DSF

My last computer was bought in an emergency, two days before tax deadline day, but I never got round to buying a professional set up for Lightroom and Photoshop. The current graphics card won't support a decent monitor. I did a google for pro photography computers, but most of those builds are out of date now.

Can anyone recommend a company who builds PCs for graphics purposes..with a decent graphics card for a monitor, 16GB memory and monitor for the above programs.

What systems are you running?

Take a look at the Dell outlet and the business range of refurbished Latitude laptop models. We usually buy these and run 30" monitors plugged into docking stations.

Also, check mcscom.co.uk - we tend to check between MCS and the dell outlet for which one has the best deals

We've desktops & laptops dell and Samsung with not enough memory but running windows 7 because not convinced 10 will work with all the drivers and software we've come to rely on, that's one thing to check i guess. Always interested to hear what makes and models users rate or slate.

Haha! I've got 2 old Vista machines with dual monitors and a newer Win7 machine, all networked. They run everything I throw at them, including Photoshop, Rhino and Keyshot 4.

I keep looking at newer (better?) machines but then always ask myself if the money would be better spent on other equipment.

Not sure if this is an option but have you considered building your own ?. Not difficult nowdays and it does allow you to specify your own components. Graphics card needs to be capable but not the most expensive or powerful. I use a GF GTX 750Ti which currently retails for £100. Adobe publish a list of compatable devices which will perform well.

If you can afford it aim for an i7 processor + 16GB Ram. This will handle anything you can throw at it so no fretting about speed. An SSD for your C: drive is essential. Samsung EVO 512GB is my choice and a 128GB version is perfect as a scratch disk that Photoshop can use for temporary storage. Keep your working files away from the C: drive (for protection and prevent lots of read/write action between the program and files on the same disk) and on a standard hard disk.

Worth mentioning that any storage on your PC should be at least matched by external backup.

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/ph ... d-faq.html

I did it once many many years ago and the thing crashed constantly until I upgraded Windows, so just want something stable.

Never click the Configure/ wishful thinking button on the Dell website, turn a £900 computer into £2500 computer.

Is there a massive performance difference when using a second SSD drive for a scratch disc?

On paper, yes due to the big difference in R/W times so this should translate to better performance in practice but hard to quantify unless you do a before/after comparison which is a bit impractical. Small SSD's are really cheap so there is no reason not to use one and it is another thing not to worry about.

Most of my components are from overclockers.co.uk and they have bundles of matched components such as processor/memory & motherboard at good prices.

wayupnorth;121594 wrote:. An SSD for your C: drive is essential. Samsung EVO 512GB is my choice and a 128GB version is perfect as a scratch disk that Photoshop can use for temporary storage. Keep your working files away from the C: drive (for protection and prevent lots of read/write action between the program and files on the same disk) and on a standard hard disk.



https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/ph ... d-faq.html

Are you running 3 discs then? Main SSD for programs booting up, 128GB just for the scratch disc and a standard 2TB HDD for your working files?

I almost bought a custom build from these guys, until the cart crashed as I was paying. Spent about 3 hours researching components! I'll maybe build it myself using the components I was planning to buy....I'll get the calculator out.

https://www.freshtechsolutions.co.uk/

Actually I run 6 disks including the two SSD's. The other 4 (2x2TB, 2x1TB) are all for data. All are backed up to external NAS using Macrium Reflect every few days, this is incremental so does not take long. Camera, docs and photoshop files are further backed up to another disk and kept offsite.

If you do a self build don't forget the thermal paste for the cpu/heatsink.... really annoying when 100 miles from the nearest supplier.