Desktop suitable for Photoshop CC

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nate

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#208472 13-Feb-2017 17:55

Dad's looking for a new computer, mainly uses Photoshop Creative Cloud 2017 and is frustrated at how slow his current machine is.

He already had dual 24" monitors, it's been so long since I bought a desktop PC I have no idea what specs to get or even a supplier (Auckland).

Suggestions please.

richms

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#1719522 13-Feb-2017 17:57

What are they doing in photoshop? Huge difference between cropping and levels vs some of the magic I see some of my friends do in it memory wise.

Richard rich.ms

nate

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#1719523 13-Feb-2017 18:04

richms:

What are they doing in photoshop? Huge difference between cropping and levels vs some of the magic I see some of my friends do in it memory wise.

Crap, sorry should've mentioned - he's just bought the top of the line Canon DSLR and uses it for editing RAW files.

Stan

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#1719525 13-Feb-2017 18:06

I would wait around a month AMD is launching Ryzen and if the leaks are true its going to be one extremely fantastic CPU

Talkiet

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#1719529 13-Feb-2017 18:28

As someone that has been developing thousands of raw files for years, my advice would be any DESKTOP i7 processor (not a laptop i7 - they are much slower) with gobs of memory. Even an ANCIENT (unbuyable) i7-2600 with 32GB of RAM would be nice.

recent i7, 32GB RAM, enough SSD to keep his OS and current project on the SSD before copying it off after.

Of course the biggest benefits would be realised in choosing new software but that's a discussion for another time.

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

Stan

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#1719533 13-Feb-2017 18:52

Talkiet:

As someone that has been developing thousands of raw files for years, my advice would be any DESKTOP i7 processor (not a laptop i7 - they are much slower) with gobs of memory. Even an ANCIENT (unbuyable) i7-2600 with 32GB of RAM would be nice.

recent i7, 32GB RAM, enough SSD to keep his OS and current project on the SSD before copying it off after.

Of course the biggest benefits would be realised in choosing new software but that's a discussion for another time.

Cheers - N

That depends on the model of the laptop i7 cpu the U series are duel core and have low TDP however a cpu like the i7-7820HK mobile cpu is actually faster than a non OC i7 2600k

However with all that being said the new AMD Ryzen cpus should be as fast as an 8 core 16 thread i7 6900k but at half the cost for the CPUs and a reasonable amount less for the Motherboard.

Batman

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#1719599 13-Feb-2017 19:15

if you can afford a 7820HK then your desktop can be so optimized for photoshop CC.

here's my recommendation depending on budget

- i7 7700 (or 7700K if he can OC to 5GHz quad core), or Ryzen who knows how it benchmarks

- 16GB RAM is wayyyy more than enough to edit RAW files. crazy magic may need more but unlikely to exceed 32GB

- some GPU eg 1060 but it doesn't get used all the time - there isn't good benchmarking of GPU to various photoshop actions that my research have found

- Samsung 960 M.2 1TB is the fastest SSD at the moment.

there you go.

i use a one prev gen set up for my photoshop and it's lightning fast on a 4K screen.

Stan

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#1719616 13-Feb-2017 19:52

joker97:

if you can afford a 7820HK then your desktop can be so optimized for photoshop CC.

here's my recommendation depending on budget

- i7 7700 (or 7700K if he can OC to 5GHz quad core), or Ryzen who knows how it benchmarks

- 16GB RAM is wayyyy more than enough to edit RAW files. crazy magic may need more but unlikely to exceed 32GB

- some GPU eg 1060 but it doesn't get used all the time - there isn't good benchmarking of GPU to various photoshop actions that my research have found

- Samsung 960 M.2 1TB is the fastest SSD at the moment.

there you go.

i use a one prev gen set up for my photoshop and it's lightning fast on a 4K screen.

7820HK is a laptop CPU :)

You would have to delid the 7700k to get it to 5ghz because of the poor quality thermal material intel use.

16gb should be fine unless you are crazy and do stitching of 200mpixel photos.

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mattwnz

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#1719617 13-Feb-2017 19:54

A good sized SSD is a must, something like an intel. Also you will probably need a secondary drive to use as a scratch drive. However i am not sure if SSDs are the best for scratch drives, due to being constantly written to. Others may know the best setup for scratch drives and the best ones to get.

Batman

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#1719626 13-Feb-2017 20:21

Stan:

joker97:

if you can afford a 7820HK then your desktop can be so optimized for photoshop CC.

here's my recommendation depending on budget

- i7 7700 (or 7700K if he can OC to 5GHz quad core), or Ryzen who knows how it benchmarks

- 16GB RAM is wayyyy more than enough to edit RAW files. crazy magic may need more but unlikely to exceed 32GB

- some GPU eg 1060 but it doesn't get used all the time - there isn't good benchmarking of GPU to various photoshop actions that my research have found

- Samsung 960 M.2 1TB is the fastest SSD at the moment.

there you go.

i use a one prev gen set up for my photoshop and it's lightning fast on a 4K screen.

7820HK is a laptop CPU :)

You would have to delid the 7700k to get it to 5ghz because of the poor quality thermal material intel use.

16gb should be fine unless you are crazy and do stitching of 200mpixel photos.

exactly. if you can afford a 7820K you'd be able to build an amazing desktop (instead of buying the laptop)

the second point is a myth, i can OC my 6700K to 4.7GHz at 1.3V with fan cooling without it going over 70C with stress testing over 24 hrs.

Stan

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#1719632 13-Feb-2017 20:34

joker97:

Stan:

joker97:

if you can afford a 7820HK then your desktop can be so optimized for photoshop CC.

here's my recommendation depending on budget

- i7 7700 (or 7700K if he can OC to 5GHz quad core), or Ryzen who knows how it benchmarks

- 16GB RAM is wayyyy more than enough to edit RAW files. crazy magic may need more but unlikely to exceed 32GB

- some GPU eg 1060 but it doesn't get used all the time - there isn't good benchmarking of GPU to various photoshop actions that my research have found

- Samsung 960 M.2 1TB is the fastest SSD at the moment.

there you go.

i use a one prev gen set up for my photoshop and it's lightning fast on a 4K screen.

7820HK is a laptop CPU :)

You would have to delid the 7700k to get it to 5ghz because of the poor quality thermal material intel use.

16gb should be fine unless you are crazy and do stitching of 200mpixel photos.

exactly. if you can afford a 7820K you'd be able to build an amazing desktop (instead of buying the laptop)

the second point is a myth, i can OC my 6700K to 4.7GHz at 1.3V with fan cooling without it going over 70C with stress testing over 24 hrs.

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/55497/7700k-delidded-30c-reduction-temps-wtf-intel/index.html

Batman

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#1719633 13-Feb-2017 20:37

they said the exact same thing about the Skylake pre production CPUs, that they will never OC because they're crap at cooling etc ... and then to find that the production models were extremely easy to OC.

with a bit of luck, that's going to be the same with the Kaby Lakes. otherwise I'm away laughing with my 4.7GHz fan OC.

Batman

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#1719634 13-Feb-2017 20:39

mind you my fan cooler is a big momma Noctua D15 (2 140mm blowers)

timmmay

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#1719640 13-Feb-2017 20:48

Processing large raw files is very CPU intensive. A desktop i7 processor released in the past year or two would be good, looking at clock speed more than total cores if you want good interactive performance. You don't need the absolute latest/fastest, I've been processing tens of thousands of raw files a year with an i7 2600K, though my raw files are 12MP not 50. Don't wait a month, there's always something newer and better, i7 are great. i5 is great if on a budget, interactive speed will be good, batch output will be a touch slower.

RAM isn't critical. 16GB RAM lets 500 12MP RAW files sit in RAM, which makes processing a bit faster. However if the current working set of files is on SSD it almost doesn't matter. 8GB min, 16GB is great, 32GB is probably not going to help. I'm not even sure 16GB will help all that much, but it's cheap.

A solid state disk is good, 256GB is ample. I actually use 120GB for OS and programs (plus cache), then another 120GB for catalog, email, and similar. Splitting them makes disk images easier, for backups and quick OS disk restores, but doesn't matter for most people as most people don't keep decent backups.

Video card is largely unimportant : whatever's in the CPU is fine. If you must, then get the lowest or second lowest in the most recently or second most recent of the nVidia range.

TLDR; modern i7, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, no video card.

blakamin

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#1719723 13-Feb-2017 21:42

Did the same for father in law last year, except he got top of the line AMD at the time, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD and a 2TB 7200rpm HDD for storage.

He's had no issues (except the ones he creates himself by trying to use some really old or weird software that wont run on win10)

Dairyxox

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#1719825 14-Feb-2017 09:04

Something like the ThinkCentre M900 Tiny looks like it might fit the bill.

It has an option for extra displayport output, so can drive his two screens fine.

I customized it here to have:

Skylake Core i7

16GB

128GB M.2 NVMe SSD

500GB HDD

Optional Extra DP connector

Total: $ 1,876.20

I'd be tempted to buy it without the SSD, and upgrade it myself after purchase. Because crazy OEM markup for big SSD's.

EDIT: Or start with this (similar) intel Skull Canyon NUC

It has Iris graphics, and the 128mb L4 Cachememory.

Otherwise pretty similar to the lenovo.