My new computer - Bet this will save time!

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III

10/26/2012 12:57:25 AM · #1

So, last week, as some of you may know, my PC went kaput, and I was left scrambling for a decent system, I put together a new laptop from some spare parts we had, and fixed it up to be fairly solid, but I've been feeling unsatisfied for a while.

I've been starved for power, and really just tired of waiting for Photoshop to do it's thing, and having movies that play back with some jerkiness or out of sync frames. Living off of laptops just stinks, they just can't crunch like the desktops can.

So.....

I just ordered in an 8 core 3.2 GHz board and chip, along with 16GB of RAM. I traded a lens for a base setup that included a 1GB GeForce card, and a slower dual core mobo with 2GB of RAM a couple of weeks ago.. Unfortunately, the mobo maxes out at 2GB of RAM (strange..), so I just decided to throw about $300 at a new board, processor and RAM. Add that to my internal 1.5TB HDD it's a pretty good combo.

But.. I decided to take it one step further - I found a case that has a top loading SATA port, and that inspired me to build a computer that works like the old cartridge systems (think SNES), so I can now just set up a couple of drives and switch out computers as I feel like it, one for work one for games, one for image editing, etc. My main system will run off of a 128GB SSD, so it should be crazy fast. Anyway, I thought that this has turned out to be quite a cool setup, perhaps one worthy of sharing.

I'm really just hoping this means I can run Photoshop super fast. ;)

All told, my cost was still just at $500(plus a 80-200mm EF lens). Not too bad for the power I think.

Of course, now that I've gotten back into the desktop world, I am kinda curious what the other DPC'ers are running, if you've got something that you're really liking, I'm in a hardware upgrades sort of mood, so I'd like to hear about your setup.

Message edited by author 2012-10-26 01:09:50.

Yo_Spiff

Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 M.Zuiko ED IS PRO

10/26/2012 01:20:43 AM · #2

Sounds like a nice setup.

I tend to stay about 18-24 months behind the power curve with my builds. My current system I built almost 4 years ago. Dual core 3 Ghz AMD with 2 hard drives. One for OS and apps, the other for data. Starting to think about the next one, but my current system still runs plenty fast for me. Probably a 6 core AMD, 16 Gb Ram, and booting off an SSD. Certainly will be using an ASUS motherboard, I've been happy with the ones I've used to this point. Smooth installs and everything works the first time.

Since I'm using PaintShop Pro, I don't have the system demands that PhotoShop prefers.

Maybe I'll put a new PC together sometime next year, but then, I may buy another bicycle instead.

BTW, it will probably NOT have Windows 8. I've been testing it with our printers and software over the last few days and I really don't like the schizophrenic interface. If I have to use it, it will be with a lot of customization first. Metro, Bleh.

Message edited by author 2012-10-26 01:24:04.

Devinder

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

10/26/2012 09:50:34 AM · #3

A few months ago, feeling annoyed by my current setup's speed, I looked into building my own new machine. Given the prices vs my budget, i couldn't even build something that would do everything i needed it to.

So, I decided to go with a prebuilt second hand system off ebay/craigslist. I know enough about machines to test em out, and i kept my search local so i could pose the condition that i get to check this machine out. Life of parts matters too ofcourse. After a lot of searching i found This machine for 950$:

i7 2600k processor
Asrock z68 extreme3 gen 3 mobo
16gb ddr3 1600 ram gskill ripjaws 4x4
2 hds:
1 ssd crucial 64gig, 1 hdd 500 gig 32mb cache 5200rpm from WD
corsair 750 PSU (one with the 80+ rating)
2 x radeon 6950 (reference cards unlocked) 2gb each in crossfire
a Corsair liquid cooling unit on the CPU (h80 i think)
Rosewill gamer case (blackhawk extreme is what its called i believe)
dvd writer drive

Ideally, i would have liked comparable gpu power in a single card (PS doesnt feel love for crossfire) but the deal was really good and the seller agreed to my testing terms. We met up at my place, I ran a few tests over 2 hours and checked out the internals. Everything looked good. Made the purchase, stuck a vertex 3 240gig in there to use as a primary ssd (got that on a sale 140$. Now my 64 gig is my scratch (cause i can afford that it dies to read/writes) and my primary is a 240 gig where i store all my productivity and photography stuff. My games go on the 500gig drive which is kinda slow, but only to get revved up - havent seen a hiccup. ever. My storage is two usb3.0 3tb externals. Overclocked the GPU's just a tad. CPU hasnt really been a bottleneck yet, but i can bring that guy up a tad too if i want (4.5ghz will do nicely). Just haven't felt the need.

Machine runs extremely well so far. Knock on wood. Occasional driver related error on one game, but since i don't game much- i m all set.

edit: had to sell my 60d to afford it all

Message edited by author 2012-10-26 09:54:10.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

10/26/2012 09:54:30 AM · #4

Originally posted by Devinder:

Nice setup, I'm a little jealous! ;)

Devinder

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

10/26/2012 11:03:29 AM · #5

at about a grand, it was a steal (building this thing woulda cost about $1600 (win7 was included). I m hoping windows8 isnt a big pain in the ass upgrade where i have to reinstall everything.. But i suppose time will tell.

10/26/2012 01:56:53 PM · #6

Originally posted by Cory:

...I found a case that has a top loading SATA port...

Can you put up a link, plz. Sounds like a good idea to use a hot PC to use different OSs.

10/26/2012 02:02:09 PM · #7

Originally posted by Strikeslip:

Originally posted by Cory:
...I found a case that has a top loading SATA port...

Can you put up a link, plz. Sounds like a good idea to use a hot PC to use different OSs.

I'm doing it as a cold-swap, since it's darn tricky to hot-swap an OS disk. ;)

I have a Thermaltake case, here's my case.

10/26/2012 02:06:42 PM · #8

Nice. I'm going to do this for our next family PC. We have multiple logins on one right now, and a virus on one account fubared the entire PC this summer. One drive each and download at your own risk!

10/26/2012 02:13:55 PM · #9

Originally posted by Strikeslip:

Keep a ghost image, and you can just setup new drives fast and easy, as needed. They make cases with two SATA ports on top if you want to do that the easy way. So if someone screws their drive you can just give them a fresh PC in an hour, plus that way you only have to do an install / update / programs install / etc, on one drive. Then you can just replicate that. Of course, in that scenario, having identical drives isn't required, but it is arguably better.

10/26/2012 08:34:03 PM · #10

Huh...

I just read this about my motherboard:

XFast RAM - Fully Optimize Memory Usage It fully utilizes the memory space that cannot be used under Windows 32-bit OS. ASRock XFast RAM also shortens the loading time of previously visited websites, making web surfing faster than ever. And it also boosts the speed of Adobe Photoshop 5 times faster. Another advantage of ASRock XFast RAM is that it reduces the frequency of accessing your SSDs or HDDs in order to extend their lifespan.

I wonder if this is true? 5x faster Photoshop? With my setup that means the commands should be done slightly before I issue them. ;)

Message edited by author 2012-10-26 20:34:15.

10/26/2012 08:41:03 PM · #11

Bonus

10/26/2012 08:43:37 PM · #12

I have to suspect it's just marketing hype.

10/26/2012 09:19:38 PM · #13

You'll have to write a review. Or better yet, do one on YouTube.

FYI, years ago I did consider cutting a slot in the side of a PC and fishing the ribbon cable and a power cable out for easy access to rig up what this thermaltake does.

I have a Thermaltake case sitting with a bunch of ripped apart innards in the furnace room. A Tsunami Dream. It was a little noisy, so next go round I might try a water-cooled set up, which I've never done before.

10/26/2012 11:05:05 PM · #14

Originally posted by Strikeslip:

., so next go round I might try a water-cooled set up, which I've never done before.

Scares the bejesus outta me.

ShutterRev

10/26/2012 11:37:24 PM · #15

All you had to do to make PS run lightning fast is throw an SSD on your box. Mac or PC doesn't matter - SSD is the way to go.

This was typed on my 1.6ghz core i5 (lol) mac-air with 2 gigs of ram (lol) that can process a dozen raw frames into a beautiful Mosaic in PS in a very short time due to the SSD :)