Building a Photoshop PC - I would like advise on these parts

[JKnetz]

Hey all,

I would love to get some feedback on this build that I've put together for my dad. It is mainly going to run Photoshop and Lightroom as he is a professional photographer.

My plan is to install the OS and softwares like Photoshop on the M.2 SSD. The 2TB HDD will be used to store other files/backups.

https://amzn.com/w/1OE1E3MTDQEWU

Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks,
Joel

 

[ellis2014]

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/hMkq6h. You would benefit from a 6 core processor. Also, you don't need a 256gb m2 SSD to install programs as they are not very big files so I listed an 128gb version. The build has 32gb ram rather than 16gb as it is a very important thing with editing, work etc.

 

[Spectre694]

I'm guessing RAW photos then? Do you know the resolution? Your honesty into overkill territory for a photoshop build. Photoshop/Lightroom doesn't scale much past 4 cores so the i7 isn't really necessary.

Is he actually even going to OC that or no? If not a non K would serve him better.

 

[Bearmann]

Generally your build looks good. I would also lean toward getting 32GB of RAM but you could get something like 2166 without noticing any difference. If he is not going to overclock, then I would stick with the i7 6700K and not the i7 5820K. The faster cores will be of more benefit than more, but slower, ones. If he processes multiple files at once like a wedding photographer might do e.g. applying the same filter to 100 images at once and then saving the result to the hard drive, than the 950 Pro would probably benefit him. If not, then I woudl be inclined to go for a standard SSD. He should have an extra SSD for his Lightroom catalog, but it can be small. I don't see a GPU. He may get by with on board graphics, but something like a GTX 960 may speed things up. To my knowledge, they still haven't fixed the issues with 4K monitors. The Photoshop menus and icons are very tiny and you can't increase their size. I would go for a 1440 x 2660 resolution monitor. Is that a water cooler in the build? I would not risk his professional system with a water cooler. A Cryorig H7 will get the job done with less risk.

 

[silversurfernhs]

Might not be overkill if he is the kind of person that runs batch processing in Lightroom while working in PS and having some passive apps for various things. For our creative department, i build machines with mid to high spec i5s with 8 to 16gb of ram and a 1gb gfx card. A sata ssd and hdd will be fine. You'll likely save a lot of money that way. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/99VfMp
You'll save a few bucks, and your dad might appreciate not needing a giant behemoth to get it done. I totally agree with Bearmann on having a second ssd for any DB or catalog related work.
Obviously its very subjective though. Hope you find a build that's comfortable.

 

[JKnetz]

He is a wedding photographer and will be processing hundreds of RAW photos in batch. I also left room to add another 16gb of ram if needed in the future.

I chose the H100i closed loop cooler because I've had nothing but good experiences with them, although probably not needed.

I didn't do much research on the monitor so I appreciate your advise on the resolution. He also prints at home so that's one reason why I went with an IPS monitor.

Forgot to mention that I have 2 GTX 680's laying around which was from my old personal build. I could pop one of those in if it will benefit from it, what do you guys think?

 

[Bearmann]

Definitely an IPS monitor. Dell is a good mid-range choice. Top tier are NEC and EIZO. Add a 120GB SSD for the Lightroom catalog. If he is young and has excellent eyesight, he might like the 4K monitor. The GTX 680 is probably a good idea, but if you want you can try it without first and see how it does. If he doesn't have one, you should get an X-Rite i1Display Pro or similar to calibrate his screen. Dell also sells a Dell branded version of this and monitors that are programed for it.

 

[JKnetz]

He is in the 50's and does not have quite the 20/20 vision so I'm having doubts about the 4k monitor now. I've added a 120gb SSD for the lightroom catalog as well.

After doing more research on both the 6700k and 5820k, I'm now in a dilemma since Photoshop would probably benefit more from 6 cores instead of 4. Thoughts?

 

[silversurfernhs]

He is in the 50's and does not have quite the 20/20 vision so I'm having doubts about the 4k monitor now. I've added a 120gb SSD for the lightroom catalog as well.

After doing more research on both the 6700k and 5820k, I'm now in a dilemma since Photoshop would probably benefit more from 6 cores instead of 4. Thoughts?

If he's still super quick and multitasks, go 6 core.

 

[Bearmann]

I really think the i7 6700K would be better. Photoshop depends on high single core performance, while some actions in Lightroom can benefit from the extra cores, but the speed of those cores is still important. If you will overclock the 5820K, then maybe.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Adobe-Photoshop-CC-Multi-Core-Performance-625/

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Adobe-Lightroom-CC-6-Multi-Core-Performance-649/

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/skylake-intel-core-i7-6700k-core-i5-6600k,4252-5.html

 

[JKnetz]

Alright I've decided to go with the 6700k. I greatly appreciate the help everyone, I definitely benefited from posting here!

Thanks again.