High End Build For Wife

[Rebel]

First off, thanks for all the great info on the site!! I've found, at least for high end builds, it seems to be much cheaper to build yourself than Dell, HP, etc. Any opinions on that welcome.

So the computer is for heavy duty photo editing, large baches at a time. My wife has started doing a photography business part-time, and it's going very well, to say the Latitude is overloaded would be an understatement. We have stacks of DVDs of pics, USB sticks, and it takes forever for her to edit pics (typical shoot is around 500 shots). She's doing very well and gets a couple hundred dollars a session, so it will be a worthy investment.

So here's my thinking:

- I want a solid state drive for the OS, programs, etc., and a huge HD for file storage, with ability to expand HD storage if needed. I've heard solid state has come a long way with TRIM technology

- I think having lots of RAM will go a long way towards helping the editing go much faster

- I have no idea what to do with video card. We won't game at all on this thing, but there will be heavy photo and possibly some video editing.

- Audio card doesn't need to be anything special. We use ITunes, and might hook up something with a sub, certainly no 7.1 surround or anything like that.

- I'm still confused with the case, I understand how this stuff fits together, but getting a case that it all works with confuses the hell out of me.

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Here's what's in my newegg cart so far:

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

CORSAIR XMS3 12GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model HX3X12G1600C9 G - Retail

GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD5 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Intel Core i7-930 2.8GHz LGA 1366 Quad-Core Desktop Processor Model BX80601930 - Retail

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM

Pioneer Black Blu-ray Disc/DVD/CD Writer SATA Model BDR-205BKS - OEM

Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2M160G2R5 2.5" 160GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - Retail

Obviously, I'm running into some major $$$ and I'm still missing some things. The above is almost 1900, and I want to keep it under 3K (but could go more if needed), and I need EVERYTHING because all we have are laptops right now. So monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc.

I'm still missing audio and vid cards, case, power supply, keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, and I'm sure something(s) else.

BTW, this is my first build :D

Is the motherboard overkill (I want to be able to run 12GB RAM)? All the systems I price out on Dell, HP, and certainly Apple that even come close are well over 3K and none have the solid state drive.

Any and all help is appreciated!!!

[Rebel]

Oh yea, for audio, the motherboard has on board:

Onboard Audio
Audio Chipset Realtek ALC889A
Audio Channels 8 Channels

Is that sufficient for just listening to itunes with a couple component speakers with a sub?

I also need wireless networking for this, how should I handle that?

thanks again!

[RickyTick]

Hey Rebel. Welcome to the forums. My wife is a part-time photographer too. Here's a shameless plug for her site (http://www.michellemoorephotography.com/). We originally had her on a Dell Inspiron laptop with 2 gb of ram. Photo editing was really time consuming and difficult for her. I upgraded her to a Studio XPS 16 with a faster processor and 4gb of ram, and it's made all the difference in the world. She's hooked on a laptop. I don't think I could ever get her to change to a desktop.

Anyway, I wanted to make few suggestions on your setup. First of all, you've started a killer system there. It will be super fast.

Using an SSD is great, but if you're only using it for the Operating System, then you could get away with something much smaller and less expensive. Also, if you want to take advantage of the TRIM technology, you will have to run Windows 7. However, if the 160gb fits in your budget, then go for it.

I really think 12gb of ram is way way too much. Why not start with a 6gb kit (3x2gb) and see how it goes. You can always add 3 more sticks of ram later if you need to. And go ahead and step up to the DDR3 1333 ram. The motherboard can handle it easily.

That motherboard does not have onboard video, so you'll need some kind of video card. Since this is not for gaming, you should get something like a Radeon HD 5670. Excellent card and usually runs less than $100.

Cases are hard to recommend. I'm guessing you don't want something too flashy, so take a look at these.
Antec P183
Lian Li PC-P50
Cooler Master ATCS 840
Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced

You could do without an audio card since onboard sound is really very good on most motherboards. If you think you'd like one anyway, look at the Asus Xonar DX.

For a power supply, I would suggest a Corsair 750HX or 750TX. The TX is modular and has a 7yr warranty.

Now here's the big part. The most important thing to a photo editor is color. You need a great monitor. It doesn't have to be huge, but it needs to be high quality. A Dell Ultrasharp U2410 or an HP LP2475W are excellent and have a reasonable price. If you can, the Dell U2711 is a little bigger but a good bit more expensive, iirc.

Keyboard and mouse are easy to pick out. Microsoft and Logitech have some really nice stuff.

Hope that's helpful.

[Rebel]

Thanks for the reply Rick! Appreciate all the awesome info on the site, I'm sure you hear it often, but thanks.

Couple questions:


Using an SSD is great, but if you're only using it for the Operating System, then you could get away with something much smaller and less expensive. Also, if you want to take advantage of the TRIM technology, you will have to run Windows 7. However, if the 160gb fits in your budget, then go for it.

I'm planning on running Windows 7 Home. I don't know much about TRIM technology really, just read that it speeds up the writing to it mainly, and extends the life somewhat. I was kinda planning on the SSD doing the work with the photos, and the HDD doing storage. I may could get away with the 80GB drive, a photoshoot is somewhere in the range of 10-15GB I think, so there would be plenty of room.


I really think 12gb of ram is way way too much. Why not start with a 6gb kit (3x2gb) and see how it goes. You can always add 3 more sticks of ram later if you need to. And go ahead and step up to the DDR3 1333 ram. The motherboard can handle it easily.

Any specific brand? I'm not too familiar with the different ram, what does 1333 mean? Also, is the Seagate the best brand of HDD?


That motherboard does not have onboard video, so you'll need some kind of video card. Since this is not for gaming, you should get something like a Radeon HD 5670. Excellent card and usually runs less than $100.

Sounds good.


Cases are hard to recommend. I'm guessing you don't want something too flashy, so take a look at these.
Antec P183
Lian Li PC-P50
Cooler Master ATCS 840
Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced

I definitely want to go cheap on the case, as much as possible. Just want it easy to use being my first build.

Thanks for the recommendations, it's very helpful!

[RickyTick]

For a power supply, I would suggest a Corsair 750HX or 750TX. The TX is modular and has a 7yr warranty.


I said that backwards. The HX is modular with a 7yr warranty, not the TX.