need advise about photoshop

[messy]

Budget (including currency): £900 pounds

Country: uk

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Photoshop - No games at all.

Hello, My dad has asked for advise on a new PC tower. I have discussed in the past with him about me just building him something but he says he prefers an off the shelf from HP or whoever because if he has any problems with it, there's just one place to go to sort it out, and I kinda agree with him.

So, the only really demanding thing he would use it for is personal photoshop, nothing crazy i expect he just edits exposure and bit and maybe fiddles with colour. But he does process a lot so I want to get him something that can process a F*** ton of photos as fast as possible.
Other than that, I think the only place he would notice performance is in OS responsiveness etc.


My main question is - how important is a graphics card compared to the CPU for photoshop? Should I balance it out or just have on-board graphics and pump the GPU budget into the CPU?

I found this -
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/view/Topaz-Nova/

For around my £900 budget, I could get a 1TB solidigm gen 4 ssd (never heard of the brand)
gigabyte b550

16gb corsair 3200mhz ddr4
Ryzen 9 5950X 16 core CPU

or I could get something like a 8GB RX7600 and a 6 core Ryzen 5 5600X

what do you think?

cheers :D

 

[Tetras]

2 minutes ago, messy said:

My main question is - how important is a graphics card compared to the CPU for photoshop? Should I balance it out or just have on-board graphics and pump the GPU budget into the CPU?

Which version of the software does he use? If a recent version, does he use the AI features?

 

For basic 2D editing then the integrated graphics in a modern CPU like a Ryzen 7600 or 12600K would do the job.

 

I'd only buy a GPU like the RX 7600 if you definitely need it, though they can always be added to the build later if the CPU isn't enough.

[Wardus]

I personally think you should prioritize the GPU, especially for AI stuff, but it's possible that's just a video thing. A 5600x should serve you well. That SSD is questionable, especially if you're storing sensitive data like pictures. I would recommend going with whatever basic GPU you can find on eBay. The 5950x is definitely overkill. 

 

RAM is a huge factor for stuff like this. I would recommend 32GBs, and that will speed up your editing by so so so much. 

 

It might be worth putting some money into a cheap Synology NAS or a a couple of hard drives. Think about what would happen if you had a drive fail. If you would lose data that you would like to keep, you should consider even the most basic of backups. All the computers in my house are constantly backing themselves up to a server that just stores data in my basement so that I can have any drive in the house fail and still have all my pictures or whatever.

[Electronics Wizardy]

I'd be darn tempted to get a macmini. Much faster than the 5950x in most photshop uses

 

24 minutes ago, messy said:

1TB solidigm gen 4 ssd (never heard of the brand)

That was Intel's ssd division before they got broken off. Should be very good.

 

 

[messy]

42 minutes ago, Tetras said:

Which version of the software does he use? If a recent version, does he use the AI features?

 

For basic 2D editing then the integrated graphics in a modern CPU like a Ryzen 7600 or 12600K would do the job.

 

I'd only buy a GPU like the RX 7600 if you definitely need it, though they can always be added to the build later if the CPU isn't enough.

i thought it was all subscription these days so you always had teh latest version? I doubt he'd use AI stuff.

[Tetras]

4 minutes ago, messy said:

i thought it was all subscription these days so you always had teh latest version? I doubt he'd use AI stuff.

I still use an old version that doesn't have subscription, but also no AI features.

 

Photoshop (or photography generally) used to be primarily single-core/thread oriented and so you were best off with Intel CPUs, but the Ryzen 9000 CPUs perform very well in Puget's benchmarks and they currently suggest the 9700X (this CPU has integrated graphics).

[episcopal]

46 minutes ago, Wardus said:

RAM is a huge factor for stuff like this.

Definitely agree with this.

[messy]

ok just had an update  - he's cool with me just building something (yaay

Doesnt use ai but having something that would work if he changes his mind in future is good - so some level of GPU is called for - i guess an nvidea.

He mentioned the budget going to £1000, but if possible squeezing in a larger monitor (id like to get him a 1440p 27inch, think i can get one for under £200 - leave this till last tho as its as after thought).

Assuming a Ryzen 7 5700 8 core
would a nvidea 3060 or 4060 be ok? (i know nothing about nvidea or ai performance etc)

[messy]

6 minutes ago, Tetras said:

I still use an old version that doesn't have subscription, but also no AI features.

 

Photoshop (or photography generally) used to be primarily single-core/thread oriented and so you were best off with Intel CPUs, but the Ryzen 9000 CPUs perform very well in Puget's benchmarks and they currently suggest the 9700X (this CPU has integrated graphics).

hmm, does anyone know what the current situation is? is multi core or single core performance most important?

[Tetras]

51 minutes ago, messy said:

hmm, does anyone know what the current situation is? is multi core or single core performance most important?

Still primarily single core from what Puget say, Tech Notice is a channel on YouTube that covers a lot of content creation too.

 

52 minutes ago, messy said:

Assuming a Ryzen 7 5700 8 core

This CPU is not normally recommended due to the lack of cache (the 5600X/5600 are the same architecture, this CPU is not), but I don't know if it negatively impacts Photoshop, since the reviews I've seen were gaming oriented:

 

Given Puget's advice and benchmarks (this page is pretty modern, it has Ryzen 9000 and Core Ultra benchmarks) on core count, I'd either look at a 9600X, or a 7600, e.g.

 

Edit: drop the second M.2 drive (MP44L) since the Renegade is better. I forgot to remove it.

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/CRMD3w

 

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor  (£166.90 @ Amazon UK) 
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Freezer 36 CPU Cooler  (£16.93 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 EAGLE AX ATX AM5 Motherboard  (£134.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: Kingston FURY Beast 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-5600 CL36 Memory  (£82.98 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Kingston Fury Renegade 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (£109.98 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP44L 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (£111.47 @ NeoComputers) 
Video Card: MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ventus 2X 12G GeForce RTX 3060 12GB 12 GB Video Card  (£244.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400S ATX Mid Tower Case  (£62.53 @ Overclockers.co.uk) 
Power Supply: Asus TUF Gaming 850G 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (£89.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £1020.76

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-11-13 21:21 GMT+0000

 

CPU cooler is optional because the 7600 includes one in the box (7600X does not).

 

Some single, multi thread numbers from PassMark:

5700: 3251, 24273

5700X: 3383, 26661

7600: 3911, 27091

9600X: 4588, 30134

9700X: 4652, 37354

 

Alternatively, you could go for a 9700X and only buy the graphics card later if needed (the 7600 in my spec and the 9600X/9700X all have integrated graphics).

 

52 minutes ago, messy said:

would a nvidea 3060 or 4060 be ok? (i know nothing about nvidea or ai performance etc)

Not sure about which one would be better for this usage.

[messy]

so before you replied i put this together

 

Ryzen 7 5700X 8 core   £160

MSI GeForce RTX 3060 VENTUS 2X 12G          £245
Corsair VENGEANCE LPX DDR4 RAM 32GB (2x16GB) 3600MHz CL18    £50
CORSAIR RM650 80 PLUS Gold             £70
MSI MPG B550 GAMING PLUS Motherboard ATX -  AM4, 1x PCIe 4.0/3.0 x16, 1x PCIe 3.0 x16          £110
Solidigm P44 Pro Series 1TB M.2 PCIe Hynix V7 SSD          £100


I heard the 3060 with its 12g vram is pretty good for creatives and isnt too shabby for running ai.

Seeing what you said about the 5700, think i just saw the same video lol which is why i went for 5700x - should ok right?

is it worth going AM5 and DDR5? is there a noticeable improvement? He would like a degree of "future proof" but for him that just means keeping up with photoshop.
 

[Tetras]

18 minutes ago, messy said:

is it worth going AM5 and DDR5? is there a noticeable improvement? He would like a degree of "future proof" but for him that just means keeping up with photoshop.

Personally: yes, I would do this.

 

The single thread is quite a lot higher on those CPUs, the 7600 can beat any 5000 series CPU in single thread and there will be much better upgradeability with CPUs and double the amount of max memory.

 

If you are going with the 5700X, that price is too high. You could get a 5800X for £120 only a week or two ago. You also need a cooler with the 5700X/5800X, which you don't with the 7600 non-X.

[messy]

13 hours ago, Tetras said:

Personally: yes, I would do this.

 

The single thread is quite a lot higher on those CPUs, the 7600 can beat any 5000 series CPU in single thread and there will be much better upgradeability with CPUs and double the amount of max memory.

 

If you are going with the 5700X, that price is too high. You could get a 5800X for £120 only a week or two ago. You also need a cooler with the 5700X/5800X, which you don't with the 7600 non-X.

cool, ill go down the AM5 route then as there price difference isnt huge and as you say it make more sense.

cheers for the advise!