New build

[Salazar]

Hey lads,

Having built my first and current PC back in Aug 2008, it's now old and tired! Plus it was never able to get up to full running power for a reason I was never able to determine, although I think the CPU may be to blame. So it's time for a new build!

My current build -

CPU - AMD 64 Dual Core 5600+ 2.80GHz
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-MA78G-DS3H
Memory - OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK)
Storage - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB + a 2nd sata 500GB harddrive + a 3rd sata 320GB harddrive
Graphics Card(s) - Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3650 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI/HDMI
PSU - 350W
Case - ThermalTake M9 VI1000BWS
Operating System - XP Home Edition
Monitor(s) - Acer P243WD (DVI-D) + 50'' Pioneer Kuro plasma (DVI to HDMI)

This was how it looked back in 2009 -





The PC was build as a HTPC and it did an ok job. I'm going to build the new PC for pretty much the same use and use it with the Xbox via WMC. The new PC will also need to be capable of running Photoshop and dealing with fairly large amounts of hi-res imagery. I'd like to go Intel this time and I've just upgraded to Windows 8, as my XP Home Edition did not have Windows Media Center included with it.

Monitor, case, hardrives (although I'm considering SSD for the OS) and anything else that can be reused will be. Not a huge budget £250-400.

Can anyone recommend some compatible components or a full setup?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The PC was build as a HTPC and it did an ok job. I'm going to build the new PC for pretty much the same use and use it with the Xbox via WMC. The new PC will also need to be capable of running Photoshop and dealing with fairly large amounts of hi-res imagery. I'd like to go Intel this time and I've just upgraded to Windows 8, as my XP Home Edition did not have Windows Media Center included with it.

Monitor, case, hardrives (although I'm considering SSD for the OS) and anything else that can be reused will be. Not a huge budget £250-400.

Can anyone recommend some compatible components or a full setup?

What is the model number of the PSU?

When you say high resolution,what are the size of the files in mb?? Your 2GB of RAM is the limitation here. Around 4GB to 8GB would mean you will have better performance. CS6 also GPU acceleration too via OpenCL which works well on AMD IGPs and GPUs too and leads to decent improvements in performance. Here is an example:

http://media.bestofmicro.com/U/T/349..._photoshop.png

That is with an A8-3870K and the IGP improves performance in certain filters very well.

GIMP is also getting similar acceleration too.

Remember your motherboard will work with this CPU :

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-p...che-95w-retail

If you are doing image editing,you really need to consider getting a colour accurate monitor and at least calibrating it.

Moreover,the best HTPC CPUs are the current AMD Trinity CPUs,due to their low idle power consumption and the abilities of their IGPs for media decode and software acceleration.

However,something like a Core i5 will be faster for pure CPU performance.

[Salazar]

Thanks for the reply mate. I currently shoot from a Canon 5D Mk II so the RAW files are fairly large. I'd say the current PC's RAM is definitely in need of an upgrade, even at the time of the build back in '08 I skimpt a bit there, lol. I use LaCie calibrated monitors in the studio, but as this is a home pc I'm not too bothered with uber accurate colour representation, it'll mainly be used to personal work and basic editing.

I was thinking of a new pentium based system, any suggestions for a decent motherboard? I'm just off to check out those AMD Trinity's....

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Thanks for the reply mate. I currently shoot from a Canon 5D Mk II so the RAW files are fairly large. I'd say the current PC's RAM is definitely in need of an upgrade, even at the time of the build back in '08 I skimpt a bit there, lol. I use LaCie calibrated monitors in the studio, but as this is a home pc I'm not too bothered with uber accurate colour representation, it'll mainly be used to personal work and basic editing.

I was thinking of a new pentium based system, any suggestions for a decent motherboard? I'm just off to check out those AMD Trinity's....

I suppose the one advantage of the Pentium is the upgrade path to a Core i5,but remember socket 1150 is out next year(so you might need to go secondhand). Socket AM3+ also has an upgrade path to Steamroller CPUs(probably the 8 thread jobbies you see now with Vishera) and FM2 also has an upgrade path to Steamroller base APUs.

Are you overclocking and I need to know what CPU you are running!!

So the options I can see you running are:
1.)Core i5 with a discrete card
2.)FX6300 with a discrete card- this is between a Core i3 and Core i5 in PS
3.)Core i3 with a discrete card
4.)AMD A10 - CPU section is a bit slower than a Core i3 in PS,but it has an IGP which is very good for HTPC and for accelerating software. Hence for the price of a Celery and a comparable graphics,card you get a faster system for PS.
5.)Upgrade current rig with a Phenom II X6 1045T. However,DDR2 RAM is not cheap.

Anyway,any of the CPUs will be quicker than what you have in PS. Add some more RAM,a GPU which can be used to accelerate PS features and an SSD,and you should have a snappy system.