Workstation for Photographer / Designer - 3200€

[LeoNeon]

Hi,

I'm looking for an advice regards to workstation for Photographer / Designer. Mostly I'm working in photoshop on a huge files with lots of smart objects, filters etc. Files like this can be huge as those are HDR Spherical Panoramas made from 96 images every 12mpix. In the future it will be even bigger as I'm going to buy 36mpix. I'm also using Lightroom4, PtGui, KrPano, SNS HDR and in the future I'm planing to start work in Maya, Zbrush and other 3d software.

I'm totally newbie in hardware. I have decided to go with double processor, SSD discs and RAID following by Nvidia and ADOBE guidelines. I have also choosen a graphic card recommended by them. I the future I will buy some more RAM and normal HHD disc. I already have a monitor ordered.

My the biggest question is about dual cpu motherboard and E5-2620 Xeons. I have heard it might be a better idea to go with one Intel Core i7-3930K 3,2GHz on a single processor mother board. It doesn't make much sens for me as I'm thinking two processors will have more power and cores and this is recommended by Adobe. I'm might be wrong but I just would like to know why and how does it works.

I'm going to buy parts from poland or Ireland. In general it doesn't matter. Preferred EU.

I'm not going overclocking.

I wont to buy computer as fast as possible but I can wait few weeks.

I don't need to buy any software. (assuming optical drive will have one attached).

Monitor resolution 2560x1440 (2560x1600 in the future)

Adobe and Nvidia guidelines:
http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/...p-cs4-cs5.html
http://www.nvidia.com/docs/IO/121765...2012-06-27.pdf

Please let me know what you thing about this:

Motherboard:
ASUS Z9PE-D16
http://www.asus.com/Server_Workstati...specifications

CPU:
Xeon E5-2620 X2
http://ark.intel.com/products/64594/...-GTs-Intel-QPI

Graphic card:
AMD 7970
http://www.amd.com/pl/products/deskt...on-7970.aspx#2

SSD disc in RAID 10 for system and working files
Crucial m4 Slim SSD 128GB X4

Memory:
SAMSUNG M393B2G70BH0-CK0 2X 16GB

Tower:
Cooler Master COSMOS II
Cooler Master - Leading Provider of Computer Case | Cooler | Power Supply

Keyboard:
Logitech K800
Klawiatury

Optical Drive:
BLU-RAY SATA ASUS BW-12B1ST x12

CPU Coolers:
Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 X2

Power Supply:
G1600-MA

[Squeetard]

For cost performance the single 6 core 3930k is the way to go.

Why an AMD card? I thought the nvidia CUDA cores were the way to go with photoshop?

[Dzzope]

2 main bits of advice I'll give it..

1) Don't buy from ireland.. rip off central.. Buy from UK or central europe. (I always buy from either scan.co.uk or overclockers.co.uk)

2) With the size of images etc your using, the price of RAM, get 32 GB min.. 4x8gb

[Rollergold]

For Adobe CS5 though CS6 your better off with an Nvidia card like GTX 570, 580 or 680 since you need a Nvidia card for CUDA acceleration. I would also go for 32 gigs (4x 8gb dimms) or better yet get 64 gigs (8x 8gb dimms)

[supaflyx3]

+1 for the advise above, get a 670/680, 64GB of ram and put 32GB in a ramdisk and put your projects on the ramdisk.

[Rollergold]

I just noticed that board he's considering has 16 ram slots and since LeoNeon has not intentions of overclocking there is the possibility of maxing out the board and going for 128 gigs of ram (64 for the OS and 64 for a ram disk)

[ZZLEE]

Does the Board need EEC memory ??

[TheWildRose]

My advice:

• Go with a 3930k as opposed to Xeons (as others have said, it's better price>performace and will be just as good.
• 32GB of RAM (On the x79 platform you can max it at 64GB if you would like) So 4x8GB, 8x8GB or 8x4GB would work. (Depending on the motherboard you pick!)
• With 64GB a 32GB RAMDISK would be a good option to use as a workspace. (As others mentioned)
• Go with an nVidia graphics card, I would recommend a 670, or a 680, Preferable 680 as it's not a big price difference from the 670 (But that is personal preference) AMD just won't cut it, they don't have CUDA.
• As for the RAM I can't say anything, I'm not sure about Samsung RAM as I have never used it.
• The case looks like an excellent choice.
• The CPU cooler is HUGE, and an interesting choice, I would look into it's dimensions and the tower's dimensions just to double-check that It'll fit.

My part recommendations:

• CPU: Intel i7-3930k
• GPU: MSI or EVGA GTX 670/680
• RAM: At least 32GB, 64GB would be preferable (Just get a good brand, Corsair, Kingston, G.Skill, ADATA)
• Alongside the SSDs you might want to consider getting a mech. hard drive (a 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black would be a nice choice), I would just recommend staying away from Seagate (I've had a lot of issues with Seagate drives, so I'm personally scarred from them)
• Power supply: I'm not 100% familiar with x79 power requirements, but a 1000w should definitely do you good. Probably even an 850w. (Just get an 80+ Silver/Gold certified), I would recommend a Corsair/XFX/Seasonic PSU.

Hope I could help. If you have any questions about my recommendations, or just want advice on something feel free to ask in a reply, or PM me.

~Ryan

[TheWildRose]

Originally Posted by ZZLEE

Does the Board need EEC memory ??

Not sure as I've never dealt with ECC.
But this is what the ASUS page on the board says:

Total Slots : 16 (4-channel per CPU, 8 DIMM per CPU)
Capacity : Maximum up to 512GB RDIMM
Memory Type :
DDR3, 1066/1333/1600, RDIMM
DDR3, 1066/1333, UDIMM
DDR3, 1066/1333, LRDIMM
Memory Size :
2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB RDIMM
2GB, 4GB, 8GB UDIMM
8GB, 16GB, 32GB LRDIMM

[LeoNeon]

Thnx Guys,that's really helpful.

I have almost decided to go with configuration listed below. I have chosen GTX 680 4GB following by advice from this thread Adobe Photoshop CS6 GPU Acceleration - Puget Custom Computers Looks like it's the best choice for photoshop. I have also changed case (sad as I really like cosmos II) to cosmos s as it's cheaper and smaller. Cosmos II is just HUGE and without dual processor mother board is no need to go with this.

Mother Board:
Asus P9X79 pro
ASUS - Motherboards- ASUS P9X79 PRO

CPU:
Intel Core i7-3930K 3,2 GHz 12MB L3 LGA2011
http://ark.intel.com/products/63697/...up-to-3_80-GHz

Graphic:
NVIDIA GTX 680 4GB

SSD Discs:
Crucial m4 SSD 128GB, 2.5", SATA 6Gb/s X7
System:
SSD RAID 0 256GB (2x128)
photoshop scratch disk
SSD RAID 0 256GB (2x128)
work files
SSD w RAID 5 256GB (3x128)

Memory:
G.Skill RipjawsZ DDR3 8x8GB 1600MHz CL10 8X8=64GB

Case:
Cooler Master COSMOS S
http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=3947

Keyboard:
Logitech K800

Drive:
BLU-RAY SATA ASUS BW-12B1ST x12

CPU cooler:
The Corsair H100i
http://www.corsair.com/us/cpu-coolin...pu-cooler.html

Power Suply:
RS-D00-SPHA-D3
Silent Pro Hybrid 1300W - Cooler Master - Leading Provider of Computer Case, Cooler, Power Supply, Laptop Cooling, Gaming Peripherals