New PC set up and benchmarks

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wookie6262

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Well it has been a bit of a journey literally and metaphorically. I've been looking for a good deal on a PC for months and one popped up 3 hours away. Got the chap to run benches and post results and all looked ok so made the journey. As soon as the PC was switched on the fans went full speed and idle temp of the 7950x was over 70 degrees. After travelling so far I made an offer of £250 less than agreed over phone and it was accepted. Fingers were crossed at that point I hadn't bought a pup and I figured most likely was thermal paste or AIO pump.

I foolishly then went into a Google wormhole instead of trusting my gut. After much voltage changing, bios updating etc I did what I thought would be the most likely issue and reseated the CPU and applied decent thermal paste. All of a sudden idle down to 40 degrees and I have myself a bargain. £1250 for 7950X, really good LianLi case and a RTX 3080 on a decent Asus board.

I only buy a new to me PC every 5 years or so and make sure I get it as quiet as possible and have as good a spec as my budget can afford. Fans all changed and now runs very quiet even during Cinebench, a faster OS drive bought and extra Ram too.

That leads me to my questions. My main use is photo editing and main applications used are PS, LR and Photomechanic. I have a ton of storage to install. 3 M.2s, 1 SSD and 3 HDDs. The main legacy storage is on HDDs but I am not sure of the best way to utilise my other drives. I have a very fast 4TB M.2 that I I think will be best for my OS and apps. Next up I have another 4TB M2 of the generation previous that I will likely use for a landing place for images which will be moved to the legacy drive as the smaller drive fills up. The big question is the Lightroom catalogue and the PS cache disk. Should I put these on the remaining 2TB m.2 or a 2tb SSD or will it matter. Is it best to have catalogue away from OS and is one drive better than another in terms of cache.

The PC came with 32gb DDR5 on two sticks. I have bought 64gb of a different brand of memory. Same CAS and speed so can I use all 4 sticks or just go with the two sticks for 32gb.

Lastly should I upgrade free to Windows 11 or stick with windows 10. Is there any performance gains for photo editing because if there aren't I think I'd be safer with the more familiar Windows 10.
I'm quite excited to see what a current generation top of the line spec PC will do against my extremely reliable 17 7700K which has served me really well but the 50MP files have made an upgrade inevitable.
 
I'd have said the catalogue & cache want to go on the fastest drive in the case. OS should make no difference.

32 or 64GB? Do you need that much memory? I'd not expect brands with identical specs to behave differently, but there have been compatibility issues at times - just try it and see. However IIRC 2 sticks is faster than 4 sticks unless you NEED the extra memory.

W10/11? I don't see a difference in performance BUT W10 will be obsolesced before end of life for your new computer, therefore I'd make the switch now while it's a new install.

HTH
 
ancient_mariner said:
I'd have said the catalogue & cache want to go on the fastest drive in the case. OS should make no difference.

32 or 64GB? Do you need that much memory? I'd not expect brands with identical specs to behave differently, but there have been compatibility issues at times - just try it and see. However IIRC 2 sticks is faster than 4 sticks unless you NEED the extra memory.

W10/11? I don't see a difference in performance BUT W10 will be obsolesced before end of life for your new computer, therefore I'd make the switch now while it's a new install.

HTH
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That all sounds like solid advice. My only worry with W11 apart from familiarity is a legacy printer. Driver support stopped before W10 so I doubt it will make made difference and I managed to get it to work with W11. I'll test on my laptop first though.
 
Not a windows person but a 4Tb drive for OS and apps IMHO is way to big, use that for your images instead and use a 2Tb m.2 for apps and OS UNLESS you have loads of apps that will fill it up.
 
wookie6262 said:
That all sounds like solid advice. My only worry with W11 apart from familiarity is a legacy printer. Driver support stopped before W10 so I doubt it will make made difference and I managed to get it to work with W11. I'll test on my laptop first though.
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I have found *sometimes* that software can be run as legacy in windows - but not always - & printers are temperamental. If it's HP just drop it in the bin now. ;)
 
I'm hoping MS announces W12 later this year so I can hang on to W10 until it ships, skipping W11. I put W11 on my Surface Go as a testbed and I don't like it at all.

I agree with Paul that you don't need 4TB as an OS drive. You're not going to see any difference in performance between PCIe3 and PCIe4 M.2 SSDs so use your smallest one for the OS and keep the big ones for data.

How old are your legacy drives? Is it worth buying one or two larger new drives to replace them?
 
OK I may be a dinosaur in IT terms but when designing systems including operating systems, the managing code must always be in the fastest storage; so OS and cache ideally on SSD in this case, and LR catalogue if there is space. 32Gb memory should be plenty for any apps, but you could consider using a good chunk of the extra 32Gb, if you install the 64Gb, for cache.
I don't know how much bloatware is in the Windows OS these days, but have a look at trimming down its features to save wasted cycles if tuning for speed.
 
Snapsh0t said:
I'm hoping MS announces W12 later this year so I can hang on to W10 until it ships, skipping W11. I put W11 on my Surface Go as a testbed and I don't like it at all.

I agree with Paul that you don't need 4TB as an OS drive. You're not going to see any difference in performance between PCIe3 and PCIe4 M.2 SSDs so use your smallest one for the OS and keep the big ones for data.

How old are your legacy drives? Is it worth buying one or two larger new drives to replace them?
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Legacy drives are pretty new and are 16, 18 and 4 tb. I back up everything so the 16 and 18tb are essentially the same content and that is back up separately too and on the cloud. The 4tb deals with everything apart from photos. I've stuck the fastest drive as OS and will use that for LR catalogue and previews etc. The other 4tb M.2 will be my recent files.
 
Tbh if my computer can do the job, im not borhered about a few micro seconds deley. It not as if time is money to me i can go and get a brew ir something. Rbe latest software is basicly bloatware in that its backward comapatable. And still has redundant code inside it.many people only use a small percentage of what thw package is capable of anyway, and the atitude of i sort it in post production is to me uaccepable qhy nt get as much right in camera in the first place
 
steve_lyt said:
Tbh if my computer can do the job, im not borhered about a few micro seconds deley.
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The thing is, it's usually not microseconds, but can be 5, 10, 20, 120 seconds or more compared to having a decent spec machine. I hated using a masking brush on my old Mac because it would always lag behind the input so badly that it was hard to manage it with an acceptable degree of precision. The business of processing images is about creativity, feel, about sensing and emotion, whether processing a single choice image from a slow and careful shoot or bash through 5000 pictures from a wedding. If your computer is a source of frustration then that creativity gets stifled.
 
steve_lyt said:
Tbh if my computer can do the job, im not borhered about a few micro seconds deley. It not as if time is money to me i can go and get a brew ir something. Rbe latest software is basicly bloatware in that its backward comapatable. And still has redundant code inside it.many people only use a small percentage of what thw package is capable of anyway, and the atitude of i sort it in post production is to me uaccepable qhy nt get as much right in camera in the first place
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For a single file of denoise it is 90 seconds. That adds up very quickly if you are processing a batch of sports images from a night shoot. Yes, I get it mostly right in camera and more often than not the in camera jpeg with a crop will do the job but when you think of the time saved it makes sense to have a better PC, for me at least
 
I see your point, but I’m not a professional , so I don’t have deadlines, if you have then yes get a more powerful pc, but before you do convert to ssd and that’s is worth doing it will speed up your pc
 
Just one issue as I complete the build. My main storage drive for images containing around 12tb of files is not recognised on teh new pc. It isn't even powering up as I can't feel anything when touching the drive. Not cables as other drives run fine on teh same cables. Drive works fine still in old PC and even a caddy but for some reason isn't seen on the new PC. Any ideas what that could be. All teh other drives went in fine and all data looks like it is still where it should be so just need to get drive letters to match up with Lightroom catalogues but that would be much easier with teh drive I can't get to read.
 
Is there an upper limit on the number of drives/addressable partitions within a PC, or has my head imagined that? If you disconnect an internal drive, will this one work?
 
Tried taking one out but no joy and now stuck another drive in that was a backup and that worked fine too. Board has 4 SATA ports and all 4 working fine just not with the drive I most needed it to work with. No really a big deal but I hate when I can't work out why things are working. I'm wondering if the SMART is smarter in teh new board and it is seeing an issue but it actually feel like it isn't even spinning so not sure it is being read at all or is shutting down before I feel for vibrations
 
What is the motherboard you are using? What power supply does it have? What drives are you connecting at the same time? Do you have the complete spec of what you bought, and what you have added? More information the better. ;)

I only ask, as I recently built a new computer, and I know that there are limitations as to the number of SATA devices that can be used if I use the 2nd NVME slot on the motherboard. Mine is a lower level motherboard. That said, I am able to have 2xNVME, 3xHDD and a SSD connected with no problems, but that is the limit of this motherboard. I know you said other drives works, but a manual for the motherboard may show some weird quirks. ;)

HDD's use a lot more more power than NVME and SSD's, so the power draw from the devices may be an issue if the power supply is close to its limit. I went quite a bit over the current draw of what I intend to connect. Because of the way power cables are coming from the power supply, drives can be daisy chained along the one 'cable', and whilst designed to work in this way, maybe changing the amount/type of devices on each 'cable' may help. You may have already tried this, but it is an interesting problem that I am trying to understand. I may be talking BS, and expect to called out if I am way off the mark with any of my speculations. :) It would be good to know the cause though.
 
If the drive is working in previous pc and not in the new pc it will be something in the bios more than likely.

Have you looked at SATA settings etc, on mine any drive over 3tb had to be plugged into first couple of ports it was also dependent on other drives you are using and the number of them
 
redhed17 said:
What is the motherboard you are using? What power supply does it have? What drives are you connecting at the same time? Do you have the complete spec of what you bought, and what you have added? More information the better. ;)

I only ask, as I recently built a new computer, and I know that there are limitations as to the number of SATA devices that can be used if I use the 2nd NVME slot on the motherboard. Mine is a lower level motherboard. That said, I am able to have 2xNVME, 3xHDD and a SSD connected with no problems, but that is the limit of this motherboard. I know you said other drives works, but a manual for the motherboard may show some weird quirks. ;)

HDD's use a lot more more power than NVME and SSD's, so the power draw from the devices may be an issue if the power supply is close to its limit. I went quite a bit over the current draw of what I intend to connect. Because of the way power cables are coming from the power supply, drives can be daisy chained along the one 'cable', and whilst designed to work in this way, maybe changing the amount/type of devices on each 'cable' may help. You may have already tried this, but it is an interesting problem that I am trying to understand. I may be talking BS, and expect to called out if I am way off the mark with any of my speculations. :) It would be good to know the cause though.
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I could list them but I have checked already and given the PC is now running with the same amount of drives as I initially wanted then the issue is almost certainly the drive. The only system related issue could be the size of the drive as it is the biggest one. I can't see anything in the specs though and the next biggest drive is only 2tb less at 16tb. It isn't a big issue as that drive is now in a caddy and another with the same data is in the PC.

Just spent the last day fine tuning and adding the extra RAM. Now up to 64GB. The Ryzens are designed to run at 95 degrees before they throttle but that makes the PC too noisy for me. I've now got a max temp of 70 degrees on the CPU dialled in and a negative 10 curve and the fans are pretty much silent. Average temp is way down and for a 25 degree drop in max temp I have probably lost a maximum of5% in performance looking at the benchmarks I use. Significantly less electricity use too. The time to do denoise etc in Lightroom is actually quicker which I can't work out but it may well be an error in me pressing start and stop so not really worth bothering about.

All in all if you have an older high spec PC(mine was a 7700K from 2017) and have added a higher megapixel camera in the last few years and time counts then an upgrade to the latest kit makes a massive difference. All in I have spent the cost of a decent GMaster prime and I the PC will make more sense and be used far, far more than a lens. I also have the old one to sell so that will reduce the actual cost even more.
 
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