i3 Photoshop/Lightroom Build Advice

[joerichland]

I'm an avid photographer and often process large quantities of large RAW files. I have an aging i7 that muddles through the heavy lifting OK, I expect to replace it soon but I also have a 2nd PC that needs replacement. The 2nd PC gets less frequent editing duties and as such it has been borderline OK for an embarrassing period of time. It's a laptop with a Core 2 Duo P8600 with 4GB RAM and thankfully an SSD drive. It STILL get it done amazingly well for being an upgraded antique with a 1558 Passmark score.

The build I'm contemplating to replace it has the i3 6100 CPU with a Passmark score of 5511. It seems like for super cheap this will be a huge step up, maybe as fast as my i7 860 with 16GB of RAM, since it's Passmark score is 5098?

Here's the build....... http://pcpartpicker.com/p/gFfcZL

Any advice about any wrong thinking, as well as any general advice since it will be my 1st build will be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[bambiboom]

I'm an avid photographer and often process large quantities of large RAW files. I have an aging i7 that muddles through the heavy lifting OK, I expect to replace it soon but I also have a 2nd PC that needs replacement. The 2nd PC gets less frequent editing duties and as such it has been borderline OK for an embarrassing period of time. It's a laptop with a Core 2 Duo P8600 with 4GB RAM and thankfully an SSD drive. It STILL get it done amazingly well for being an upgraded antique with a 1558 Passmark score.

The build I'm contemplating to replace it has the i3 6100 CPU with a Passmark score of 5511. It seems like for super cheap this will be a huge step up, maybe as fast as my i7 860 with 16GB of RAM, since it's Passmark score is 5098?

Here's the build....... http://pcpartpicker.com/p/gFfcZL

Any advice about any wrong thinking, as well as any general advice since it will be my 1st build will be appreciated.

Thanks

joerichland,

While, the part lists includes smart choices for components, there may be value in buying a used workstation instead of building. As for many workstation application, the uses do focus on single-threaded performance but Lightroom exports and processing benefit from additional CPU cores. See: Adobe Lightroom CC/6 Multi Core Performance

Also, the Intel HD 530 integrated graphics is very good in 2D, and better than expected in 3D, IG takes system CPU and RAM. A separate GPU is advisable with large files that need all the CPU's attention.

Passmark: i3-6100 /Gigabyte Z170 / 8GB / HD 530/ Samsung 840 Evo:

Rating: 3077
CPU: 5934
2D: 873
3D: 826
Memory: 3098
Disk: 3385

Because large files will benefit from a wider memory bandwidth, a used, upgraded Xeon E5 workstation with more cores and dedicated GPU could greatly improve performance and within a similar cost to the proposed build.

For example:

Dell Precision T3600 Hexa/6 Core XEON E5-1660/3.30GHz/32Gb/4x 600Gb/DVD/Win 7 D > sold for $599 (4.27.16)

In this example, for $600, there is a Xeon E5 6-core @ 3.3 /3.9GHz, 32GB of RAM, 4X 600GB SAS drives, and a Quadro 600. the Xeon E5-1660 has an Passmark average of 12621 with a single-threaded score of 1987. With 32GB of RAM, running on fast SAS drives- they may be 10K for example, it's in a better configuration to handle large RAW files These systems use server-grade components and are very quiet. The Quadro 600 is a bit weak-kneed in 3D but the 2D is above average. There is only one T3600 / E5-1660 / Quadro 600 system on Passmark, but it's encouraging:

Rating: 3305
CPU: 12550
2D: 812
3D: 690
Memory: 2662 (16GB)
Disk: 4375 (Samsung 830)

Another approach is to buy a Precision T3600 or HP z420 with a low specification CPU and upgrade:

HP Z420 Intel Xeon Quad Core E5-1620 3.60GHz/16GB/1TB SATA > sold for $270

And adding an E5-1660 costs about $250. That's $520 and add a used Quadro K620 (2GB) for about $120, and a Samsung 850 Evo 250GB for $90- Total about $720

The E5-1650 is another very good performer 6-core @ 3.2 /3.8, average Passmark 11808 with a single-threaded score of 1930:

HP Z420 WORKSTATION W7 PRO E5-1650 3.20GHZ 16GB DDR3-1866 REG 500GB selling for $615 or offer

However, for the higher single-threaded score, try for an E5-1660.

Also, lately there has been a big drop in the prices of E5 8 cores. It's possible to buy an E5-2670 (8-core @ 2.6 /3.3GHz) for $60-70 (Passmark 12502 /1620 single threaded) or better, a E5-2680 (8-core @ 2.7 /3.5) for about $150 and that averages 14438, single-threaded 1709. This can be used in a dual Xeon configuration and make Passmark scores approaching 20000. It's possible to buy a T7600 barebone system reasonably:

Dell Precision T7600 Barebones No Heatsinks No CPU No RAM No RAID No HDD > sold for $450 or offer. This would be more costly, but could be started on a single E5-2680 and 16GB of RAM for perhaps $800. and eventually have 16 cores /32 threads.

The best feature of this approach besides the benefit of multiple cores for Lightroom is that with the right choice, the system could be set up and used out of the box and upgraded as the GPU,disks, additional RAM is found. This saves researching, sourcing, assembly, wiring, configuration, and etc. I've done this a number of times since 2010 and had 100% reliability with 5 systems, saving quite a lot in money and time.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

Modeling:

1. HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 (6-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz) > 32GB DDR3 1866 ECC RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > Logitech z2300 speakers > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440)>
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555]
[Passmark V9.0 Beta Rating = 5019.1 > CPU= 14206 / 2D= 779 / 3D= 5032 / Mem= 2707 / Disk= 4760] 3.31.16
[Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1014 OpenGL= 126.59 FPS] 7.8.15

Rendering:

2. Dell Precision T5500 (2011) (Revised) > 2X Xeon X5680 (6-core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz), 48GB DDR3 1333 ECC Reg. > Quadro K2200 (4GB ) > PERC H310 / Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card > Logitech z313 > 875W PSU > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (27", 1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3844 / CPU = 15047 / 2D= 662 / 3D= 3550 / Mem= 1785 / Disk= 2649] (12.30.15)

 

[joerichland]

Wow, great advice, lots to think about. My limited knowledge of all this stuff means I had to read up on a lot of the technology you suggest. Being my 1st build it seems ambitious but the reasoning is very sound.

Thanks for all your time and your thoughtful reply, I'll rattle it all around in my little brain and see what comes out....

 

[BangkokPhoto]

I am a fellow Lightroom “hostage” and threw a significant sum of money into hardware solutions to the performance issues. Lightroom is a database program with lightweight editing features. Upgrading processors, graphics cards, and/or ram will leave you disappointed; focus on file system performance. Approximately $3400 later the only solution I have found was to place smart previews on m.2 drives, disconnect the raw library, and work with the SmartPs on the M.2.
When the face tagger was done (4 days later), I reconnected and saved. When the 6.5.1 managed to update the Nikon lens metadata problem it was a 2 day ordeal. The performance is terrible because the software is poorly engineered; so don’t waste your money on a Xeon workstation.
***You cannot boot from M.2; keep that in mind.

 

[joerichland]

I am a fellow Lightroom “hostage” and threw a significant sum of money into hardware solutions to the performance issues. Lightroom is a database program with lightweight editing features. Upgrading processors, graphics cards, and/or ram will leave you disappointed; focus on file system performance. Approximately $3400 later the only solution I have found was to place smart previews on m.2 drives, disconnect the raw library, and work with the SmartPs on the M.2.
When the face tagger was done (4 days later), I reconnected and saved. When the 6.5.1 managed to update the Nikon lens metadata problem it was a 2 day ordeal. The performance is terrible because the software is poorly engineered; so don’t waste your money on a Xeon workstation.
***You cannot boot from M.2; keep that in mind.

Wow thanks, sorry I didn't get back sooner. I still haven't figured out what to do. Sounds like we suffer a similar fate, my main LR catalog has about 300,000 images...many are D800 50MB images.

I thought some of the modern MOBs booted from M.2, no?

 

[bambiboom]

I am a fellow Lightroom “hostage” and threw a significant sum of money into hardware solutions to the performance issues. Lightroom is a database program with lightweight editing features. Upgrading processors, graphics cards, and/or ram will leave you disappointed; focus on file system performance. Approximately $3400 later the only solution I have found was to place smart previews on m.2 drives, disconnect the raw library, and work with the SmartPs on the M.2.
When the face tagger was done (4 days later), I reconnected and saved. When the 6.5.1 managed to update the Nikon lens metadata problem it was a 2 day ordeal. The performance is terrible because the software is poorly engineered; so don’t waste your money on a Xeon workstation.
***You cannot boot from M.2; keep that in mind.

Wow thanks, sorry I didn't get back sooner. I still haven't figured out what to do. Sounds like we suffer a similar fate, my main LR catalog has about 300,000 images...many are D800 50MB images.

I thought some of the modern MOBs booted from M.2, no?

joerichland,

Yes, it's possible to boot from M.2. The motherboard firmware and chipset drivers will need to be updated so check the MB 's site.

There are also PCIe x4 to M.2 adapters, for example:

Addonics M2 PCIe SSD - PCIe 3.0 4-Lane Adapter > $27

"This M2 PCIe SSD adapter enable installing the M2 PCI SSD into a PCIe 4 lane slot of any Desktop system or server."

These seem to have quite positive ratings, so they must work. I've been tempted to try one of these as the M.2 speeds can be so astounding.

Do you have a budget for you the new system? I ask as I've seen some very good deals deals on used workstations" yesterday (5.30.16) a Dell Precision T7610 with a Xeon E5-2687w V2- that's 8-core @ 3.4 /4.0GHz- and this sold for only $1,500. Used E5-2687w V2 still sell for $1,700- $2,000 on their own.

From the Puget Systems articles on Lightroom, which places all the performance quality on the CPU, but maximizes utilization at about 6-core and is terrible in dual CPU systems, it seems a single 6- or 8- core Xeon E5 with the highest possible clock speed in combination with a higher end GTX would be ideal. My vote would be E5-1660 v2 (6-core @ 3.4 /4.0Ghz) or it's i7 cousin i5-5960X.

Cheers,

BambiBoom
only 28,000 images

 

[USAFRet]

I'm an avid photographer and often process large quantities of large RAW files. I have an aging i7 that muddles through the heavy lifting OK, I expect to replace it soon but I also have a 2nd PC that needs replacement. The 2nd PC gets less frequent editing duties and as such it has been borderline OK for an embarrassing period of time. It's a laptop with a Core 2 Duo P8600 with 4GB RAM and thankfully an SSD drive. It STILL get it done amazingly well for being an upgraded antique with a 1558 Passmark score.

The build I'm contemplating to replace it has the i3 6100 CPU with a Passmark score of 5511. It seems like for super cheap this will be a huge step up, maybe as fast as my i7 860 with 16GB of RAM, since it's Passmark score is 5098?

Here's the build....... http://pcpartpicker.com/p/gFfcZL

Any advice about any wrong thinking, as well as any general advice since it will be my 1st build will be appreciated.

Thanks

For your current situation, the main issue is the limited RAM.
That CPU is bad, but secondary.

I do a lot of that same stuff with Lightroom
Currently a i5-3570k, and 16GB RAM. Works just fine.

 

[BangkokPhoto]

I would like to update:

M.2 can OSboot from {thanks to a firmware update from ASrock}

Upgrade to 32gig Gskill 3000 ddr4; no noticeable LR performance gains over the 16gig.

I switched over to a RAID0 for my 3 Samsung 950 pro m.2: very noticeable performance gain in LR.

The M.2 file system performance gains seems to be the answer to LR performance problems with large catalogs; unfortunately M.2 capacity is very limited. Build your smart previews on the M.2(s), disconnect your raw catalog, and work with the smart previews. There is a way to convert M.2 to U.2 and run the u.2 drives.

 

[Bearmann]

Are you doing all of these things?

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/kb/optimize-performance-lightroom.html

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/kb/performance-hints.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjUtKAmJ_9c