# New rig for Lightroom & Photoshop - Let me know what you think



## sonny_c (Jan 5, 2011)

Time for a new rig because I'm passing my current computer along to my wife.

This rig will mainly be used for LR3, PS CS5, & Proshow Producer.  I'm not a gamer but I have a little dilemma about running two video cards as I'll explain later.

Since the motherboard is the heart of computer I don't want to cheap out on this part.  It was difficult trying to find a motherboard with everything I wanted and he ASUS Crosshair IV Formula seems to fit my needs.  It has a bunch of USB2.0 ports (which I need at least 6 on the back plate plus two for the front of the case) & USB3.0. The other reason I liked this board a lot is because it maintains the high bandwidth even if you load up the PCIe with extra USB controllers, SATA6G controllers and a x16 video card.  The thing that MAJORLY sucks about the USB 3.0 is having to run the front usb cable out the back of the case and connect to the back USB 3.0 slot.

I wasn't sure about the processor so I kind of picked one that falls in the middle of the road. I chose the AMD Phenom II X4 3.4GHz ($159.99) in stead of the AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8GHz ($179.99). What do you think?

Like the motherboard, I believe it's best not to cheap out on the PSU and for this reason I chose the CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-750HX. It's a personal preference and I absolutely love their modular design.

The reason I use two video cards is because I use three monitors. I have two Dell UltraSharp 2005FPW I use for editing photos and one HP 18"LCD. In the past I could not properly color calibrate the two Dells with on video card.  To bad LR & PS do not support Crossfire.

Starting with CS4, Photoshop started using GPU acceleration which helps take a load off the CPU. I'm starting to use the 3D functions in Photoshop more (specifically Repossue) and I'm noticing when rendering it takes forever.


I would appreciate any advice you can offer.

*Specs for the new rig:*


case - HAF-X (942)
os - Windows 7 Professional 64-bit OEM
proc - AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition 3.5GHz Socket AM3
HSF - Cooler Master V8
mobo - ASUS Crosshair IV Formula
memory - CORSAIR XMS 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) x2 = 16GB
psu - CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-750HX
vid card1 - XFX HD-575X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5750 1GB
vid card2 - XFX HD-575X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5750 1GB
hhd1 (os & programs only)  - Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC
hhd2 (scratch disk only for PS & LR) - WD Caviar Blue 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"
hhd3 (temporary storage) - WD Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6.0Gb/s
optical - ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS


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## edgley (Jan 6, 2011)

Looks kick ass!
What was the reason for going AMD rather than Corei7?
First thing I'd do is load up a copy of Mass Effect 2 and say goodbye to a weekend


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## sonny_c (Jan 6, 2011)

I chose AMD to save a little cash.

I have to apologize but what's Mass Effect 2?  Like I said...I'm not a gamer.


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## dj_paige (Jan 6, 2011)

My opinion ... just the opposite of yours. You put major importance on the motherboard and PSU (Power-Supply?), and less importance on the CPU. I'm the other way around, I'd rather get the best CPU available and a lesser (but certainly not bottom of the line) mother-board and power-supply. The appearance of speed (or lack thereof) in Lightroom is primarily related to the CPU, and in my experience the effects of the motherboard are secondary.


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## edgley (Jan 6, 2011)

If you are into SciFi, you owe it to yourself, even if you are not a gamer, to give Mass Effect 2 a try; best game I played last year.

One of the advantages of AMD over Intel was that you used to be able to over clock them more; I added over 1Ghz to my Intel quad core. Only problem was that the AMD didnt have heat protection so you could burn it out if your cooling wasn't up to it.


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## ukbrown (Jan 7, 2011)

I concur with dj_paige, cpu, ram, DISK.  Getting the fastest, most and fastest you can afford will ALWAYS make the fastest machine, but the emphasis is on CPU then RAM, then Disk.


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