Advice Needed for PC build

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gcorgnet

1078 posts

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#233491 18-Apr-2018 11:23

Hey guys, this question is a bit specific but here we go:

I just built a new machine with a Asus Strix Z370-G and a i7 8700K CPU.

Great machine, very happy with it. Its main purpose would be for photo editing (Lightroom + Photoshop + a bunch of CPU intensive apps, not so much GPU)

Since I am not a gamer, I didn't buy any fancy GPU to go with it and I currently have 3 options because of parts lying around:

- An HD7970 (runs hot and probably don't need all that)

- An HD6670

- Using no GPU and using what's built in the CPU.

Now, my main goals are to try and keep things running cool (so would tent to avoid the big HD7970, but could be wrong) and having as much CPU power as possible.

Also, less temperature means I can probably push the CPU a bit further (OC)

What would you do?

I guess having no dedicated GPU means the CPU is also being used to handle all the graphics stuff and has therefore less time to spend on other processes. Or am I wrong?

In that case, it means that having a dedicated GPU would be preferable, provided that it's a small-ish one (again, no gaming) that uses little power and generates only little heat?

Anything I am missing?

Thanks in Advance

Tzoi

424 posts

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#1998772 18-Apr-2018 16:52

My understanding is the iGPU (integrated graphics) is separate to the actual CPU on the chip. However, using the integrated graphics would use up some RAM and also increase heat slightly

GoranZ

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#1998973 18-Apr-2018 21:01

iGPU has its own processing power so wont effect cpu "grunt" but it will consume a mall amount of RAM.

HD7970 is a great card although do run hot. You could remove the heatsink, do a good clean and apply some good new thermal paste. I had an old 7950 I dropped 20deg off doing this.

how are you cooling the i7 8700K ? .. air cooler drops a lot of heat into the case

do you have good intake and outlet fans ?

timmmay

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#1998975 18-Apr-2018 21:06

iGpu also theoretically consumes some memory bandwidth. I took the small nVidia card out of my PC (520 or something) as there wasn't space for that and a USB3 card given I have a huge heatsink, benchmark scores went down by (from memory) 1-2%.

I don't think it's going make any practical difference to performance whichever you choose, so use the integrated one as it'll be lower heat / lower noise.

gcorgnet

1078 posts

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#1998976 18-Apr-2018 21:09

thanks for your reply.

I am cooling the CPU with a "Cooler Master MasterLiquid Pro 120 All in One Watercooling dual 120 fans.".

I have 2x 120fans at the front for intake and the CPU Cooler Fans at the back for exhaust.

Temp is OK for now but I was just wondering what I should do in terms of GPU

timmmay

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#1998979 18-Apr-2018 21:13

gcorgnet:

Temp is OK for now but I was just wondering what I should do in terms of GPU

My answer to that is "it probably makes no practical difference to performance, so do whatever is easiest".

Tinkerisk

4224 posts

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#1999031 19-Apr-2018 05:40

gcorgnet:

Temp is OK for now but I was just wondering what I should do in terms of GPU

I'd go with the sole UHD 630 graphics for your use case. I know you are not looking at games but even for that: it's capable.

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xpd

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#1999047 19-Apr-2018 07:37

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/photoshop-cc-gpu-card-faq.html

Some features of PS use the GPU to lighten the CPU load, so might be worth taking into consideration.

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Batman

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#1999064 19-Apr-2018 08:19

when i crank up my GTX 1060 from "auto" to "high performance", my photos* load 5X faster on my screen when i click on the thumbnails in lightroom.

i'd say spend money on an NVidia card you can afford (i'd go at least 1070 if i were you), then make sure you set power consumption to max performance :)

life will be a lot better.

*RAW, 24MP, iirc same thing whether i pre render them or not. so i don't pre render, no difference! running 32GB RAM, 960 Pro M.2 SSD, 4.7GHz x4 (OC) quad core i7.

Batman

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#1999066 19-Apr-2018 08:22

xpd:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/photoshop-cc-gpu-card-faq.html

Some features of PS use the GPU to lighten the CPU load, so might be worth taking into consideration.

adobe - haha what they say and what actually happens are completely different, all bull really. i won't read too much into that. when you ask them for specifics - nobody knows. so i went and did testing on my own self and discovered a few things. :) in short, GPU is used mainly, and for photo apps, only when it generates an image on your screen. anything not to do with producing pixels on your screen = CPU. but the dumb thing don't use 100% of your CPU capacity. it's almost never at 100%. video is slightly different but not far off.

gcorgnet

1078 posts

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#1999068 19-Apr-2018 08:29

Batman:

when i crank up my GTX 1060 from "auto" to "high performance", my photos* load 5X faster on my screen when i click on the thumbnails in lightroom.

i'd say spend money on an NVidia card you can afford (i'd go at least 1070 if i were you), then make sure you set power consumption to max performance :)

life will be a lot better.

*RAW, 24MP, iirc same thing whether i pre render them or not. so i don't pre render, no difference! running 32GB RAM, 960 Pro M.2 SSD, 4.7GHz x4 (OC) quad core i7.

Thanks for that. I am pretty sure what you are saying is contrary to all I have read about the subject (both straight from Adobe and from users) so quite surprised by this.

I was considering throwing a 1050ti in there (not sure I'd want to fork out for anything bigger since I am not playing games) so now I am wondering if that would make a difference.

I have to say rendering 1:1 previews every time I import something is a bit of a pain

gcorgnet

1078 posts

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#1999069 19-Apr-2018 08:30

timmmay:

gcorgnet:

Temp is OK for now but I was just wondering what I should do in terms of GPU

My answer to that is "it probably makes no practical difference to performance, so do whatever is easiest".

Thanks for that, good to know.

Batman

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#1999088 19-Apr-2018 08:47

gcorgnet:

Batman:

when i crank up my GTX 1060 from "auto" to "high performance", my photos* load 5X faster on my screen when i click on the thumbnails in lightroom.

i'd say spend money on an NVidia card you can afford (i'd go at least 1070 if i were you), then make sure you set power consumption to max performance :)

life will be a lot better.

*RAW, 24MP, iirc same thing whether i pre render them or not. so i don't pre render, no difference! running 32GB RAM, 960 Pro M.2 SSD, 4.7GHz x4 (OC) quad core i7.

Thanks for that. I am pretty sure what you are saying is contrary to all I have read about the subject (both straight from Adobe and from users) so quite surprised by this.

I was considering throwing a 1050ti in there (not sure I'd want to fork out for anything bigger since I am not playing games) so now I am wondering if that would make a difference.

I have to say rendering 1:1 previews every time I import something is a bit of a pain

On my rig it is, I am not sure about other people's rig. Do they set their cards to Max performance? I found leaving performance on Auto is horrible on Lightroom. Don't use any other editing apps much so I cannot say about those ones. Something nobody tells you until you read a gaming website that tells you to set cards to max performance. ANd I thought hmm ... if it makes a difference for gaming ... and it did! If only I had known that 6 years ago!!!