Light photo editing build CPU i3 or i5

[secretliar]

Hi,

I building a PC for light photo editing.
Like Photoshop lightroom / DXO Optics Pro 10 editing.
We bought a i3-4150 build in Futureshop for testing purpose (HDD and 4Gb RAM).

I'm trying a build a better PC for the same price range.


For now I'm hesitating between i3-4150 and i5-4460.
I'm building the PC for someone that is the kind to wait for everypart of the PC to burn before thinking about changing or upgrading it.

For light photo editing and everyday use, is it worth taking the i5-4460 or just any i3 would be enought?

The i3-4150 seems fine but does the i5 would bring more power and be a smarter chose for future?

Build for now :

- i3-4150 or i5-4460
- ASRock H97M Pro4
- Crucial M500
- G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) RAM
- Corsair 430
- Case

We already have a 1Tb external HD for archiving photos.

Some products looks expensive but are choosen for upgrading options (more RAM) and/or mailin rebates at this moment.

 

[thetechy]

Yes, there is quite good performance gap between i3 and i5. For light photo editing and productivity i3 would do the job but i5 would be future proof and you would not require to change CPU if in future you intend to play games with cranked up settings and do photo or video editing professionally. It all depends upon your budget, if your budget allows i5 is way to go but if you think that you can do with an i3 for 1-2 years and would upgrade later that is also good.

 

[Guest]

when you think about it just about any modern cpu could get the job done but if you want higher editing performance levels then you want a i7, Xeon, FX..

i3 and i5 cant keep up with cpu's with more threads in editing

 

[secretliar]

Thanks a lot for the quick answers!

For the moment the usage is very low. We just want to make sure that if he upgrade the camera the computer will be able to keep up 😉 Anyway we are testing with Nikon D610 RAW sample files so I think that's ok 😉

The price gap is only 100$ (approx) and I know that he'll keep the computer for like 5 years minimum so I think that's the i5 would be a better option.

Thanks a lot

If you have anything to add about the other parts of the build, please tell me. There's 4 DDR port on the motherboard and if I remember well, it's better to have 2x4Gb than 1x8Gb for dual channel, right? (There's still will be 2 more port for memory upgrade if needed).

 

[Guest]

you remember correctly, 2 sticks shall be faster.

some nice and fast sticks for a H motherboard would be cas 7 at 1600mhz. might be pricey but there is some good deals sometimes and if not cas 8 is not bad.