Building A New Computer - Comments Requested

[RHoldenSr]

After getting the new EOS 5D and shooting mainly in RAW I need to upgrade my computer!
I do a lot of photoshop and some video editing.

Right now I am running an older P4 1600+ 1gb RAM I buiilt several years ago.


I am looking at the following CPUs:


Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E6750
1333 MHz
2.66 GHz

Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor Q6600
1066 MHz
2.40 GHz

Even though the clock and bus speed are lower I am leaning towards the Quad Core CPU
I think the difference is so slim you will not notice the difference.
And having the additional dual core may help down the line.

1. What do you think?


Also:

ASUS P5K LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

EVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card


2. What are your thoughts on the video card?

3. What video card are you using for photoshop and video editing?

[KdLaneJr]

If you don't plan on overclocking your system then the quad core is a viable choice.

Motherboard choice looks good, as does your memory selection. You might look into Corsairs 4gb dual channel kit. That should help your performance without slowing down the memory bandwidth.

Can't help on the video card except to say you don't need a 3D gaming card for photoshop. I'm using an ATI AIW 9600 series.

Tomshardware.com has some benchmarks on almost every component of interest. Try to leave room in your budget for a dedicated scratch drive, not just a dedicated separate partition on a single large drive.

[RHoldenSr]

Ken

Sorry I did not mention I wanted to be able to play some of the new games also, but I am not a hard core gamer. I use to like playing the Americas Army, and the Myst series
I have a couple games I bought in our closet now that will not play on my present computer

[KdLaneJr]

Tomshardware can help you select a gaming video card. Any decent gaming card will only enhance your photoshop experience. No way to hinder it that I know of.

Just be careful of the video card power and cooling requirements. When factored into the rest of your system it may necessitate the move to a bigger power supply.

[zach-e2]

http://www.apple.com/imac/
-duo core

http://www.apple.com/macpro/
-8 core

that's right 8 core.. not quad.

[RHoldenSr]

Nahhh Apple = $$$$

ROFLOL

Originally Posted by zach-e2

http://www.apple.com/imac/
-duo core

http://www.apple.com/macpro/
-8 core

that's right 8 core.. not quad.

[adirty1]

If you take a look at TomsHardware you can find an article that tests the quad and the Intel Core 2 Duo E6850. It's a little more than what your looking spend with the other duo but pound for pound your getting better then the quad running the duo e6850.

From what I have read the Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 is they way to go. I found a gigabyte board that will do 6 sata drives on one controller and 2 sata drives on the second control and it's on of the new p35 chipset board that will take you way into the next 3 years. The great thing is that board will support the new Intel processors coming out.

Then if you want to put a hot swap raid 5 on that you can use this device.

You can put all this in a standard case. I am about to build this system in the next week or two.

[RHoldenSr]

Wow I am surprised that there was that much difference in processing time

[RHoldenSr]

The Corsair 4GB dual channel kit is only listed on Newegg at Speed DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

May simply be a trade off with amount of memory and speed (800 vs 1066)you think?

Originally Posted by KdLaneJr

You might look into Corsairs 4gb dual channel kit. That should help your performance without slowing down the memory bandwidth.

[darktiger]

I say get the Q6600.... I love mine over all my dual cores...

[zeroendless]

The Q6600 or E6xxx question is depend on if you OC or not??

Good reading and benchmark with stock and oc between these two.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu...uad-q6600.html

If you OC, Q6600 + Abit pro ip35 (ddr2 board) is a better choice. (Brilliant mobo designed for max OC, amazing stability)

Else... go with E6xxx.

I have mine 50% Oced with 3 years old memory 4x1GB at 3.6Ghz on air. That's FSB at 1600. :)

[AllenAyres]

arstechnica does a system guide they keep updated pretty often:

http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/guide-200708.ars

You are probably looking to do something like the 'hotrod' box - a system with the best components ~$1,500 will buy. They do some serious research when they make recommendations, you might want to check them out. :)

Currently they recommend for the 'hotrod':

Motherboard : Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R
Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Retail
RAM : 2GB PC6400 DDR2-800 SDRAM
Video : NVIDIA Geforce 8800GTS 640MB
Hard drive : Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB

etc. etc.

[KdLaneJr]

Originally Posted by RHoldenSr

The Corsair 4GB dual channel kit is only listed on Newegg at Speed DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

May simply be a trade off with amount of memory and speed (800 vs 1066)you think?

Pretty sure Corsair has a faster set out. Here is a link to Corsair's support forum. Should be able to get the correct answer there.


Forgot to answer your question--> ram quantity vs. speed. After running the retouch artists benchmark on my current system I came to the conclusion that 3gb with a bandwidth hit was better then 2gb running at max memory bandwidth.

Adobe's info on Ram optimization is Here and here.

[adirty1]

why spend more when you can get the same performance of quad in the E6850

allen
that board is hot. I have read and seen nothing but good things about that board.
I cant wait from mine to show up next week.

[zeroendless]

why spend more when you can get the same performance of quad in the E6850

Actually Q6600 is cheaper than E6850, not much but $15-$30 street price.