It’s that time again, after another rush of requests, the release of new processors, and of course the upcoming Windows 7 release here’s the specs for a new photography computer. I’m really excited to see many new components as well as old components that have finally become affordable.
Total Cost – $1,625.88
Operating System – Windows 7 Professional 64-bit – $139.99
I could go on about why Windows 7 and not XP or Vista, but it’s just this simple. Windows 7 has been in use by many many people for over a year now, the processor I recommend for this computer shows solid results with clear leaps in performance in tasks including Photoshop. I really think Microsoft has released an operating system that people will enjoy using with Windows 7 and with that I’m recommending it before the Retail release.
Processor – Intel i7-860 - $289.99
Once again Intel leads the pack in processor speed over AMD. I’ve selected the i7 – 860 Lynnfield over the i5 class of processors as well as other i7 class processors because the i5 processors do not use hyper threading and the price point was dead on. These processors are great, Intel worked with Microsoft on the development of Windows 7 to really show some advancement and while not earth shattering the gains are definitely beneficial to photographers.
Motherboard – MSI P55-CD53 – $119.99
There wasn’t any great wise reason for selecting this motherboard over another more than the fact it’s a solid board with no more and no less than a photographer would need. It lacks support for multiple video cards, but does support up to 16gb’s of DDR3 RAM as well as 8 SATA ports leaving pleanty of room for additional disc drives and or hard disk drives. Beyond that personal experience with MSI makes it easy for me to recommend this board.
RAM – Corsair XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 – $129.99
I’ve had many different brands of RAM and aside from my very first build when I fried a stick of 256mb ram (at the time it cost nearly $200) I’ve never really had an issue with RAM. So I could say this RAM was picked because of timings, extreme performance or something else and while yes I did consider those I also considered things like the fact Corsair includes a LIFETIME WARRANTY and that only thanks to UPS have I ever had to use that warranty. Their customer service is great so in the end again personal experience coupled with a strong product made me jump on the Corsair XMS3 for photographers.
Video – PNY PCIE Quadro FX580 512MB 128-bit – $184.99
Obviously being one of the biggest things I harp on photographers about, the video card is an important part in the creation of a photography computer. For many reasons one of which being your wallet this card uses far less power then a gaming video card and that can be the difference between burning a 30 watt fluorescent light bulb or a 100 watt tungsten bulb. In the end it’s about saving you not only money but wasted computer features and upfront purchase costs. Yes, this card boasts HDMI ports for video as well as DVI. It includes an adapter to convert one of the HDMI ports to DVI in case your monitor doesn’t support HDMI. Beyond that I selected this card because it also boasts support for OpenGL 3.0 leaving you ready for future versions of Photoshop should it require more than the current OpenGL 2.0 CS4 Extended needs.
Disc Drive – LG Blu-ray Burner BH08LS20 - $199.99
Yes, you didn’t read that wrong Blu-ray burners are now under $200. The discs are also under $5 a slice (a slice is tech talk for per-disc) meaning that as long as you don’t mind it taking a bit of time to burn you can store 25gb of data on a single disc for an affordable price. I selected this LG brand burner because LG not only has great reviews but with new tech in the disc industry has always released quality burners.
With camera’s now shooting at 24mp (and higher if you can afford a Hassey) the file sizes are growing leaving Blu-ray a good jump to make now that it has become affordable.
Main/Operating System Hard Drive - Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB – $229.99
While I would rather recommend a nice fast flash hard drive the price per gigabyte on them is still to high for mainstream computing. So instead of recommending a slower 7200 RPM drive I’m instead going with this 10,000 RPM Western Digital Hard Drive. The extra speed is proven to increase the speed of everything from program starts, saves and of course boot time. Beyond that I who doesn’t want to be able to say their computer has a raptor inside their computer… ok that wasn’t a factor why I chose this but still!
Secondary Hard Drives - Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB – $84.99
These drives are great, I’ve heard many great things and await mine to arrive! The Western Digital Caviar Green drives don’t lack performance but boast some power savings to go with them. The power supply that computers are requiring these days power savings is and should be just as much a factor as performance for certain components especially with how long we keep our computers on these days, as if we never turn them off. That makes this drive a good choice.
Power Supply – KINGWIN Lazer LZ-750 750W – $199.99
Ok, this power supply, what to say about it. Well it’s modular meaning that you don’t have to use anymore cables then you need so it reduces heat inside the computer case which is a good thing. Beyond that it’s a little more power than you need so you can add more hard drives, RAM or accessories. It’s also “green’ running at 87% of peak efficiency as well as other power saving functions.
Computer Case – COOLER MASTER Elite RC-332-KKN1-GP Black – $39.99
I selected this case for many reasons none of them to do with price. Cooler Master has made some great cases, beyond that I really was considering how much desk space or even floor space is used depending on where it’s kept. This case leaves plenty of room to grow but also keeps the amount of space used in a limited space.
