[jgnfld]

I should add, the assembly fee at my shop is only $100 though they probably get a better price on parts than I can get as an individual.

[Not a Number]

There's a few youtubers that I find worth watching now and then. I believe one or more of them will build custom systems for you or at least help you with the component selection and build process.

Try channels Paul's Hardware, Linus Tech Tips, or Gamers Nexus. They are on the other usual social media as well. They seem to know their stuff and are not too irritating to watch.

[AggieDad]

There's some great advice here. All I want to add is this: You can NEVER buy too much RAM. What was enough yesterday will not be enough tomorrow. I recommend 32 GB. Others may disagree (+ or -).

[ramseybuckeye]

I've built several PCs in the past (using a Mac now, though) and it is not hard to do at all, the hard work is the research and paying for it all. The last time I looked into building I could buy a pre made machine with good specs for a lot cheaper, I have no idea of the current costs or specs I would want, I'm happy with my 2017 Mac 3.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 with 64GB ram, it's just seamless with my ipad and iphone. I only got an iphone because we had to have it where I worked, had to be an iphone and they paid for the service.

If you build, make sure you don't put something in that will slow you down like a underpowered video card or power supply. Make sure you get a good motherboard with a lot of good reviews. The biggest problems with most PCs in the past was hard drive failures, solid state drives for the OS have fixed that.

Where I used to work at one time we had HP PCs and they were always having problems, they switched over to Dell and things were much better. But a business with thousands of PCs can get parts and supports so much faster, part of their contract. Dell does have their weird parts in some cases, but they are not bad machines if you buy the better ones. I would buy Dell before HP, jut from my personal experiences.

[Mooncatt]

One other thing I would recommend, especially if going with an OEM like Dell or HP, would be to have a Windows installation USB drive (or whatever your OS of choice) and do a format/fresh OS install BEFORE you ever turn on the pc.

A lot of build companies will add bloatware, usually Norton or McAfee, in their pre-installed OS. Companies like Dell also add in a bunch of other junk, like their program telling you how to recognize malware that itself acts like malware in the GN video I posted earlier, which can cause massive performance losses all in the name of improving the user experience. Removing that junk can be time consuming. Doing a fresh OS install will give you a clean system to start with, and none of the annoying pseudo-malware and data harvesting from the OEM's.

[jgnfld]

One other thing I would recommend, especially if going with an OEM like Dell or HP, would be to have a Windows installation USB drive (or whatever your OS of choice) and do a format/fresh OS install BEFORE you ever turn on the pc.

A lot of build companies will add bloatware, usually Norton or McAfee, in their pre-installed OS. Companies like Dell also add in a bunch of other junk, like their program telling you how to recognize malware that itself acts like malware in the GN video I posted earlier, which can cause massive performance losses all in the name of improving the user experience. Removing that junk can be time consuming. Doing a fresh OS install will give you a clean system to start with, and none of the annoying pseudo-malware and data harvesting from the OEM's.

That's why I like my local shop. They only install the most basic stuff.

[Wheatfield]

There's some great advice here. All I want to add is this: You can NEVER buy too much RAM. What was enough yesterday will not be enough tomorrow. I recommend 32 GB. Others may disagree (+ or -).

I just did a new build based around a Gigabyte Aorus 670E MB, Ryzen 7 7700x processor, Aorus 3060 video card (12gb onboard RAM) and 4 Samsung 980 PRO NVMe M.2 PCI-E cards. We had to put a liquid cooler on for heat dissipation. It's a pretty high end machine.

Photoshop will leverage the RAM on the video card, so this is something to take into account if one is using that suite for image processing.

When researching the build, I discovered that more than 64gb of RAM was actually slower than staying with 64GB and using a PCI-E card for swap. The MB I chose will take 4 PCI-E cards, so I dedicated one to Windows and applications, one to Lightroom and one to Photoshop, with a fourth one for holding files I was working on. After I'm done with them I move them to an NAS.

32GB of RAM is good, though that is what I had on my last desktop and found I was going to swap quite often as I tend to work with upwards of 40 - 70 layers when I am doing focus stacks. Even with 64gb the machine is going to swap fairly regularly.
My advice based on what I researched when I was looking at components is put in 64gb of RAM, but after that, put a fast PCI-E card on the MB for those times when the machine runs out of memory will be faster than more RAM.

Admittedly, my hobby is pretty computer intensive and I like to think I have future proofed myself against the inevitable higher megapixel cameras that I am sure are just over the next hill.

If one can spring for a board that takes multiple PCI-E cards, one can get away from SATA drives entirely and get a real speed advantage. PCI-E is something like 12 times faster than the best that any SATA drive can give due to bus speed limitations in the SATA hardware.

[jim999]

I guess I'm going to be a bit of a contrary voice in this thread.

For context, I've been building PCs myself and for others (and for work at times...) since the mid 90s (486sx or dx? check out that ISA bus. Don't forget to set the jumpers right!). As most here have pointed out, custom building is often cheaper, offers greater customizability, greater upgradability, and better repairability, than pre-build machines. You also can have more pro features (raided disks, etc etc.) These are huge wins for many people, and it's why I still build my own powerful desktops.

However, I am increasingly recommending pre-builts with warranties from respectable companies like Dell and Lenovo for many people. There are several reasons for this.

- computers are fricken complex and parts / drivers all have compatibility concerns. Has your exact combination been built and tested by someone? If not, you may have stability issues that are hard to resolve, with everyone pointing a finger at someone else. Probably your PSU. No wait, your fault for picking X brand motherboard. No wait, must be that graphics card model. Once you hit this point, you're SOL. A pre-built has a well tested configuration.

- if your custom-built breaks, or has issues from day one, same as above. Finger pointing. I have a PhD in Computer Science and still can't convince support people that I know their ram is faulty. If your Dell has those issues, you're not worth the hassle, they'll just replace it. And if you have an upgraded warranty they'll send someone to your house within a couple of days to fix it or order new parts.

- how busy are you? how much does futzing with a flakey PC on your Saturday ruin your rare time at your hobby? For me, I like it and have fun playing with the bits. But for many the risk of losing precious time is a huge problem.

So, for me, I still do custom builds. If you're not into that, and you have a good shop that does them, that can be great as you'll have service. But it's not a slam dunk, and there are plenty of good reasons to go with a pre-built machine.

PS - I checked out that youtube video and unfortunately it's pretty sensationalist with some.. let's say colorful exaggerations? can't blame him for wanting clicks though

[Mooncatt]

A pre-built has a well tested configuration.

In theory. In reality, it's still possible to have a poorly optimized, if not downright unusable system that you then have to fight the company to get remedied. There may not be as much finger pointing between brands, but they can still easily try to brush you off by claiming it was something you did. As you said yourself, you have a degree in this stuff, but were still brushed off. I and several other people was recently helping someone with a prebuilt top end system with a RAM issue that he eventuality sent back. It was no surprise when they contacted him to say his broken system tested fine when they got it back. He's still in the process of resolving it, but another key takeaway here is this was after he troubleshooted this system the same as if it was one he built himself, and did so at the behest of the company in hopes it didn't need to be returned.

I do agree having a single point of contact can be good for warranty and troubleshooting, but you are still going to be dealing with a company with a vested interest in not fixing your problem. This isn't a pc only thing either, it's across the board. Even with the convenience of not doing the initial assembly and setup, you should at least be prepared to fix problems they missed (I.e. improperly installed ram and not turning on XMP/XPO in bios) and doing a fair bit of troubleshooting on your own to hopefully avoid sending a system back.

[Wheatfield]

I've worked with OTS computers as part of my studio work. They can be OK, but they are rarely geared towards image editing and the software used. I've always done custom builds, I did my first one in 1998. I have never run into an issue with a custom built computer, and they have always run circles around OTS computers that one can pick up at big box computer shops when it comes to image editing.
My recent build was designed to play nice with Photoshop and Lightroom, and give that software the tools required to allow it to run efficiently and quickly.
If I was not doing intensive editing, I'm sure an OTS computer would be fine, but I don't.
The problem with OTS computers has always been that they will let you do what the assembler thinks you want to do at a price he thinks you will be willing to pay, which doesn't necessarily jive with what you want the machine to do.
Most OTS computers these days are designed for gamers, not photographers, since gamers are where the money is.

[Rondec]

I have used these guys in the past and been pretty happy: iBUYPOWER®: Gaming Computers, Custom PCs and Laptops | iBUYPOWER®

[texandrews]

Another vote for Microcenter. I had to replace my desktop unit after finding out there was no way to upgrade anything on the motherboard. All of the "Name" manufacturers play this trick. With the Microcenter house brand, everything is off-the-shelf parts, so everything can be upgraded provided there's enough space (watch out for those extra special graphics cards---check their physical specs carefully). But you can if you want upgrade the processor on the Microcenter desktops. Mine cost about $800usd, and it's quite powerful and fast. I added even more ram and NVME storage.

[gatorguy]

Most OTS computers these days are designed for gamers, not photographers, since gamers are where the money is.

Funny enough, that's exactly what I use for my photo processing: An essentially maxed out Alienware Aurora Ryzen desktop for gamers, but just the 32GB memory and not 64, and Asus ProArt 329 monitor. it's a couple of years old now but still fast enough for my work.

For the past 5 years, maybe more, I've also used "gaming" computers for the design stations at my graphics business. I've been pleased.

Microcenter? Gosh, I did not realize they were even around anymore. I had one of their builds for a very long time and it was a solid machine.

[DeadJohn]

[lots of snipping for brevity]

... I am increasingly recommending pre-builts with warranties from respectable companies like Dell and Lenovo for many people. ... computers are fricken complex and parts / drivers all have compatibility concerns ... how much does futzing with a flakey PC on your Saturday ruin your rare time at your hobby? ... there are plenty of good reasons to go with a pre-built machine.

I agree. Building a PC is a hobby unto itself. If someone just wants to do photography or gaming they shouldn't build their own PC. Build a PC if you are interested in, well, building a PC.

There are good reasons to buy a prebuilt computer but don't buy it from a bad company. If the system builder won't say what motherboard model they use, they may be using a crappy proprietary motherboard. I suggest avoiding Dell and HP because of proprietary parts and unwanted software forced onto the PC.

[david94903]

Computer Solutions in Wisconsin is my go to computer vendor. They have stock boxes but will modify to suite. My have purchased four desktop systems from them since 2012, all were customized for photography. I can't recommend them highly enough.


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