Criticise my new computer build

[saikit]

I'm planning to build a new computer soon. Please let me know what you think. Feel free to criticise any parts that should/shouldn't be there.

MAIN TASKS

- Photo editing
- Video editing
- Gaming

SPECIFICATIONS

#1 CPU

i7-2600 $310
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16819115071
Previous choice: i5-2500K $225

#2 Motherboard

GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 $115
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16813128502
Previous chocie: GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD4-B3 LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $170

#3 Video Card

EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti $250
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16814130604
Previous Choice: SAPPHIRE FleX 100312FLEX Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit $280

#4 RAM

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL $92 ($46 x 2)
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16820231314

#5 SSD

Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW120G3K5 2.5" 120GB SATA II $200
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16820167050
Previous Choice: Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1 2.5" 64GB SATA III


Total Investment (after 13% tax): $1100

Current Computer: E8400 3.00 GHz / 8 GB RAM / HD 4870 / 3 x SATA II (2TB)

Other general questions:

1. Should I wait for Black Friday to get better deals?
2. Are there any new parts coming out in the next 3-4 weeks that will drive the prices of the above items down?
3. Which item should I boost to maximize my photo editing task?

MOD EDIT: Moved to General Hardware. - Zap

 

[SickBeast]

You're paying too much for your components and you should put some of that wasted money toward more memory if you're serious about photo editing.

This is one case where I could see an AMD platform being the better option. The X6 Thubans have been going for less than $150 lately. If you could score a good combo deal on something AMD-esque, IMO that would work well for you.

You could get a GTX 460 1gb as well to save another $160.

AFAIK CUDA accelerates Photoshop now, so that's another reason to go with nVidia for this type of build.

 

[RussianSensation]

You're paying too much for your components and you should put some of that wasted money toward more memory if you're serious about photo editing.

He is already getting 16GB of Ram. You think that's not enough?

This is one case where I could see an AMD platform being the better option. The X6 Thubans have been going for less than $150 lately. If you could score a good combo deal on something AMD-esque, IMO that would work well for you.

How is AMD better in this case? AMD is also slower for games and consumer more power to boot.

AFAIK CUDA accelerates Photoshop now, so that's another reason to go with nVidia for this type of build.

Yup, good call. I'd pick a GTX560 Ti or a GTX570 in this case.

OP, NV plans to introduce a faster version of the GTX560Ti on November 29th.

I would also choose the Crucial C400 instead of the C300 model.

For Ram, you are paying $46 x 2 + $10 shipping = $102. You can get the Corsair Vengeance low profile and save $10.
This might help you with heatsink compatibility should you choose to overclock / get aftermarket cooler at some point.

Any particular reason you went for that motherboard? You can save almost $100 getting this MSI + 2500k bundle.

 

[Smartazz]

I'd go with the 2500K, but with a cheaper Z68 motherboard. You should also go with an Nvidia card as SickBeast suggested, maybe the GTX 460 or 560 ti.

 

[saikit]

Thanks for the quick reply, guys.

It looks like I need a better motherboard and run a NV video card instead.

I'm going to look more into it and adjust my purchase accordingly.

 

[Hulk]

Looks good to me except for the 64GB SSD. Way too small. Believe me, once you start to use the SSD for your Photoshop projects you won't want to go back to a hard drive. Get at least 120GB so you're not dealing with either reloading Windows or cloning the drive in a few months. This way you can edit your current project on the SSD and export to your final format to your hard drive then delete the project from the SSD.

 

[RussianSensation]

Thanks for the quick reply, guys.

It looks like I need a better motherboard and run a NV video card instead.

I'm going to look more into it and adjust my purchase accordingly.

No, you don't need a better motherboard. It's better to get a $115-130 board and a 2600k, or a 2500k and a larger SSD than a $200-230 board and a 2500k.

For $150, you get a board that throws everything and the kitchen sink.

Even this Gigabyte board for $115 is all you need. 3 year warranty, overclocks to 5.0ghz, has SATA 3 and USB 3.0.

A more expensive motherboard ONLY adds more features (warranty, more ports, discrete sound card, etc.), NOT more performance. The performance delta between a $115 and a $350 motherboard is 2-3%, in other words meaningless, unless you are trying to set world records in overclocking championship using LN2.

More expensive motherboards (for performance) and faster memory speeds (and latency) are 2 of the most wasteful areas where less experienced buildings tends to throw in more $. Spend more $ on the CPU, SSD and Graphics card before putting more $ into the motherboard or memory speed above DDR3-1600.

 

[SickBeast]

I still think an X6 Thuban is a good option considering the cost savings of close to $200 when you factor in the motherboard and the nearly negligible performance delta in several of those benchmarks. Games will not be bottlenecked by it, either. Heck, a you can get a Phenom II X4 for a song and it would still be good enough for Photoshop.

OP, the 2500K is a better processor, but the AMD X6 is no slouch and would work well for the tasks you are using this rig for.

My apologies as well, I thought you were only getting 8gb of ram. 16gb is a better bet if you're going to be editing large images.

 

[Matthiasa]

As mentioned if the 64GB SSD is your only storage you will most likely run into issue of not having enough HD space.
A single game might use a 1/6-1/12 of that and with lots of photos and videos it wouldn't take much to run out.

I have very little on this computer and still have almost 3 times that filled.

 

[saikit]

I just want to update that I have enough SATA HDDs for storage.

I have 3 HDDS - 1TB, 500GB and 500GB.

 

[blckgrffn]

Use that 64GB drive for RST. It works really well

 

[saikit]

After reviewing all of your feedback, I have completely revised my choices:

Added:
Intel Core i7-2600
EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti
GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68
Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW120G3K5 2.5" 120GB SATA II

Removed:
Intel Core i5-2500k
SAPPHIRE FleX 100312FLEX Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit
GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD4-B3 LGA 1155
Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1 2.5" 64GB

 

[Dadofamunky]

He is already getting 16GB of Ram. You think that's not enough?

For Ram, you are paying $46 x 2 + $10 shipping = $102. You can get the Corsair Vengeance low profile and save $10.
This might help you with heatsink compatibility should you choose to overclock / get aftermarket cooler at some point.

I think he means these: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16820233198

Yeah, go and get the Crucial M4. Get the newest technology. I love my C3, but if the newer one had been out I would have gotten that. Nothing wrong at all with the Intels, can't go wrong with those but I think they're a little overpriced.

But the 2600K is spot-on. Don't even THINK about buying AMD.

 

[cantholdanymore]

Better to get a 16GB kit than 2*8GB like:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231315
As per G.Skill support you'll get the advertised delays.

 

[sm625]

I dont understand the 2600 non-k version. The board is easily capable of taking any i5-2500k well past 2600 non-k performance levels, for 30% less money. shrug.

 

[Cerb]

I dont understand the 2600 non-k version. The board is easily capable of taking any i5-2500k well past 2600 non-k performance levels, for 30% less money. shrug.

Non-K, agreed. If the OP wants to spend that much on a CPU, may as well go for the 2600K. The 2600 can offer tangible gains for the OP's uses, using HT. The K, however, is only slightly more expensive, and the OP should have no need for the non-K's features over the K (trusted execution and directed virtual IO).

 

[RussianSensation]

OP, why did you go with the Intel 320 SSD? That's not a very good SSD. It's not very fast for the price.

 

[Hulk]

OP, why did you go with the Intel 320 SSD? That's not a very good SSD. It's not very fast for the price.

I went with the Intel 320 for my boot drive because I have a feeling that it will be a reliable and very long lasting SSD. And I don't think the performance delta between that and something like the Crucial M4 will be noticeable in day-to-day use unless you are moving large files from it to another fast SSD.

 

[saikit]

OP, why did you go with the Intel 320 SSD? That's not a very good SSD. It's not very fast for the price.

I was hoping Intel is more reliable than other brands. I prefer reliability over speed.

As others have mentioned, I am opting for the 2600K over the 2600.

 

[sm625]

An i5-2500k at 4.4 GHz beats an i7-2600, at everything, no? Certainly everything to do with photo editing.

 

[Cerb]

An i5-2500k at 4.4 GHz beats an i7-2600, at everything, no? Certainly everything to do with photo editing.

At 4.4GHz, yes, but what about stock? Even if 99&#37; of CPUs make to that speed, such an OC is not guaranteed. The i7-2600K offers better stock performance, and will offer better overclocked performance (HT offers as much as the slightly higher speed), and future versions of just about any photo or video editing software will only improve those multithreaded gains. The OP is also spending $1200 on the system (assuming the $1100 statement does not include OS--I didn't add it up), so going from a 2500K to 2600K is <=10% total cost, which is near expected performance gains (mostly <10%, but sometimes >20%).

 

[mfenn]

Better to get a 16GB kit than 2*8GB like:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231315
As per G.Skill support you'll get the advertised delays.

All a 16GB kit is is two 8GB kits in one plastic clamshell. Fine if the cost is the same as two 8GB kits, but not worth any price premium whatsoever.

 

[mfenn]

After reviewing all of your feedback, I have completely revised my choices:

Added:
Intel Core i7-2600
EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti
GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68
Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW120G3K5 2.5" 120GB SATA II

I see a few issues here:
- Ignoring overclocking, the 2600 is faster than the 2500K in Photoshop. Is it $100 faster? Not in my opinion.
- $250 is too much to be spending on a GTX 560 Ti. This Gigabyte is more reasonable at $220 and sports dual fans for less noise.
- The M4 is quite a lot faster for $20 more. Both the M4 an 320 are solid, reliable parts.