card. 16GB of RAM is very correct.

It is quite easy to build a computer these days. I built a high-end Hackintosh last summer and it was the only computer I've ever assembled. The hardware was fun; the software a bit challenging but quite do-able.


M

Thank you for the tip regarding Lifehacker! Never came across that.. Google surely is getting bigger and bigger by the nanoseconds.. Such a headache! Haha!

So yea, all in all, thanks for the help so far guys! Hope more can be chimed in to making of my "perfect" small and cost-effective mini-ITX photo editing mean machine!