New Windows PC spec.

Gaz J

Gaz J

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Gary
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Im no computer expert so would welcome some thoughts on this.

I have a Chillblast PC running an i7 3770K processor, 16 GB RAM, 128GB SSD, 1TB hard drives in a Raid 1 configuration.

I've had it close to five years and it's been fine with no issues. The only software other than the OS on it is photography related. PS, LR, and a few bits and pieces of specialist software. All this runs off the SSD.

It runs Windows 7 which means that I cannot upgrade the RAM unit any further.

I've noticed that the SSD health check is now deteriorating, dropping around 1% a week.

Rather than get the SSD replaced and given the limitations with Windows 7 I think it's time for a new PC.

I've no reason not to go with Chillblast again and have specced up a PC with that in mind.


Intel Core i5-8600K Coffee Lake CPU, 6 Cores, 3.6 - 4.3GHz

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Graphics

32GB DDR4 2133MHz Memory

250GB Samsung 960 EVO M.2 PCIe Solid State Drive

250GB Samsung 850 EVO Solid State Drive

Seagate 2TB BarraCuda 7200RPM Hard Disk

My plan is to run the OS and software off the M2 SSD and the LR catalogue and cache off the other SSD. I'm not really bothered about having another Raid 1 configuration as I back up on a regular basis although for the relatively small cost it might be worth it.

I guess the only questions are:

Is it worth splashing out for an i7 8700K Coffee Lake CPU?

Can anyone see anything that's overkill or that I've missed?

TIA
 
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If you are not gaming I don't see the need for i7 , the i5 should be fine ( I was told not to bother with an i7 when mine was built ,running PS/LR ,Office and MS Money) ,like wise depending on the MoBo you get do you need a separate graphics card?
 
If the CPU wasn't a limiting factor before then I'd stick with the i5, still a speed boost over the 3700.

Personally I wouldn't bother with the 2 SSD drives in that configuration, for a few extra £ I'd upgrade the M.2 drive to the 500gb model and scrap the other 250gb SSD. Read/Write speeds on the M.2 drive are 6x/3x faster and your spare hard drive space is not wasted (allow 100gb for apps and 400gb for catalogue etc). Keep the 2tb and backup the catalogue to that plus any other files/documents that wouldn't benefit from the speed of the SSD.
 
i5 will be plenty. The price difference to the i7 is only if you are doing video encoding etc but for just PS/LR etc, i5 will do grand.
Note the i5 8400 isn't far off and can save pennies but the K will give better performance.
For the difference in performance I'd go with the 8400.

+1 for a 512GB M.2 SSD. Just so nice having the space all in one place.

If you have the pennies spare then no harm in the GFX Card but the base 1050 would do for PS/LR.
Photoshop uses it for calculations rather than it's graphical power.
 
If you have no intention in overclocking your CPU, there's little to no point buying a K-sku processor. What motherboard are you buying, because similarly if you're buying one which doesn't allow OC'ing, the K is pointless?
 
I agree with some of the above statements. Graphics card is slightly overkiil, and I believe some i5 processors have built in graphics that will be more than sufficient for Lightroom and Photoshop. PS can make use of the graphics card for some intensive operations that few people use and could be added later if you use those functions.

I've got 16Gb and never stuggle with memory using Lightroom and PS Elements in use at the same time, as well as browser tabs, email etc.

I would invest in a good quality water cooler though, instead of using the default fan cooler. So much quieter in operation and far better at keeping temperatures down. I would also look for a quiet power supply, where the fan doesn't operate at all until the temp goes above a certain limit.
 
Thanks for the input. The processor will be overclocked. The graphics card is the minimum choice, no option to leave it out, which is unfortunate as I bought the same card a few months ago to run a 4K monitor.

512 M2 sounds a good call.

The chances of me changing the SSD and installing windows 10 and everything working are probably slim to zero.

Will look into the upgrade from 7 to 10 though. Thanks again
 
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