Motherboard, CPU and RAM upgrade Photography

Wabbit Ears

Hi All,

Havent replaced my Motherboard/cpu in ages and the old workhorse needs to be retired and made into a findus crispy pancake.

I upgrade in bits and pieces and have a SSD and several SATA drives of varying specs.

As the main use beyond interwebs is Photoshopping I need a motherboard with at least 6-8 SATA ports, At least 6 internal USB 2 or 3 headers, and enough RAM slots to throw at least 128 gig or ram into it.
Something like these options
http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsps?adp=0&aid=165942&agid=2241&apop=1

or http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsps?adp=0&aid=81339&agid=2241&apop=3

What Im really stumped on is what the best CPU for the Job, Dont need gaming speeds but still beefy enough to process large RAW files quickly.


1. What is your budget? [€400-500]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Photoshop

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No, running win8.1

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Yes, ATX case/fans and power supply, several HDD's, DVD Writer and most cables already available]

5. Do you need a monitor? [No]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [ No - Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc available already]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [No]

8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer/Credit Card/Paypal whatever.]

9. When are you purchasing? [before Christmass]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [no help required]

BloodBath

128gb of ram? The one you linked only supports 32gb max.

The newest boards/processors support up to 128gb ddr4 though but it's expensive.

Your budget would be blown on the board and cpu alone before you go near the expensive ddr4.


Total build cost: €564.18 + €11.99 shipping
MSI X99S SLI PLUS, ATX, Sockel LGA 2011-3, DDR4 €199.49
Intel Core i7-5820K, 6x 3.30GHz, retail ohne Kühler €364.69

Wabbit Ears

Ok, 128 on further research is silly money, I work with servers where this is the norm or more...See!! I know nothing about desktops really anymore..

So 16-32 gigs RAM (doesnt need to be the fastest ram), Lots of USB and SATA headers and a suitable CPU thats wont be used for gaming but will do a lot of image file number crunching?

BloodBath

Something like this should do the trick then.

You can just add more sata cards when you need more connections. That's a sata 2 one which is fine for HDD's. The board has 6 x sata3. Obviously use the sata3 on your ssd's.

Total build cost: €524.87 + €11.99 shipping
ASRock H97 Pro4, Sockel 1150, ATX €76.64
16GB Kit Crucial Ballistix Sport Series DDR3-1600, CL9 €131.86
DeLock SATA II PCI Express Karte, 2 Port €16.18
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD €29.55
Intel Core i7-4770 Tray, 3,4 GHZ, 8MB Cache, LGA 1150, VGA €270.64

partyboy690

BloodBath wrote: »

Something like this should do the trick then.

You can just add more sata cards when you need more connections. That's a sata 2 one which is fine for HDD's. The board has 6 x sata3. Obviously use the sata3 on your ssd's.

Total build cost: €524.87 + €11.99 shipping
ASRock H97 Pro4, Sockel 1150, ATX €76.64
16GB Kit Crucial Ballistix Sport Series DDR3-1600, CL9 €131.86
DeLock SATA II PCI Express Karte, 2 Port €16.18
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD €29.55
Intel Core i7-4770 Tray, 3,4 GHZ, 8MB Cache, LGA 1150, VGA €270.64

Is the cooler really necessary for a 4770?

BloodBath

Yes, the stock cooler is awful and it can get quite hot especially since your type of work will probably max the cpu load for several minutes at a time.

The cooler will keep it below throttling temps even in hot weather and will make it a lot quieter.

If you want to save a bit get this.

http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/AMD/30900/Scythe+Katana+3+nur+f%C3%BCr+AMD.article

Also use geizhals.de to get a discount on the prices. Should save 30-40.

partyboy690

To be fair that really depends on what type of case you have, before I upgraded to a Noctua NH D14 I never throttled due to temps under Prime95 or IBT, I have a high air flow case so that definitely helped but unless you have your case next to a radiator I really doubt a stock cooler will throttle due to temps but for €30 it's hard to argue against that CM cooler, can get noisy as feck on full load.

BloodBath

If you want to save a little more you can grab the xeon. Same server version of that cpu. Identical performance.

http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/Sockel+1150+%28XEON%29/78089/Intel+Xeon+E3-1245v3+Box%2C+LGA1150.article

Wabbit Ears

partyboy690 wrote: »

To be fair that really depends on what type of case you have, before I upgraded to a Noctua NH D14 I never throttled due to temps under Prime95 or IBT, I have a high air flow case so that definitely helped but unless you have your case next to a radiator I really doubt a stock cooler will throttle due to temps but for €30 it's hard to argue against that CM cooler, can get noisy as feck on full load.

I have this case, an antec three hundred. Really plenty of airflow I think

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-101-AN
stupid question probably but do processors all come with stock coolers?

I actually have a sata 2 card so can knock that off the price!

Really appreciate the help everyone!! Now to wait till pay day

Wabbit Ears

BloodBath wrote: »

Something like this should do the trick then.

You can just add more sata cards when you need more connections. That's a sata 2 one which is fine for HDD's. The board has 6 x sata3. Obviously use the sata3 on your ssd's.

Total build cost: €524.87 + €11.99 shipping
ASRock H97 Pro4, Sockel 1150, ATX €76.64
16GB Kit Crucial Ballistix Sport Series DDR3-1600, CL9 €131.86
DeLock SATA II PCI Express Karte, 2 Port €16.18
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD €29.55
Intel Core i7-4770 Tray, 3,4 GHZ, 8MB Cache, LGA 1150, VGA €270.64

Due to finances over Christmas I waited on this build and got most of this stuff.

Went with a slightly different CPU as it was nearly the same price and a better spec as well as being in stock, where the above wasn't in stock.

https://www.hardwareversand.de/en/Sockel+1150/165482/Intel+Core+i7-4790T+Tray.article

Disnt get the PCI card wither as I have one of those in my current build.

Due for delivery Wednesday.