New Monitor Suggestions Please

**ThorSanchez** · 02-03-2020, 10:28 AM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by WorksAsIntended

I really like the Benq PD3200U.
Good colors, nice panel, integrated kvm.
Only downfall is a bit of Backlightbleeding when having lot of blacks. But still the best I saw at this peice range yet. Bought 3 for my home and 2 at my work desk, really happy with them.

I have one as well, but only for the last week or so. No issues, looks pretty good to me, by no means a scientific evaluation but obviously a step up from the 24" 1920 monitor I had before. There were some reports of flickering, but I think that was fixed by a firmware change months/years ago - I've not seen anything of that. And it was the least expensive 32", 100% sRGB, 4k monitor I could find.

WorksAsIntended · 02-03-2020, 11:32 AM

Never had that issue on one of the five I work on. Maybe still a reason to look for another one.
OP already stated it is out of budget anyway. I had three Dell u2518d at my work desk before. They are cheaper and ok, no comparison to the PD3200U though. When I choose them they were really good at price/performance ratio, I do not know if this is atill true though and they are also smaller than what you look for.

gatorguy · 02-03-2020, 03:24 PM

FWIW I just replaced my aging HP desktop with a Dell Aurora R10.
Ryzen 3700x processor and 32GB memory. Radeon RX5700, dual HD's with one of them a 512GB SSD boot and the other a 1TB traditional drive. Total cost before sales tax just under $1400. Added a refurbished ViewSonic VP2768-4K PRO and kept the entire lot under $1700. My splurge for the relatively near future and one that I hope is just as much a workhorse as my 2014 system has been. Watch for Dell coupons and specials.

A good gaming system makes a great photo-processing computer. No need to spend hundreds more on a Mac or other high-end system if photo processing, Photoshop, etc is your primary use. Future-proofed the memory and storage (I keep my RAW photos on Samsung T5's for portability), Bluetooth 5 and Wifi6, fairly priced internal SSD's. The GPU isn't a big deal at all for photo work, unlike running fast games. Get the base one as long it has at least 6GB and it will be plenty fit for purpose for the foreseeable future.

I debated between 27" and 32" display too, and whether 100% sRBG and AdobeRGB. Ultimately I realized that my entire workflow is sRGB, I have zero interest in video, and measuring my loft workplace showed me a 32" monitor would be pushing things and I'd be cramped at times and 27" was the better choice. I would have loved a BenQ but I had a budget I promised my wife not to exceed and the computer resources was more important than a better monitor. Did I need a 4K display? No, I did not and it may be overkill, well actually it is LOL, but buying factory refurbed with warrantee, and saving over $200 on one highly rated for photo work made it worthwhile to me anyway.

rawr · 02-03-2020, 05:15 PM

Originally posted by gatorguy

FWIW I just replaced my aging HP desktop with a [...] Ryzen 3700x processor and 32GB memory

Ditto, w. X570 motherboard, 3200Mhz RAM, GeForce 1660Ti, 1TB SSD, 2GB HDD, extra silent PSU & case fans. Will re-use existing 23 inch monitors.

Still amazes me how slow Lightroom can be though, even with all that hardware thrown at it. Hopefully additional tuning/ tweaking will make a difference.

**ThorSanchez** · 02-04-2020, 05:47 AM

Originally posted by rawr

Ditto, w. X570 motherboard, 3200Mhz RAM, GeForce 1660Ti, 1TB SSD, 2GB HDD, extra silent PSU & case fans. Will re-use existing 23 inch monitors.

Still amazes me how slow Lightroom can be though, even with all that hardware thrown at it. Hopefully additional tuning/ tweaking will make a difference.

Come over to the Linux side, the water's warm! I was frustrated with the speed of Lightroom 6 a year and a half ago, so I modified my old system to dual boot Linux, and started trying out Darktable, then RawTherapee. While it wasn't massively faster, it was still faster than Lightroom/Win7. And it never got into the situation of it slowing down more the longer you used it, which I often ran into with LR.

Then a few weeks ago I built a Ryzen 9/3900 system with 32G of 3600MHz RAM, an 8G Radeon graphics card, and a PCIe 4.0 SSD. Xubuntu Linux and RawTherapee hums on this new rig. It loads in a few seconds. It exports 24MP DNGs that took almost 15 seconds on the old rig in three. Even complicated operations like Retinex or Tone Mapping that noticeably lagged for 5-10 seconds before are almost instantaneous now.

**BruceBanner** · 02-04-2020, 02:14 PM

Originally posted by ThorSanchez

Come over to the Linux side, the water's warm! I was frustrated with the speed of Lightroom 6 a year and a half ago, so I modified my old system to dual boot Linux, and started trying out Darktable, then RawTherapee. While it wasn't massively faster, it was still faster than Lightroom/Win7. And it never got into the situation of it slowing down more the longer you used it, which I often ran into with LR.

Then a few weeks ago I built a Ryzen 9/3900 system with 32G of 3600MHz RAM, an 8G Radeon graphics card, and a PCIe 4.0 SSD. Xubuntu Linux and RawTherapee hums on this new rig. It loads in a few seconds. It exports 24MP DNGs that took almost 15 seconds on the old rig in three. Even complicated operations like Retinex or Tone Mapping that noticeably lagged for 5-10 seconds before are almost instantaneous now.

The issue is as an event shooter I haven't found many programs that can sync as well as LR, as well as their 3rd party support plugins, presets and LUTs. So unfortunately there is no alternative or workaround, it's just slow and that's that

It's a bit saddening to hear that still on other peoples pimped up PC's that LR is still kinda slow, was really hoping some more recent tech would help solve that hurdle. Meanwhile I noticed that PS is actually pretty good on my potato, it really does feel like LR is the one to blame in all of this...

rawr · 02-04-2020, 10:30 PM

Originally posted by BruceBanner

it really does feel like LR is the one to blame in all of this...

PS doesn't seem as database and I/O driven as LR, I think.

I also suspect that basically the LR team within Adobe aren't their best programmers, particularly in database management. Maybe the 'A' team within Adobe do PS, and the 'Z' team do stuff like LR.

**Kobie** · 02-06-2020, 08:58 PM

Originally posted by BruceBanner

The issue is as an event shooter I haven't found many programs that can sync as well as LR, as well as their 3rd party support plugins, presets and LUTs. So unfortunately there is no alternative or workaround, it's just slow and that's that

It's a bit saddening to hear that still on other peoples pimped up PC's that LR is still kinda slow, was really hoping some more recent tech would help solve that hurdle. Meanwhile I noticed that PS is actually pretty good on my potato, it really does feel like LR is the one to blame in all of this...

Are you running an SSD or a standard Hard drive? On my Workstation (HP Z400, Intel Xeon Hyperthread quad core, 12 gb's of ram and Nvidia Quadro FX 1Gb video Card) It was pretty slow running DxO, and Affinity Photo, actually, Affinity was incredibly slow, both loading and processing). I swapped over from a standard Hard Drive to an SSD and it ran like a completely different machine. What used to take 20 minutes now takes 5. The input and output bandwidth is a world of difference with an SSD since there's no mechanical moving parts. Just something to consider if you aren't already using one.

**BruceBanner** · 02-07-2020, 12:43 AM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by kobie

are you running an ssd or a standard hard drive? On my workstation (hp z400, intel xeon hyperthread quad core, 12 gb's of ram and nvidia quadro fx 1gb video card) it was pretty slow running dxo, and affinity photo, actually, affinity was incredibly slow, both loading and processing). I swapped over from a standard hard drive to an ssd and it ran like a completely different machine. What used to take 20 minutes now takes 5. The input and output bandwidth is a world of difference with an ssd since there's no mechanical moving parts. Just something to consider if you aren't already using one.

m2 ssd.

**Kobie** · 02-07-2020, 02:30 PM

Originally posted by BruceBanner

m2 ssd.

Hmmm, okay, scratch that then.
What about changing the Lightroom Config to help speed it up?
10 Ways to speed up Lightroom

gatorguy · 02-07-2020, 03:17 PM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by Kobie

Hmmm, okay, scratch that then.
What about changing the Lightroom Config to help speed it up?
10 Ways to speed up Lightroom

Thanks! Some useful suggestions there.

**BruceBanner** · 02-07-2020, 11:42 PM

Originally posted by Kobie

Hmmm, okay, scratch that then.
What about changing the Lightroom Config to help speed it up?
10 Ways to speed up Lightroom

Nah it's pretty much just my bad potato computer. building 1:1 previews makes the most difference, and even having the pc connected to 4k drains, now that I have disconnected it and replaced with an old 27 inch 1080p I can notice substantial improvement in LR and my entire system without it having to work hard on outputting a 4k screen (even if the 4k screen is not doing anything).

Have to say I think this article is making sense. A 27-32 inch 2k I think will be my next screen size and res.

What resolution monitor should you buy as a photographer ? 1080p or 4K? | Photofocus

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02-03-2020, 10:28 AM - 1 Like	#16
ThorSanchez Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2012 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,806	Originally posted by WorksAsIntended I really like the Benq PD3200U. Good colors, nice panel, integrated kvm. Only downfall is a bit of Backlightbleeding when having lot of blacks. But still the best I saw at this peice range yet. Bought 3 for my home and 2 at my work desk, really happy with them. I have one as well, but only for the last week or so. No issues, looks pretty good to me, by no means a scientific evaluation but obviously a step up from the 24" 1920 monitor I had before. There were some reports of flickering, but I think that was fixed by a firmware change months/years ago - I've not seen anything of that. And it was the least expensive 32", 100% sRGB, 4k monitor I could find.

02-03-2020, 11:32 AM	#17
WorksAsIntended Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2018 Posts: 639	Never had that issue on one of the five I work on. Maybe still a reason to look for another one. OP already stated it is out of budget anyway. I had three Dell u2518d at my work desk before. They are cheaper and ok, no comparison to the PD3200U though. When I choose them they were really good at price/performance ratio, I do not know if this is atill true though and they are also smaller than what you look for.

02-03-2020, 03:24 PM	#18
gatorguy Moderator Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: Central Florida Photos: Gallery Posts: 6,092	FWIW I just replaced my aging HP desktop with a Dell Aurora R10. Ryzen 3700x processor and 32GB memory. Radeon RX5700, dual HD's with one of them a 512GB SSD boot and the other a 1TB traditional drive. Total cost before sales tax just under $1400. Added a refurbished ViewSonic VP2768-4K PRO and kept the entire lot under $1700. My splurge for the relatively near future and one that I hope is just as much a workhorse as my 2014 system has been. Watch for Dell coupons and specials. A good gaming system makes a great photo-processing computer. No need to spend hundreds more on a Mac or other high-end system if photo processing, Photoshop, etc is your primary use. Future-proofed the memory and storage (I keep my RAW photos on Samsung T5's for portability), Bluetooth 5 and Wifi6, fairly priced internal SSD's. The GPU isn't a big deal at all for photo work, unlike running fast games. Get the base one as long it has at least 6GB and it will be plenty fit for purpose for the foreseeable future. I debated between 27" and 32" display too, and whether 100% sRBG and AdobeRGB. Ultimately I realized that my entire workflow is sRGB, I have zero interest in video, and measuring my loft workplace showed me a 32" monitor would be pushing things and I'd be cramped at times and 27" was the better choice. I would have loved a BenQ but I had a budget I promised my wife not to exceed and the computer resources was more important than a better monitor. Did I need a 4K display? No, I did not and it may be overkill, well actually it is LOL, but buying factory refurbed with warrantee, and saving over $200 on one highly rated for photo work made it worthwhile to me anyway.

02-03-2020, 05:15 PM	#19
rawr Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 11,913	Originally posted by gatorguy FWIW I just replaced my aging HP desktop with a [...] Ryzen 3700x processor and 32GB memory Ditto, w. X570 motherboard, 3200Mhz RAM, GeForce 1660Ti, 1TB SSD, 2GB HDD, extra silent PSU & case fans. Will re-use existing 23 inch monitors. Still amazes me how slow Lightroom can be though, even with all that hardware thrown at it. Hopefully additional tuning/ tweaking will make a difference.

02-04-2020, 05:47 AM	#20
ThorSanchez Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2012 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,806	Originally posted by rawr Ditto, w. X570 motherboard, 3200Mhz RAM, GeForce 1660Ti, 1TB SSD, 2GB HDD, extra silent PSU & case fans. Will re-use existing 23 inch monitors. Still amazes me how slow Lightroom can be though, even with all that hardware thrown at it. Hopefully additional tuning/ tweaking will make a difference. Come over to the Linux side, the water's warm! I was frustrated with the speed of Lightroom 6 a year and a half ago, so I modified my old system to dual boot Linux, and started trying out Darktable, then RawTherapee. While it wasn't massively faster, it was still faster than Lightroom/Win7. And it never got into the situation of it slowing down more the longer you used it, which I often ran into with LR. Then a few weeks ago I built a Ryzen 9/3900 system with 32G of 3600MHz RAM, an 8G Radeon graphics card, and a PCIe 4.0 SSD. Xubuntu Linux and RawTherapee hums on this new rig. It loads in a few seconds. It exports 24MP DNGs that took almost 15 seconds on the old rig in three. Even complicated operations like Retinex or Tone Mapping that noticeably lagged for 5-10 seconds before are almost instantaneous now.

02-04-2020, 02:14 PM	#21
BruceBanner Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 5,404 Original Poster	Originally posted by ThorSanchez Come over to the Linux side, the water's warm! I was frustrated with the speed of Lightroom 6 a year and a half ago, so I modified my old system to dual boot Linux, and started trying out Darktable, then RawTherapee. While it wasn't massively faster, it was still faster than Lightroom/Win7. And it never got into the situation of it slowing down more the longer you used it, which I often ran into with LR. Then a few weeks ago I built a Ryzen 9/3900 system with 32G of 3600MHz RAM, an 8G Radeon graphics card, and a PCIe 4.0 SSD. Xubuntu Linux and RawTherapee hums on this new rig. It loads in a few seconds. It exports 24MP DNGs that took almost 15 seconds on the old rig in three. Even complicated operations like Retinex or Tone Mapping that noticeably lagged for 5-10 seconds before are almost instantaneous now. The issue is as an event shooter I haven't found many programs that can sync as well as LR, as well as their 3rd party support plugins, presets and LUTs. So unfortunately there is no alternative or workaround, it's just slow and that's that It's a bit saddening to hear that still on other peoples pimped up PC's that LR is still kinda slow, was really hoping some more recent tech would help solve that hurdle. Meanwhile I noticed that PS is actually pretty good on my potato, it really does feel like LR is the one to blame in all of this...

02-04-2020, 10:30 PM	#22
rawr Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 11,913	Originally posted by BruceBanner it really does feel like LR is the one to blame in all of this... PS doesn't seem as database and I/O driven as LR, I think. I also suspect that basically the LR team within Adobe aren't their best programmers, particularly in database management. Maybe the 'A' team within Adobe do PS, and the 'Z' team do stuff like LR.

02-06-2020, 08:58 PM	#23
Kobie Site Supporter Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Bowmanville Photos: Albums Posts: 1,211	Originally posted by BruceBanner The issue is as an event shooter I haven't found many programs that can sync as well as LR, as well as their 3rd party support plugins, presets and LUTs. So unfortunately there is no alternative or workaround, it's just slow and that's that It's a bit saddening to hear that still on other peoples pimped up PC's that LR is still kinda slow, was really hoping some more recent tech would help solve that hurdle. Meanwhile I noticed that PS is actually pretty good on my potato, it really does feel like LR is the one to blame in all of this... Are you running an SSD or a standard Hard drive? On my Workstation (HP Z400, Intel Xeon Hyperthread quad core, 12 gb's of ram and Nvidia Quadro FX 1Gb video Card) It was pretty slow running DxO, and Affinity Photo, actually, Affinity was incredibly slow, both loading and processing). I swapped over from a standard Hard Drive to an SSD and it ran like a completely different machine. What used to take 20 minutes now takes 5. The input and output bandwidth is a world of difference with an SSD since there's no mechanical moving parts. Just something to consider if you aren't already using one.

02-07-2020, 12:43 AM - 1 Like	#24
BruceBanner Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 5,404 Original Poster	Originally posted by kobie are you running an ssd or a standard hard drive? On my workstation (hp z400, intel xeon hyperthread quad core, 12 gb's of ram and nvidia quadro fx 1gb video card) it was pretty slow running dxo, and affinity photo, actually, affinity was incredibly slow, both loading and processing). I swapped over from a standard hard drive to an ssd and it ran like a completely different machine. What used to take 20 minutes now takes 5. The input and output bandwidth is a world of difference with an ssd since there's no mechanical moving parts. Just something to consider if you aren't already using one. m2 ssd.

02-07-2020, 02:30 PM	#25
Kobie Site Supporter Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Bowmanville Photos: Albums Posts: 1,211	Originally posted by BruceBanner m2 ssd. Hmmm, okay, scratch that then. What about changing the Lightroom Config to help speed it up? 10 Ways to speed up Lightroom

02-07-2020, 03:17 PM - 1 Like	#26
gatorguy Moderator Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: Central Florida Photos: Gallery Posts: 6,092	Originally posted by Kobie Hmmm, okay, scratch that then. What about changing the Lightroom Config to help speed it up? 10 Ways to speed up Lightroom Thanks! Some useful suggestions there.

02-07-2020, 11:42 PM	#27
BruceBanner Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 5,404 Original Poster	Originally posted by Kobie Hmmm, okay, scratch that then. What about changing the Lightroom Config to help speed it up? 10 Ways to speed up Lightroom Nah it's pretty much just my bad potato computer. building 1:1 previews makes the most difference, and even having the pc connected to 4k drains, now that I have disconnected it and replaced with an old 27 inch 1080p I can notice substantial improvement in LR and my entire system without it having to work hard on outputting a 4k screen (even if the 4k screen is not doing anything). Have to say I think this article is making sense. A 27-32 inch 2k I think will be my next screen size and res. What resolution monitor should you buy as a photographer ? 1080p or 4K? \| Photofocus