Ultimate Photoshop / Lightroom workstation

[tensai]

It's about time I upgraded from my q6600 4GB ram and 5770

The main purpose of my new machine will be Photoshop & Lightroom and some gaming. Please note that I have a separate server for all my data so this machine will only have one or two ssds.

Here are the important parts http://pcpartpicker.com/p/NMf3sY

The 32 GB ram is there because I was planning on setting a 20+ GB ramdisk for Photoshop and Lightroom to work off

Budget is an issue, as I live in Greece and this is a few months salary, but I am hoping this will be my workstation for my own business

[virtualTune]

Photoshop and Lightroom aren't CPU intensive enough to justify an X99 build. you can save a good amount of money with a 4790k and DDR3 ram. Will you be gaming at all with this build?

[SparkySamZa]

lightroom work doesn't use that much :3 max i've seen my use is about 4GB , but for sure photoshop.

 

good luck mate i'll keep an eye on your build

[virtualTune]

also you will benefit more from the extra cores on a 780Ti than the few on a 970

[tensai]

Yes I will, that is why the 970 is in the mix. The x99 platform is there for the benefits of ddr4(on ramdisk) & the 2 extra cores, also I am planning on going for 64gb eventually again for the ramdisk.

Yes you are correct, Photoshop & Lightroom are not that CPU intensive for now, I do plan on keeping this machine for many years to come

[virtualTune]

Yes I will, that is why the 970 is in the mix. The x99 platform is there for the benefits of ddr4(on ramdisk) & the 2 extra cores, also I am planning on going for 64gb eventually again for the ramdisk.

Yes you are correct, Photoshop & Lightroom are not that CPU intensive for now, I do plan on keeping this machine for many years to come

still the 970 is only marginally better than the 780Ti but has far less CUDA cores, just something to consider

[TheFlyingSquirrel]

It's about time I upgraded from my q6600 4GB ram and 5770

The main purpose of my new machine will be Photoshop & Lightroom and some gaming. Please note that I have a separate server for all my data so this machine will only have one or two ssds.

Here are the important parts http://pcpartpicker.com/p/NMf3sY

The 32 GB ram is there because I was planning on setting a 20+ GB ramdisk for Photoshop and Lightroom to work off

Budget is an issue, as I live in Greece and this is a few months salary, but I am hoping this will be my workstation for my own business

 

To be perfectly honest you will never need more than 32 GB of RAM, I maxed out at about 13GB on one intensive piece of work.

Also if you are keeping your working file on an SSD it will make the RAMDisk obsolete due to cache speeds. 

 

2011 or 1150 builds are much better value when it comes to photoshop.  

[Geekazoid]

still the 970 is only marginally better than the 780Ti but has far less CUDA cores, just something to consider

Exactly 1,216 less to be precise.

[Bigdaddy5414]

still the 970 is only marginally better than the 780Ti but has far less CUDA cores, just something to consider

Less cuda cores but about 50% more efficient. So the 970 still wins. It's quality not quantity.

[virtualTune]

Less cuda cores but about 50% more efficient. So the 970 still wins. It's quality not quantity.

actually no! power efficiency is negligible in a workstation that is designed to perform the tasks at maximum performance. The 780Ti is just as much of a quality card if not better. 

[tensai]

still the 970 is only marginally better than the 780Ti but has far less CUDA cores, just something to consider

I agree with you on the 780ti but this is where budget really comes into play.

The performance benefits of cuda / opencl are great for both programs, but it's enough to have just have a compatible GPU.

The 970 is already over budget for me, I had originally planned to just keep my 5770.

[Bigdaddy5414]

actually no! power efficiency is negligible in a workstation that is designed to perform the tasks at maximum performance. The 780Ti is just as much of a quality card if not better.

I'm not talking about power. I'm saying the few less cuda cores are just as powerful. The H.264 encoder is also about 100% faster then the 700 series. According to nvidia at least.

[virtualTune]

Less cuda cores but about 50% more efficient. So the 970 still wins. It's quality not quantity.

that's a good point actually. With 40% better performance, the 1664 Cores of the 970 would be equivalent with 2330 Kepler Cores. That is still 550 less than the 780Ti. You are right though, that brings the two cards closer together at which point the extra cores might become negligible. I am not sure how the extra memory interface width and bandwidth will affect the speed in these applications. I would assume that 3D applications benefit more from the higher bandwidth than 2D though. 

[Bigdaddy5414]

that's a good point actually. With 40% better performance, the 1664 Cores of the 970 would be equivalent with 2330 Kepler Cores. That is still 550 less than the 780Ti. You are right though, that brings the two cards closer together at which point the extra cores might become negligible. I am not sure how the extra memory interface width and bandwidth will affect the speed in these applications. I would assume that 3D applications benefit more from the higher bandwidth than 2D though.

The ti had more then I was thinking it did. My 980s have less then my 780s do but there is still a nice gain.

[virtualTune]

The ti had more then I was thinking it did. My 980s have less then my 780s then but there is still a nice gain.

a 980 is pretty much on par with a 780Ti in terms of cuda cores. Of course quite a bit more powerful in benchmarks due to other architecture features that expand my knowledge of micro hardware in GPUs

[tensai]

To be perfectly honest you will never need more than 32 GB of RAM, I maxed out at about 13GB on one intensive piece of work.

Also if you are keeping your working file on an SSD it will make the RAMDisk obsolete due to cache speeds. 

 

2011 or 1150 builds are much better value when it comes to photoshop.

Could you elaborate on the cache problems? Cause if ramdisk is out then I'm all for 4790k and saving quite a bit of money

[RJSX1]

a 980 is pretty much on par with a 780Ti in terms of cuda cores. Of course quite a bit more powerful in benchmarks due to other architecture features that expand my knowledge of micro hardware in GPUs

I say get the 980 instead of the 970s

[virtualTune]

I say get the 980 instead of the 970s

do you want to elaborate or just troll?

[RJSX1]

do you want to elaborate or just troll?

More Cuda Cores, higher clock rate, better performance, games are more focused on one card than two in SLi, also saying that you have it.

[virtualTune]

More Cuda Cores, higher clock rate, better performance, games are more focused on one card than two in SLi, also saying that you have it.

No.

So?

No!

Makes no sense

Wat?

[tensai]

I say get the 980 instead of the 970s

Sure, who will be sponsoring the price difference?

[RJSX1]

No.

So?

No!

Makes no sense

Wat?

Yes, you can overclock the crap out of it, yes better performance over a 780, games are more focused on using one card rather than 2 in SLI, saying you have a 980 is cool.

[virtualTune]

Yes, you can overclock the crap out of it, yes better performance over a 780, games are more focused on using one card rather than 2 in SLI, saying you have a 980 is cool.

Let me put it in a different format for you. You are comparing two 970s to one 980. Clearly the 970s will be more powerful, they will OC very well too (albeit limited by the slower card), they both outperform a 780 (this was never a discussion), games will still run better on 2 970s than a single 980, that is a matter of perspective (imho 90% of the 980 owners are more stupid than cool). 

[OhhTee]

Let me put it in a different format for you. You are comparing two 970s to one 980. Clearly the 970s will be more powerful, they will OC very well too (albeit limited by the slower card), they both outperform a 780 (this was never a discussion), games will still run better on 2 970s than a single 980, that is a matter of perspective (imho 90% of the 980 owners are more stupid than cool).

Guilty as charged. Mine was definitely an impulse buy.

[RJSX1]

Let me put it in a different format for you. You are comparing two 970s to one 980. Clearly the 970s will be more powerful, they will OC very well too (albeit limited by the slower card), they both outperform a 780 (this was never a discussion), games will still run better on 2 970s than a single 980, that is a matter of perspective (imho 90% of the 980 owners are more stupid than cool). 

Fine, fine you win, just playing devils advocate. Terrible at it.