PC Power & P.S./Lightroom.

tabl10s · 07-09-2013, 12:00 PM

A friend has spec'd out a PC he'll assemble for me with an Intel i5 processor. Will this be more than enough to work with both programs?

GibbyTheMole · 07-09-2013, 12:02 PM

Should be. I'm using an Intel i3 PC & mine flies with both of those.

**TER-OR** · 07-09-2013, 12:47 PM

Yeah, the i5s are plenty beefy. You'll want to build this with a 64bit version of Windows, though. That will let you employ more than 3GB of RAM. At least with Win7 - I presume the limitations are also in Win8, though I have not actually investigated this.

I built a new game rig earlier this year with an i5 3750, and am using the old game rig for my general purpose rig which does my photo editing. This has an older AMD 435, nowhere near as powerful as the i5 and it processes quickly.

Docrwm · 07-09-2013, 12:48 PM

RAM and its speed are significant factors too. PS is a memory hog (sorry but it is) and a fast hard drive will also make your life easier. Even better is a solid state drive for startup and main storage (but they cost more).

yygomez · 07-09-2013, 01:09 PM

Use as much processing power as you can afford, LR and PS do almost all the 2D work with the CPU, so faster processor = Faster PS and LR, If You can Afford an I7 go for it. Same goes for memory and HD speed as others pointed out.

**TER-OR** · 07-09-2013, 01:09 PM

SSDs are coming down in price - even 120GB Samsung 840series are relatively inexpensive now.

Another option is the Seagate Momentus hybrid - I have that in the new office rig and one of the Samsung Pros in the game rig. The new office box boots up pretty quickly and launches LR4 super-fast. I'm sure the Momentus has optimized that.

And yeah, buy the quickest RAM you can afford without going boutique.

Tom's Hardware is the builder's best friend!

tabl10s · 07-09-2013, 01:10 PM

It'll have a 256k SSD for the OS only(I think)and the GPU will be the "Ivy Bridge" version. I'm going to start gaming(not with the mouse/keyboard...hate that)and I'll have a nice video card to watch all the photography courses on YouTube.

I'm going to dedicate an 80g HD for pics. Enough?

tabl10s · 07-09-2013, 01:12 PM

Originally posted by TER-OR

SSDs are coming down in price - even 120GB Samsung 840series are relatively inexpensive now.

Another option is the Seagate Momentus hybrid - I have that in the new office rig and one of the Samsung Pros in the game rig. The new office box boots up pretty quickly and launches LR4 super-fast. I'm sure the Momentus has optimized that.

And yeah, buy the quickest RAM you can afford without going boutique.

Tom's Hardware is the builder's best friend!

How good are hybrids compared to full SS?

**TER-OR** · 07-09-2013, 01:49 PM

Use a nice standard HDD for your image storage, they're far less expensive and SSDs are a bit odd for storage. 80GB won't be enough for long... Set up a pair of cloned standard HDDs for storage, you'll be happy with that.

The Momentus seems to be doing very well in this build - bootup is very quick and the access is good. It's something of a hodgepodge, but the bulk of it was a mid-tier game rig about 3 years ago. I'm thinking of rebuilding an older 17" laptop with a momentus and perhaps upgrade some of its guts too...

Of course the game rig is much faster, and I'm almost shocked how cool it runs. The AMD PhenomII 435 ran nearly full-tilt with newer games and must have pumped an outrageous amount of heat. The system disk is the Samsung, so it's cooler too. Both rigs have Gigabyte UD series boards, the new one is an UD5. The i5 3750 is still the go-to games processor unless you really want to spend money. The extra threading on the i7s might be better for the editing work, though I have no issues with photo editing and don't do enough video to judge anything.

I thinkt verdict is still out on the hybrid drives, but the Momentus was the first with good enough reviews and opinions for me to try in a rig.

Docrwm · 07-09-2013, 02:07 PM

Originally posted by TER-OR

SSDs are coming down in price - even 120GB Samsung 840series are relatively inexpensive now.

Another option is the Seagate Momentus hybrid - I have that in the new office rig and one of the Samsung Pros in the game rig. The new office box boots up pretty quickly and launches LR4 super-fast. I'm sure the Momentus has optimized that.

And yeah, buy the quickest RAM you can afford without going boutique.

Tom's Hardware is the builder's best friend!

Good to hear from an end-user on the Momentus. I had seen them and looked into them but really hadn't seen any reputable end-user endorsements. Another plus for Tom's Hardware, excellent and objective in my experience.

07-09-2013, 12:00 PM	#1
tabl10s Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Sacramento(formerly from B'Ham, England). Posts: 1,424	PC Power & P.S./Lightroom. A friend has spec'd out a PC he'll assemble for me with an Intel i5 processor. Will this be more than enough to work with both programs?

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07-09-2013, 12:02 PM	#2
GibbyTheMole Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Iowa Photos: Albums Posts: 2,275	Should be. I'm using an Intel i3 PC & mine flies with both of those.

07-09-2013, 12:47 PM	#3
TER-OR Site Supporter Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Dundee, IL Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 6,699	Yeah, the i5s are plenty beefy. You'll want to build this with a 64bit version of Windows, though. That will let you employ more than 3GB of RAM. At least with Win7 - I presume the limitations are also in Win8, though I have not actually investigated this. I built a new game rig earlier this year with an i5 3750, and am using the old game rig for my general purpose rig which does my photo editing. This has an older AMD 435, nowhere near as powerful as the i5 and it processes quickly.

07-09-2013, 12:48 PM	#4
Docrwm Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Somewhere in the Southern US Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 12,285	RAM and its speed are significant factors too. PS is a memory hog (sorry but it is) and a fast hard drive will also make your life easier. Even better is a solid state drive for startup and main storage (but they cost more).

07-09-2013, 01:09 PM	#5
yygomez Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Surfside,FL Photos: Gallery Posts: 155	Use as much processing power as you can afford, LR and PS do almost all the 2D work with the CPU, so faster processor = Faster PS and LR, If You can Afford an I7 go for it. Same goes for memory and HD speed as others pointed out.

07-09-2013, 01:10 PM	#7
tabl10s Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Sacramento(formerly from B'Ham, England). Posts: 1,424 Original Poster	It'll have a 256k SSD for the OS only(I think)and the GPU will be the "Ivy Bridge" version. I'm going to start gaming(not with the mouse/keyboard...hate that)and I'll have a nice video card to watch all the photography courses on YouTube. I'm going to dedicate an 80g HD for pics. Enough?

07-09-2013, 01:12 PM	#8
tabl10s Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Sacramento(formerly from B'Ham, England). Posts: 1,424 Original Poster	Originally posted by TER-OR SSDs are coming down in price - even 120GB Samsung 840series are relatively inexpensive now. Another option is the Seagate Momentus hybrid - I have that in the new office rig and one of the Samsung Pros in the game rig. The new office box boots up pretty quickly and launches LR4 super-fast. I'm sure the Momentus has optimized that. And yeah, buy the quickest RAM you can afford without going boutique. Tom's Hardware is the builder's best friend! How good are hybrids compared to full SS?

07-09-2013, 01:49 PM	#9
TER-OR Site Supporter Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Dundee, IL Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 6,699	Use a nice standard HDD for your image storage, they're far less expensive and SSDs are a bit odd for storage. 80GB won't be enough for long... Set up a pair of cloned standard HDDs for storage, you'll be happy with that. The Momentus seems to be doing very well in this build - bootup is very quick and the access is good. It's something of a hodgepodge, but the bulk of it was a mid-tier game rig about 3 years ago. I'm thinking of rebuilding an older 17" laptop with a momentus and perhaps upgrade some of its guts too... Of course the game rig is much faster, and I'm almost shocked how cool it runs. The AMD PhenomII 435 ran nearly full-tilt with newer games and must have pumped an outrageous amount of heat. The system disk is the Samsung, so it's cooler too. Both rigs have Gigabyte UD series boards, the new one is an UD5. The i5 3750 is still the go-to games processor unless you really want to spend money. The extra threading on the i7s might be better for the editing work, though I have no issues with photo editing and don't do enough video to judge anything. I thinkt verdict is still out on the hybrid drives, but the Momentus was the first with good enough reviews and opinions for me to try in a rig.

07-09-2013, 02:07 PM	#10
Docrwm Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Somewhere in the Southern US Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 12,285	Originally posted by TER-OR SSDs are coming down in price - even 120GB Samsung 840series are relatively inexpensive now. Another option is the Seagate Momentus hybrid - I have that in the new office rig and one of the Samsung Pros in the game rig. The new office box boots up pretty quickly and launches LR4 super-fast. I'm sure the Momentus has optimized that. And yeah, buy the quickest RAM you can afford without going boutique. Tom's Hardware is the builder's best friend! Good to hear from an end-user on the Momentus. I had seen them and looked into them but really hadn't seen any reputable end-user endorsements. Another plus for Tom's Hardware, excellent and objective in my experience.