lets build a workstation

[dawg]

no branded rigs please

please suggest motherboard & cpu

xeon or i7 ?

let your imagination run wild go crazy

to hell with the budget

[Kym]

Try this as a start https://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/rmp_sg...asking_configs

[Cage]

You'll definitely need some Mega RAM.

Old RAM.JPG

[ricktas]

Not sure about a workstation, but after 5 years of being intermediate we have upped you to advanced. Congrats

[piczzilla]

From memory, I believe Adobe's earlier products rely heavily on core, but it might have changed CS6 onwards.

PS: Sorry I can't make specific recommendations, I've been out of touch with recent PC tech.

[tandeejay]

I find uMart a good place to go to get the components, but you still need to do your research to get components that are compatible.

Money no object?

First of all look for the CPU you want. while multi-threaded is good, it won't help much for single threaded processes and to make single thread processes run fast you need more GHz, but the faster the CPU, the more heat it will generate, and more power it will consume. Of course many programs these days do support multithreading, so multi-core/hyperthreaded will help run these multithreaded applications.

Then the memory on your computer is significantly slower than your CPU so you need a cpu that can cache data so that it has stuff to do, and doesn't need to spend as much time waiting for data from your memory, so look for a cpu that has a good sized onboard cache (L1, L2, (sometimes L3 cache))

Now that you've found your CPU, you need to get a Motherboard that is compatible with the CPU you've selected. it is not a good idea to skimp on your motherboard, as your blindingly fast chip could be wasting lots of clock cycles waiting for the motherboard to respond to it...

As a former boss of mine was fond of saying "if one standard is good, 2 must be better." This is particularly true of CPU manufacturers, so it is vitally important that you select a motherboard with a socket type that matches your selected CPU. When you're looking at potential motherboards, you need to visit the manufacturer's website and look at the motherboards CPU compatibility chart to confirm the motherboard your considering supports the CPU you've selected. There is much to consider when deciding on a motherboard, you need to consider what/how much storage you want in your system - different motherboards have different numbers of harddrive connections, some have motherboard RAID controllers, some have onboard video, do you need a wired LAN connection? USB2? USB3? Firewire? SATA? Then there is the question of how much RAM the motherboard supports, the number of PCI slots... if your motherboard has builtin lan, usb, etc you may not need as many PCI slots, or if you have a particular LAN card, or some other PCI peripheral you want to connect, then you can look at motherboards that don't have these features built in... how much graphics processing do you require? Some motherboards support Dual Graphics addapters...

Now that you have found the perfect Motherboard to pair with your CPU that has all the features you need, you will need to select memory for your computer... again "if one standard is good, two must be better..." be careful to note the specifications on your mother board about what sort of RAM it takes. If your mother board takes dual channel ram, it is important that you purchase dual channel ram. Don't make the mistake of purchasing 2 or 4 single memory chips as there will be a good chance they don't work in a dual channel motherboard. Again, the motherboard manufacturer will have a ram compatibiltiy chart for your selected motherboard. While other ram may work, it is best to go for memory that is known to be compatible, and you want as fast as possible as supported by your CPU/Motherboard combination. also if your motherboard has 2 dual channel memory slots, if possible get the amount of memory you want in 1 dual channel pair rather than getting 2 dual channel pairs of half the capacity each. THis way you have the option of doubling your memory later... (of course, you might just want to max out your motherboard on memory)

If your not planning on overclocking your computer, then the stock cooler that comes with your CPU will be sufficient. If you do plan on overclocking, then you may need to consider a better cooler (never done any overclocking so you'd need to talk to others about cooling needs for overclocking...)

now you want to think about your Graphics card... If your planning on running an application like 3DS Max, then it is a good idea to check the programs Video Card support matrix, as 3DS max can do it's 3d rendering using your video card, but there is only a very small number of cards that it supports. (found this out the hard way... upgraded my video card, then my daughter started studying 3d animation, and we got 3DS Max, and found that it couldn't use our video card for rendering, as I hadn't bought a supported card... would have improved our rendering speed significantly if I'd known that...) Moral is, make sure you get a card that is supported by any 3D programs you intend to use. Most 3D apps arn't as picky as 3DS max though...

now for storage...
I always mirror my storage, as the time to recover from a hard disk failure is worth more to me than the cost of a second disk. (mirroring your disks does not replace other forms of backups which are also important).... mirroring, protects against a single disk failure, backups protect against other types of data loss... they each have their own place and are all important...)

SSD's will give you much better speed as you don't have delays waiting for the data to move underneath the head on your hard drive, but they do have a shorter life than a spinning disk (actually just reading there is fierce debate about that...)
but on a $/GB scale, the traditional Hard drive wins...

Now you have all that, you need to get a case to fit it all in and a power supply to power it all... you will need to take into account the power requirements for the motherboard/cpu, PCI cards, hard disks, video card requirements, and then add a percentage to figure out the total wattage you require... you don't want to be trying to pull 100% out of your power supply. you start to get voltage fluctuations if you try to pull too much power from your power supply which can cause unpredictable operation or random power cuts.

now that you've found all your parts... you can go ahead and start buying them... remember that these components do not take kindly to static electricity and you will need to take precautions when assembling to ensure you don't fry your expensive CPU with some stray static electricity from your nice nilon jumper that you put on to keep warm before you started opening your packages...

- - - Updated - - -

Oh bugger, just realized I posted War and Peace

[arthurking83]

.......

Oh bugger, just realized I posted War and Peace

Yah! .. better you than me .. again!

I reckon everyone's sick of my war and peace² replies .. and now it's time for someone else to cop stick for it.

ps. and I did read it all and basically agree.

[JJM]

It's a bit of a toss up for me either going with a quad core system or hex core with mixed reviews from what I have read regarding how light room and PS use the CPU's.
With that in mind I'd probably go a quad core system similar to the bellow, assuming that this being posted on a photography forum would be used for photo processing....?

CPU - Intel S1151 Core i7 6700K 4.0GHz Quad Core CPU
CPU COOLER - Corsair Hydro Series H115i Liquid CPU Cooler
MOTHERBOARD - ASUS S1151 EATX Maximus VIII Extreme with Wireless-AC
RAM - 64GB DDR4 Corsair CMU64GX4M4C3000C15R (4 x 16G) 3000MHz
VIDEO - ASUS GTX1060 6GB STRIX OC PCIe Video Card PN STRIX-GTX1060
SSD - 1TB Samsung 2.5" 850 PRO Series SATA 6Gb/s SSD Drive
HDD - 4TB WD 3.5" 7200rpm SATA 6Gb/s Black Edition HDD
CASE - Corsair Full ATX Obsidian 750D-AIR Case Black
POWER - 750 Watt Thermaltake Tough Power DPS GOLD Modular Power Supply

MONITOR - 43" Philips BDM4350UC 4K-UHD LED Monitor with Speakers

[dawg]

Try this as a start https://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/rmp_sg...asking_configs

thanks Kym, btw, why was my image deleted from the first thread ?

Not sure about a workstation, but after 5 years of being intermediate we have upped you to advanced. Congrats

thanks a bunch

I

First of all look for the CPU you want

ok

oh bugger, just realized I posted War and Peace

and I read the entire thing..

assuming that this being posted on a photography forum would be used for photo processing....?

yep

CPU - Intel S1151 Core i7 6700K 4.0GHz Quad Core CPU

have it already

MONITOR - 43" Philips BDM4350UC

how are you finding it, I heard it has tearing issues ??? I want this monitor or the Dell 43"

[ricktas]

your image was removed cause it was not a photo you own copyright to.

Site Rule 20

[20] [20] Any photograph a member presents on Ausphotography, whether by uploading to the site or displayed directly within the site using the IMG tags must be taken by and copyright owned by the member. The only exception to this is when the member is the legal guardian of another person who is unable to join up and post on their own behalf. This exception will only be allowed under special circumstances after consulting a moderator or admin. Please write to a moderator stating your reason/s for wanting to post a photo that you do not own copyright to and the request will be evaluated promptly. Posting photos taken by others for any other reason than guardianship, is not permitted. Breaching copyright is a serious matter with legal implications and could result in an immediate and permanent ban from Ausphotography. Links directing members to other sites, where third-party owned item(s) are displayed, is allowed. If you are linking to a third party's Art (photo etc) for critique/review/opinion, under the Australian copyright act you must acknowledge the author and title of the work, in your post/thread.

[dawg]

Ahh

dammit..