Best CPU for Photo Editing (lightroom)

[pantera989]

My rig is getting a bit outdated, and I can't decide on a a CPU/Socket for my new one. I currently have a i5 750 (socket 1156) running at 4.1GHz, and particularly during exporting/importing in lightroom my CPU sits at 100%

The two I'm mostly looking at are the 3930k, or the 3770K. Does anyone know if the extra cores in the 3930k will make much of a difference in Lightroom and other photo editing software such as photoshop/photomatrix.

I will be overclocking and have a decent custom water-cooling loop.

Any insights greatly appreciated.

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

There are two things that the Intel® Core™ i7-3930K provides that will help with photo/media work and that is the are helpful for what you are going to be doing. Adobe is one of few software makers out there that will take every core and thread it can get its hands on. So applications like Adobe Lightroom and CS will use the extra cores and threads. Also as you move these large files around the extra bandwidth of the quad channel support might offer some performance for you.

 

[adamv1]

There are a few things I would make sure you have before upgrading your CPU. Moving large amount of data is going to happen when photo editing, make sure you have an SSD, preferably a fast one. The Samsung PRO series are great and a good buy for the 128gb versions.
Make sure you have allot of RAM, the more the merrier in this case, 32gb should manage nicely, just make sure your OS is 64bit and supports that much ram.
Get a graphics card with lots of RAM, a 4gb gt640 will be just fine, you don't need the fastest card, just one that can handle allot of pixels per inch. Maybe get two if you have more than one monitor.
If you have all that, then look into replacing your CPU, the i7 will make a difference for you only if you have hardware that can take advantage of the extra bandwidth.

Good luck,

 

[pantera989]

At the moment I can't use an SSD, my library is already at 450+ GB's and 512GB SSD's are expensive, I do have one for an OS drive though. I'll be getting a minium of 16GB of RAM with the new build.

 

[Ballantin]

The thing is that Socket 2011 is still so expensive (It is not only the CPU, but the Memory, the motherboard...), and Lightroom4 is not as much CPU intesive. I think more ram and the 3370k will be more than enought.

Also, pick a motherboard with USB3 and an USB3 card reader. Most cameras got only USB2.0 (well, my D800 got 3.0 hehehe) so you better use a card reader instead.

 

[pantera989]

Yup, a socket 2011 with the 3930k is nearly twice the price, however memory would be the same price either way? One of things swinging me towards 2011 is later I can add another four sticks of RAM to double my memory.

I already have a USB 3 card reader as my memory cards read well over USB 2.0 spec. However the add on USB three card I bought (socket 1156 motherboards don't come with USB 3) seems less then stellar in terms of speed, built in USB 3 will be a godsend.

 

[Ballantin]

Yeah you can add more memory later, but to be honest, you will really need it? I got a 3930k fitted into a Rampage 4 Extreme, with 32Gb of low latency Gskills rams and a GTX690, all water cooled, and believe me, most of the time I'm not using 1/4 of the computer's power (but for the GPU maybe).
And I also use Lightroom4 for my captures (as I said, I own a Nikon D800).

So yeah, get a socket 1155 board with USB 3.0 and a 3770K (that also supports up to 32Gb) and I think you will be more than fine