Help needed lightroom and photoshop machine for editing 5d mkiii raw

[ecka]

Thanks everyone for the advice 

Unfortunately this laptop looks nice does not allow upgrade of ram (similar to mac book air). So appears i will have to bit the bullet and go for new system.

Seems to me the key for lightroom system

1) Ram as much as possible
2) processor i7 best that can support lots of ram

Did not know anything about ram disk so have read up. seems interesting if have lots of ram. also came accross this has anyone had any experience with supercache? Seems to be similar to ram disk but mirrors rather than load everything.

http://www.superspeed.com/desktop/supercache.php

Again thanks everyone for your help

I think that supercache is very similar to SSD caching, only using a RAM Disk instead of SSD. This way you are letting the system itself to decide which data needs to be cached. I don't trust the machine , so I prefer to manage it myself. I tried 5-6 different RAM Disk softwares and decided to go with Primo Ramdisk, because it seems to be the most stable and simple to use (and one of the faster ones). My system is running 24/7 without reboot for many months and I would lose all the data on RAM Disk if the system crashes. It never happened, but I'm using copies nonetheless.
My system:
i7-3770K - because I'm running it 24/7 and it is more power efficient (google Virtu MVP)
GTX 670 - CUDA cores + I like games too
Sabertooth Z77 - just because
32GB 1600MHz (4x8GB) RAM
Vertex 4 SSD
10TB external storage

Thanks for the tip my machine currently runs 24/7 so will follow your recomendations, i will also check primo ramdisk

Just remember that Z77/LGA1155 system can only have 32GB of RAM maximum. If you decide to have more, then you need X79/LGA2011 system, which suggests i7-3930K CPU.

P.S. Watercooling isn't really any quieter. I'm using Zalman CNPS12X cooler, which is pretty silent and gives me nice temps from 26C idle to around 40something'C on load.

[ECRoyce]

The system I built for myself is an i5-based quad core.  It does everything I need it to do in Lightroom 4.3 and Photoshop/Premiere Elements 11.  I have done a few basic video edits, but mostly stills.  Not doing too many complicated things, but I have noticed most PSE processes, with a few exceptions are single threaded.

CPU)  3570k overclocked on air to 4.3Ghz.  aftermarket air cooler, but it isn't anything spectacular (used CPU didn't come with heatsink), although probably is slightly beefier and fan is slightly more robust than the stock unit.  I run the fan at 35% under normal conditions, which is just barely audible if you really try, and target temp at 70-deg C.  Fan rarely kicks up, usually only when I am making sharpening/NR or other real-time slider adjustments.  The chasis is semi open-air (gaming case) and I probably hear the GPU fan more often.

Disks)  my boot/OS/app drive is a newer SanDisk Extreme, which gets close to 500MB/sec r/w speeds (real word speeds).  Apps are here, LR catalog is here, scratch is here (probably shouldn't be since it may be decreasing the life of the drive, will probably move to a striped HDD RAID-0 config).  Original pic files (jpg mostly/ some raw) are on mirrored (RAID-1) slow-speed drive pair (75MB/sec), but seems to not hold me back too badly.  I may change this to a RAID-5 at some point, but so far don't have the need.

RAM)  considered going 32GB originally, but only bought 16GB (2x8GB) of PC3-1600 and it seems to be enough.  if I have EVERYTHING I possibly can open (LR, PSE with 5 open projects, dozens of browser tabs with flash and java apps, XP-Mode VPC, video capture app, etc, etc)  I get to 70% used.

Power consuption)  idle, the system (using integrated video and single drive config), draws 25-30w.  another 20w for the add-on GPU. a few watts per platter-based hard drive.  No real heat comes off it anywhere, but may be largely because of the already good airflow the gaming case provides.

Like I said, it is handling everything I need to do very nicely.  Big upgrade from my 4yr-old Core2Duo system.  All-in cost, for the case, CPU, RAM, SSD, INCLUDING reused GPU/PSU, but NOT counting reused extra HDDs, was right around $550. 

You can spend the extra $100-125 on a 3770k, but I'd recommend only maybe if you are doing a lot of video encoding that can take advantage of the 4 extra threads.  Also, I know a lot of people like to spend oodles of extras on the latest and greatest fan/water coolers and other gadgets, but when the equipment is rated to run hotter, why not let it, and keep your $$$/performance lower?

[jpjeff]

The system I built for myself is an i5-based quad core.  It does everything I need it to do in Lightroom 4.3 and Photoshop/Premiere Elements 11.  I have done a few basic video edits, but mostly stills.  Not doing too many complicated things, but I have noticed most PSE processes, with a few exceptions are single threaded.

CPU)  3570k overclocked on air to 4.3Ghz.  aftermarket air cooler, but it isn't anything spectacular (used CPU didn't come with heatsink), although probably is slightly beefier and fan is slightly more robust than the stock unit.  I run the fan at 35% under normal conditions, which is just barely audible if you really try, and target temp at 70-deg C.  Fan rarely kicks up, usually only when I am making sharpening/NR or other real-time slider adjustments.  The chasis is semi open-air (gaming case) and I probably hear the GPU fan more often.

Disks)  my boot/OS/app drive is a newer SanDisk Extreme, which gets close to 500MB/sec r/w speeds (real word speeds).  Apps are here, LR catalog is here, scratch is here (probably shouldn't be since it may be decreasing the life of the drive, will probably move to a striped HDD RAID-0 config).  Original pic files (jpg mostly/ some raw) are on mirrored (RAID-1) slow-speed drive pair (75MB/sec), but seems to not hold me back too badly.  I may change this to a RAID-5 at some point, but so far don't have the need.

RAM)  considered going 32GB originally, but only bought 16GB (2x8GB) of PC3-1600 and it seems to be enough.  if I have EVERYTHING I possibly can open (LR, PSE with 5 open projects, dozens of browser tabs with flash and java apps, XP-Mode VPC, video capture app, etc, etc)  I get to 70% used.

Power consuption)  idle, the system (using integrated video and single drive config), draws 25-30w.  another 20w for the add-on GPU. a few watts per platter-based hard drive.  No real heat comes off it anywhere, but may be largely because of the already good airflow the gaming case provides.

Like I said, it is handling everything I need to do very nicely.  Big upgrade from my 4yr-old Core2Duo system.  All-in cost, for the case, CPU, RAM, SSD, INCLUDING reused GPU/PSU, but NOT counting reused extra HDDs, was right around $550. 

You can spend the extra $100-125 on a 3770k, but I'd recommend only maybe if you are doing a lot of video encoding that can take advantage of the 4 extra threads.  Also, I know a lot of people like to spend oodles of extras on the latest and greatest fan/water coolers and other gadgets, but when the equipment is rated to run hotter, why not let it, and keep your $$$/performance lower?

Thanks really practical advice and glad to hear your system run lightroom smoothly...so frustrated at the the moment. 

Lots to think about

[iKenndac]

I forgot to mention that my 3GB paging file is located on the RAM Disk as well

Paging incurs some (but not much) overhead, so if you made your RAM disk 3Gb smaller and allowed the system to directly address that RAM rather than going through a pagefile you'd get better performance. Your method is still faster than hitting a spinning disk, but it does seem a tad… silly.

[ecka]

I forgot to mention that my 3GB paging file is located on the RAM Disk as well

Paging incurs some (but not much) overhead, so if you made your RAM disk 3Gb smaller and allowed the system to directly address that RAM rather than going through a pagefile you'd get better performance. Your method is still faster than hitting a spinning disk, but it does seem a tad… silly.

The thing is that some programs (like older ones, 32bit) require a paging file to operate, so I'm simply cheating . Otherwise I would just turn it off. I agree, it does seem a tad silly, however, I rarely use more than 7GB of RAM. Normally it is only 5-6GB, which includes ~1GB for web browser, ~1.5GB OS and background services and ~3-4GB for LR and stuff...

[RendrLab]

I was in your same shoes almost two years ago and decided and building my PC rather than stuff more $ into Steve Jobs pockets. I never really have been a “Mac” kind of person and their prices are laughable to say the least.

Generally, two years is a LONG time in PC parts market and what you bought then can’t match what is out today, but with the introduction of the Intel Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge CPU’s, Moore’s Law and the processors reaching the market have slowed.

I bought an Intel i7 2600k CPU, and a real nice Asus Motherboard. Since I didn't have a ton of cash to throw at the build at that time, I bought the other components as I could based on what I wanted my Dream PC to be eventually. Fast forward two years and my PC is a Beast. I have 32GB of Corsair Memory which I bought 8GB at a time (on sale), a 60GB OCZ Vertex 3 SSD (which was my Primary Drive for a bit, now turned to my scratch disk), a Corsair Neutron GTX 120GB SSD (All reviews of this drive say it is the fastest to date, plus has 5 year warranty), x2 WD Green 2TB SATA-3 HDD in RAID 1 (with the WD Idle Timer turned way up), and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 660. The only parts I’ve bought in last 2 years was the Corsair SSD and I bought a PNY Quadro video card as I do a lot of 3D work. The original GeForce is still in the PC as well as I do play World of Tanks from time-to-time and Quadro cards are not meant for gaming.

My point is, building a PC is by far a better option than dropping $3,000 on a Mac with half the specs and limited upgradability choices. Plus, if you buy name brand parts for your build, each component should have its own warranty which is generally no shorter than 1-2 years.

As for noise, I didn’t go water cooled or the big fan route. I bought a bunch of 90mm Scythe case fans which are low RPM/low noise (even at full speed) and move massive amounts of air. They were not cheap ($15-$20/per fan) but I’m still whisper quiet and under the cost of water cooling my PC. Also consider getting an aftermarket CPU cooler as the OEM generally sucks and is not that quiet. I spent like $25 on a CoolerMaster Hyper 212 CPU cooler and my system idles at 26° overclocked to 4.5GHz. My PC hasn’t been shutoff more than a handful of times and I have never had a single problem.

Using Green drives for data backup might get some moans and groans from some on here, but if you change the Spindown time on the drives they are absolutely great, especially for the price. Besides, if you are exporting from LR it’s doing so in the background anyway so you can keep on plugging along on other things.

[RLPhoto]

With 4000$, you could build a ludicrous win7 machine. Far, far more powerful than any apple machine for that price.

I'm still running an e6600 c2D machine I built in 2006! It runs great.