New Build for a Photographer

[keomakk]

Hi,

Looking for some advice on my first ever PC build.

I want a PC to edit wedding photos on (using Photoshop and Lightroom) and to do some gaming when I haven't got work coming in.

Here are the parts I was thinking of buying.

Please let me know if these will work together, if they will fit in the case chosen, and if it is overkill.


Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor

Corsair - H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler

Asus - ROG STRIX Z370-E GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard

G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory

Samsung - 960 EVO 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive

Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB STRIX GAMING Video Card

NZXT - S340 Elite (White) ATX Mid Tower Case

EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply


Thanks for taking the time in helping me out.

Also if I am missing anything else or any advice would be much appreciated

Cheers.

 

[mackerel]

Haven't done serious photo editing for a while but I would be happy with that. If not already considered, have an external backup for photos (and anything else important), and a good monitor is a must.

On the SSD, check out how the 970 pricing compares as that is a recent release.

I'm not familiar with the Adobe product range, do they make much use of GPU acceleration? Or do you also need that for gaming for example?

 

[trents]

I have two comments.

1. I'm afraid only 500 gb of storage will not be enough. Most people doing professional photography with the software tools you list have a large amount of storage. I would put the programs on the 500gb m.2 for booting and loading speed but add in a 2-3 TB spinner hard drive for storing projects. They are not very expensive.
2. With only one video card you don't need a 750 watt PSU. Even a 500 watt quality unit will be plenty. You can save some bucks there.

 

[keomakk]

@mackerel Thanks I'll look into that SSD. As for the GPU, i'm not really sure if photoshop will make much use of the GPU to its fullest but I thought it might be useful if ever I get into video editing. As for the monitor, I've got that sorted already.

@trents after every wedding, I back them up on 2 external hard drives, that's why I didn't include another SSD but I am considering a RAID set up for the future when I get money saved up. As for the power, thanks for the advice. I thought it might be too much but everything I read was saying to get more than what I need but I'll looking into smaller power supplies.

So do you guys/gals think that it will actually fit in the case?

 

[mackerel]

I didn't flag up storage on the assumption once you've finished working on it, it doesn't need to stay on the SSD and could be parked elsewhere for long term storage. If that is internal or external doesn't really matter, unless it messes up Lightroom's management features. I don't use that so can't comment on it further. A large disk to store locally with external backup might make that part easier.

I wouldn't worry about over specifying the PSU a little like here. It could give you more headroom in case you want to add a 2nd GPU in future. If you're not hurting on the budget I wouldn't look to downsize.

Depending on when you plan on building, there will be an open question if it is worth waiting for the next gen GPU to come out. There is no date to work on, but rumours are something may happen later in the year.

 

[(G{in}[AK)TION]]

About your storage....well ill tell you what i have going for me on my main computer

I use Intel SRT. to use it, set the storage setting in your bios to raid mode and install windows on the biggest HDD you would want to use (for me, its a 4Tb WD Black). install your favorite SSD of your choosing and then use it to accelerate the drive windows is installed on which in this case, would be 64gb of space. the rest you can use it to partition for something else like for the page file.

There is also another storage tech you can use called "StoreMI" which is way better. From what i read, its like intels SRT or optane tech except it can go up to 256gb of acceleration cache and can also create a 2GB dram cache if you have plenty of ram. This is also an AMD only feature as far as i can tell which means its only supported on AMDs processors. But thats entirely up to you.

https://www.fudzilla.com/news/pc-ha...rks-like-a-charm-on-x470-chipset-motherboards

As for your cooler, great choice. But i also want to say that i had a little bit of difficulty with it which i found was my fault. Make sure you get some push pull fans (for me i use corsair hd120s but thats up to you). Make an x pattern with your thermal paste on the cpu and then when you put the block on, push down and kind of clock wise counter clock wise motions while putting pressure on the block on the cpu. then put your nuts in to mount the cpu block.

 

[trents]

@mackerel Thanks I'll look into that SSD. As for the GPU, i'm not really sure if photoshop will make much use of the GPU to its fullest but I thought it might be useful if ever I get into video editing. As for the monitor, I've got that sorted already.

@trents after every wedding, I back them up on 2 external hard drives, that's why I didn't include another SSD but I am considering a RAID set up for the future when I get money saved up. As for the power, thanks for the advice. I thought it might be too much but everything I read was saying to get more than what I need but I'll looking into smaller power supplies.

So do you guys/gals think that it will actually fit in the case?

You won't have any trouble fitting the components in that case. Sounds like you have the storage covered with other options, although I would point out that backing up to external storage isn't going to be as fast as backing up to an internal drive.

As you already know, Adobe Photoshop is able to offload some of the work to the video card but I doubt having a powerful GTX 1080 Ti will make much impact on the production work performance. That component choice will certainly impact your gaming experience, however, at least if using a 4k monitor. If using a 1080p monitor then you could easily get by with a GTX 1070 and run all games on ultra settings with high fps.

 

[mackerel]

There is also another storage tech you can use called "StoreMI" which is way better. From what i read, its like intels SRT or optane tech except it can go up to 256gb of acceleration cache and can also create a 2GB dram cache if you have plenty of ram. This is also an AMD only feature as far as i can tell which means its only supported on AMDs processors. But thats entirely up to you.

I'd personally disagree on StoreMI as being better. It is different, and has different benefits and drawbacks compared to the others. Personally I'd keep things simple, single large SSD for OS, programs, and short term work. Bulk drive for longer term storage. Off system backup regardless.

You won't have any trouble fitting the components in that case. Sounds like you have the storage covered with other options, although I would point out that backing up to external storage isn't going to be as fast as backing up to an internal drive.

I don't consider an internal hard disk to be sufficient backup. It has to be a physically separate copy to be safe, especially if it is something you're doing commercially.

 

[keomakk]

@(G{in}[AK)TION] How many push pull fans will I need for this case? Also thanks for the tip about applying the paste.

 

[trents]

@(G{in}[AK)TION] How many push pull fans will I need for this case? Also thanks for the tip about applying the paste.

Not sure but he may have been referring to push pull fans for the radiator, not the case. It wasn't clear to me.