[K1N8]

This is what I was thinking.

Did you move to the 32-inch from a dual setup or just a smaller to larger?

Do you find it uncomfortable moving your head/eyes around the screen? I've not really had issues side to side with the dual 24's.

I went from two screens to three

I keep using the full HD screen a lot, but edit photos and watch videos on the 4k

Moving my head doesn't really bother me? Never had issues with that.

[emalvick]

Thanks for all the feedback. I'll continue to think about it. At this point, I think I have enough to think about the computer itself and at least get to a good spot on a GPU (and all the other good stuff).

So budget isn't hugely tight as I figure/plan to get a good 8 years out of the next build. I do try to budget for value as I am not a professional photographer, and my actual job is mostly in Microsoft Office (which I occasionally do from home) and a music server/manager for my audio files.

Given the goal of getting a good computer life but not full on overkill, My thoughts right now are to go with the following:

* Ryzen 7 3700x (maybe 3600) -- although I think the 3700x will help with longevity of the system
* an appropriate motherboard (probably in the past generation)
* 32 Gb of 3200 speed RAM (based on my understanding of what's good with the CPU) -- I currently have 32-gb, which was definitely overkill (I started the old system with 16-gb and added 16-gb, but usage has never really exceeded 16.
* GPU -- will likely look for suitability with the max total resolution I might get with recognition that speed isn't critical. I've not dug into that yet. My current PC has a 1050ti with 4 or 8gb of memory. It works well for my need with 2 x 1920 x 1200 monitors. I probably have to do better with more resolution.
* an Nvme drive for the system and software (I need to see how much software I currently have and need and pick an appropriate size, likely around 500 gb)
* a 2TB SSD to host what I'll call my "live" photo library (images I am working with and cataloging)
* additional storage for the full photo inventory and music library
* Monitor(s)
* And of course all the other little peripherals that are needed (cooling, network, OS)

I'm a bit uncertain on optical drives as I rarely use them anymore. My current PC has a BR reader with a DVD+/-RW, which was only like $25 when I got it. It doesn't seem such things exist anymore. 4k-technology has jacked up those drive's costs and has made drives for lesser technology obsolete. If I need it, I can probably look for a refurb for as little as I would need it.

It'll be exciting. Only thing that might derail this is if Pentax were to actually come up with a K3 update; although, my K3-i is still doing me fantastic and keeping me quite happy as well as my K5. It feels like older times for me where I could buy something and use it for a long time.

---------- Post added 08-29-2019 at 03:46 PM ----------

Oh to the earlier comment.

My Dell monitor that is wide-gamut is actually a VA monitor. I didn't know about such things at the time and had focused on the wide-gamut aspect. I calibrate it somewhat consistently (at least 3 times a year) and it has been great for photos, and I've never had issues (once I figured out I needed to calibrate for brightness in addition to color). The newer monitor is IPS, but even though I calibrate it, I've never been happy with its color. It's a cheap IPS panel, so that is probably the issue. In researching newer monitors with a focus on color calibration quality, it seems that IPS/VA have their pluses and minuses. I am mostly focused on an IPS, but now I am shifting my focus on color accuracy and the delta values through some of the more thorough reviews out there as my key concern. I do have a Fry's nearby, so if possible, I will try to see some monitors in person; although I find many retailers are focused on gaming monitors and lower end monitors.

[BigMackCam]

Given the goal of getting a good computer life but not full on overkill, My thoughts right now are to go with the following:

That sounds like a great spec you've chosen!

I don't have experience with the Ryzen processors, but I know they're well-regarded.

My newer PC is an HP laptop workstation with i7-8750H, 16GB fast RAM, NVidia Quadra P2000 graphics, 512GB NVMe and 2TB 5400rpm optical drive. It starts, runs, hibernates and recovers like the wind under Windows 10, and with cacheing even most optical drive operations seem very fast.

Your Ryzen 5 3600X or Ryzen 7 3700X desktop system will be considerably faster than my laptop, so I think you'll be blown away by the performance. I might be a little reticent on the latest 3700X until its proven (one reason I chose the i7-8750H when newer options were available), but I've no reason to suspect any problems.

I can imagine your 2TB SSD might bring some benefit, but I wonder how much unless you're processing a large number of files simultaneously or in batch... still, you know your needs best.

I have a USB 3.0 DVD/CD reader/writer, just in case, but I've yet to use it. They're extremely cheap, so worth picking one up just in case you should have the need.

Since you're investing in a great system, don't forget to include good backup storage. There are so many different strategies that I won't recommend any... and in any case, mine is very simple - I just use multiple, inexpensive (but good quality) discrete USB optical drives.

[emalvick]

That sounds like a great spec you've chosen!

I don't have experience with the Ryzen processors, but I know they're well-regarded.

My newer PC is an HP laptop workstation with i7-8750H, 16GB fast RAM, NVidia Quadra P2000 graphics, 512GB NVMe and 2TB 5400rpm optical drive. It starts, runs, hibernates and recovers like the wind under Windows 10, and with cacheing even most optical drive operations seem very fast.

Your Ryzen 5 3600X or Ryzen 7 3700X desktop system will be considerably faster than my laptop, so I think you'll be blown away by the performance. I might be a little reticent on the latest 3700X until its proven (one reason I chose the i7-8750H when newer options were available), but I've no reason to suspect any problems.

I can imagine your 2TB SSD might bring some benefit, but I wonder how much unless you're processing a large number of files simultaneously or in batch... still, you know your needs best.

I have a USB 3.0 DVD/CD reader/writer, just in case, but I've yet to use it. They're extremely cheap, so worth picking one up just in case you should have the need.

Since you're investing in a great system, don't forget to include good backup storage. There are so many different strategies that I won't recommend any... and in any case, mine is very simple - I just use multiple, inexpensive (but good quality) discrete USB optical drives.

So my current computer (soon to be previous) from 2012 had an i7-3770. It had a Samsung 840 SSD at the time and a couple of spinning HDD. Everything was decent with the system except when cataloging / keywording my photos and working with large files. Do I really need the extra SSD? I'm sure I don't, but if I ever update camera bodies and end up with something where the working files are 50-100 MB, it won't hurt. I do tend to batch process photos, so I am hoping exporting will go faster. I could go with 1TB for the second drive there.

On the AMD, all indications are it is decent. I could stick with Intel, but it is hard to justify the cost. I would want an 8-core CPU, but I would only have 8 threads. I feel like if I go with 4 cores, I am essentially at the same level I am currently at. I know on a spec vs spec, Intel is still better, but it will cost a lot more. And, in my usage, CPU/Core speed won't be as important as multiple threads; my DAM will process using all cores/threads available as will the video processing I do (which is limited).

And my back-up won't change much. I rotate through a few USB-3 drives to backup photos and files keeping one or two at work and one or two at home. I have a 2 larger USB drives to backup media files too. Additionally, I plan on having 2 large HDD on the PC itself that will essentially be mirrors of each other (but not Raid). One will be a primary, and the other will be more of a backup. Since, my backup to the external drives is typically on a 1 month cycle this will improve things.