Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Window LR computer  (Read 6234 times)

stever

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1250
Window LR computer
« on: October 02, 2016, 01:04:34 pm »

I've been using fairly high performance laptops for many years, but as LR performance has decreased with larger files I'm considering a dedicated LR desk top.

i'm currently using a Lenovo laptop with i7 3520M (4M cache 2.9ghz - 3.6 turbo), 16g memory and ssd. graphic processor not LR supported.

After reviewing recommendations for Lr computers i've done a quick search and it looks like the most reasonably priced (sort of) computers likely to make a noticeable performance difference are gaming computers with i7 6700 4 cores 4ghz or overclocked to 4.4ghz with water cooling.

does this make sense? any recommendations?
Logged

tonyrom

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 74
Re: Window LR computer
« Reply #1 on: October 02, 2016, 05:12:24 pm »

It is a bit expensive but the Razer Blade laptop is something you may consider.  It uses the mobile version of the Nvidia 1060 and is a real power house of a machine.  The only thing that is annoying, are the fans kick in really early as the GPU starts to process.  However, this machine will flat out outperform any MacBook Pro.  I think they are worth checking out. 

-tony
Logged

stever

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1250
Re: Window LR computer
« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2016, 06:43:22 pm »

when i truly get ready to replace my laptop, the Razer Blade is very appealing. 

the question is whether it or any other laptop has a processor that's significantly faster than my existing laptop?
Logged

Rhossydd

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3369
    • http://www.paulholman.com
Re: Window LR computer
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2016, 03:21:49 am »

graphic processor not LR supported.
The general consensus so far is that GPU 'acceleration' doesn't offer any significant benefits in Lightroom. That might change in the future, but for now there is no advantage in having a high end graphics card at all. I find LR works better with GPU acceleration turned off here.

SSDs and enough memory(16gb or more) are important, but CPU speed is the key thing to increase.
Logged

Alan Goldhammer

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4344
    • A Goldhammer Photography
Re: Window LR computer
« Reply #4 on: October 04, 2016, 04:08:06 pm »


After reviewing recommendations for Lr computers i've done a quick search and it looks like the most reasonably priced (sort of) computers likely to make a noticeable performance difference are gaming computers with i7 6700 4 cores 4ghz or overclocked to 4.4ghz with water cooling.

does this make sense? any recommendations?
I build my own and family's computers.  My newest workstation was built about a year ago and has an i-7 4790K running at 4GHz.  It has 16GB RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 GPU.  I have not bothered to overclock it as it works just fine with LR at this point.  You certainly don't need a water cooler for any kind of set up.  They are noisier than air coolers and more prone to failure.  A good air cooler will handle over clocks just fine.  If you don't know your way around a PC, don't OC as you can really screw things up.  If you do want to go down that road or just want information various components, http://www.overclock.net/ is probably the best source on the Internet.  Folks there are extremely friendly and willing to offer very good advice.  As Rhossydd notes, GPU acceleration is not important at this point in time.  "If" you are doing a lot of work with Photoshop, bumping RAM up is good as is having a dedicated SSD scratch disk.  FWIW, the cost of parts for my workstation was about $1100. 

Hope this helps.
Logged

scyth

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 584
Re: Window LR computer
« Reply #5 on: October 04, 2016, 05:03:38 pm »

the question is whether it or any other laptop has a processor that's significantly faster than my existing laptop?

notebooks like Clevo/Sager ( for example built on this chassis = http://www.clevo.com.tw/clevo_prodetail.asp?id=950&lang=en ) are available en masse today with i7-6700(K or not), 64gb RAM, twin M.2 SSD slots and dual(SLI) Nvidia GTX1080... certainly they cost money (and you are not taking those to starbucks), but it is difficult to think that you'd not notice any performance increase vs your current notebook
Logged

stever

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1250
Re: Window LR computer
« Reply #6 on: October 04, 2016, 05:41:18 pm »

thanks Alan, those are almost exactly the specs i've been looking at. i can buy something like a Dell xps for about $1100 and use my existing 1tb ssd.  it will cost almost twice as much to buy Alienware or Maingear that's 10% overclocked - not very cost effective.  Happy to add drives, memory, etc but don't want to build it myself.

extended warranty on my laptops has been worthwhile.  May not be worth it on a workstation that's well cooled?

what size images are you working with?
Logged

Alan Goldhammer

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4344
    • A Goldhammer Photography
Re: Window LR computer
« Reply #7 on: October 04, 2016, 06:09:36 pm »

thanks Alan, those are almost exactly the specs i've been looking at. i can buy something like a Dell xps for about $1100 and use my existing 1tb ssd.  it will cost almost twice as much to buy Alienware or Maingear that's 10% overclocked - not very cost effective.  Happy to add drives, memory, etc but don't want to build it myself.

extended warranty on my laptops has been worthwhile.  May not be worth it on a workstation that's well cooled?

what size images are you working with?
Nikon D810 images and I would say that 95% or more is only done in LR; very little in Photoshop these days.  If you are not into serious gaming, you don't need to fool around with over clocking your CPU.
Logged

CynthiaM

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 137
    • http://www.cynthiamerzerphotography.com/
Re: Window LR computer
« Reply #8 on: October 09, 2016, 12:18:44 pm »

As Alan had mentioned, consider building your own. I did this about a year ago. Never thought I would go down that road but got so disgusted with ready made computers. Bought and returned 3 to Costco because they just didn't work right (2 Dells and an HP). The Dells would spontaneously reboot and kept disconnecting my usb drives. The HP had bays for extra internal hard drives but required proprietary screws which you couldn't buy anywhere. My son-in-law is a gamer and had built his own and he had never even opened a PC prior to that, let alone replace a drive, or memory or put in a cd or dvd drive or a card in a slot or install an operating system. About the only component that I had never before installed was a video card. So I figured if my son-in-law could do it with zilch experience that I was way ahead of the game.

I bought most of the components at Newegg; they have a terrific site. If you call them and tell them what you use a computer for, they will send you an email with all of the recommended components for a build; it's a good starting point. They also have terrific videos. I literally sat with the motherboard on my desk and my ipad and kept starting and stopping the video so I could follow along and do the build.

Hope that helps,
Cynthia

Logged
Cynthia Merzer
[url=http://www.cynthiame

PeterAit

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4559
    • Peter Aitken Photographs
Re: Window LR computer
« Reply #9 on: October 10, 2016, 10:58:33 am »

I've been using fairly high performance laptops for many years, but as LR performance has decreased with larger files I'm considering a dedicated LR desk top.

i'm currently using a Lenovo laptop with i7 3520M (4M cache 2.9ghz - 3.6 turbo), 16g memory and ssd. graphic processor not LR supported.

After reviewing recommendations for Lr computers i've done a quick search and it looks like the most reasonably priced (sort of) computers likely to make a noticeable performance difference are gaming computers with i7 6700 4 cores 4ghz or overclocked to 4.4ghz with water cooling.

does this make sense? any recommendations?

My feeling is that with high-end gaming computers you pay a lot for a super-duper graphics card that can do 3-D motion very quickly. And you do not need that to process still photos, right? LR using the graphics card to speed up some things seems to be a bust, from what I have read.  So:

- Fast I7 CPU, but not the fastest because you pay a big premium for that last little bit of speed.
- Scads of RAM
- Two SSDs, one for boot and programs, the other for LR files.
- USB 3.
- A video card that can support 2 monitors (pretty universal these days, I think).

If I needed a new desktop for photo processing, I would go to the local Intrex computer store and have them design and build it.
Logged

scyth

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 584
Re: Window LR computer
« Reply #10 on: October 10, 2016, 11:08:39 am »

And you do not need that to process still photos, right?
that actually depends on your software... not all people are using just LR and that's it... C1 for example records some performance "metrics" it gets from GPU, so that you can at least approx. estimate the gain from a more "powerful" card
Logged

Torbjörn Tapani

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 319
Re: Window LR computer
« Reply #11 on: October 10, 2016, 05:32:09 pm »

I did the homework, listed the specs I wanted and let a local computer store build my last computer. They are targeted towards gaming so I had to be specific about what I needed, they were completely clueless about what makes a good workstation for photo editing. But they know about cooling and silent components so that I let them decide. It really worked out well. Had to add another SSD after a while and now I will need to add another NAS. Don't forget backup!
Logged

Rhossydd

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3369
    • http://www.paulholman.com
Re: Window LR computer
« Reply #12 on: October 10, 2016, 05:36:54 pm »

not all people are using just LR and that's it...
But the OP wants "a dedicated LR desk top" so answer according to that requirement.
Logged

nemophoto

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1021
    • Nemo Niemann Photography
Re: Window LR computer
« Reply #13 on: October 12, 2016, 10:11:08 am »

A desktop will ALWAYS be more powerful than a notebook, based on what you can stuff in a notebook compared to a desktop. I've built my own computers since about 1985. It's not for the faint of heart, unless you really know your way around computers. Things are pretty straightforward, but if something is amiss, you are your own tech support (to a degree the MB manufacturer can help), so you need to be comfortable with your hands in the guts of a computer. (I recently had issues with my MB dying, the CPU overheating, and multiple crashes. I eventually replaced the MB and installed an upgraded water-cooler from the one I had. I suggest going with some of the gaming performance niche builders like CyberPower PC.

All that said, my recommendation is to go with the most powerful parts you can afford. A top of the line processor will last you many years without having to swap out. (My current processor is an AMD FX 9590 which I've had for three years, and though it may not have quite the horsepower of the latest Intel, it has plenty of power and good bang for the buck.) A higher end GPU is a must for Lightroom; stay away form integrated GPU solutions. LR has become such a dog in things like that. And memory. Max you memory! A minimum of 32GB, and hopefully have a board that can go to 64. Many people feel 16GB is enough. If you work with large files in LR and especially Photoshop, to put a spin on the old saying, you can never be too beautiful, too rich, or have too much memory.  ;D And finally, don't forget a LARGE monitor. After all, if you are upgrading from a puny laptop screen, you really want to see what your doing. I actually use two 24" NEC MultiSync monitors capable of rendering 98% AdobeRGB. The last thing you want, after spending money on a system to work better and faster, is to view images on a monitor that can barely render sRGB. One of the great mysteries of life why anyone would do that. Yes, cost is a factor. But then again, from experience, better quality components will serve you longer and better. I have learned the hard way that cheap often costs more -- much more.

Hope this helps.
Logged

bobtowery

  • Antarctica 2016
  • Full Member
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 244
    • http://bobtowery.typepad.com
Re: Window LR computer
« Reply #14 on: November 04, 2016, 10:40:09 am »

No doubt building your own lets you customize to your heart's content. For those of you that don't want to do that, I have been buying PC's for 30 years (In fact, an original IBM PC-1). The machines (HP, Etc) at Best Buy, Costco, etc. are just pieces of crap. The slowest components, worst displays. That's my opinion, you may have your own.

I have had the best luck the past few years with Lenovo. My latest desktop is a compact tower, very quiet, all the power I wanted. Runs LR great with 4+ tb of images (about 150,000 images in my main catalog). We buy them in my company too, they have been pretty rock solid. The fancy laptop/tablet combos (Yoga line) have had some hardware issues. But for desktops, from what I have seen, this is a good choice.

Bob Towery
www.bobtowery.com
Logged
Bob
 ht

Simon Garrett

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 742
Re: Window LR computer
« Reply #15 on: November 04, 2016, 12:23:56 pm »

LR doesn't make much use of the graphics processor (at the moment) as others have said.  Something like a GTX 950 is reasonably powerful without costing a fortune or using huge amounts of power.  If you're doing games or video editing then you might want more. 

You need in i7-6700K to overclock (i.e. suffix K).  With only standard cooling that will run to about 4.3 or 4.4 GHz.  With a slightly larger (but still cheap) air-cooler it will run to 4.5.  Get fast RAM, and set "XMP" memory profile in the BIOS.  Modern motherboards usually have one or more M.2 sockets, which allow NVMe SSDs to be installed.  NVMe has much higher throughput than the normal SATA interface. 

If you're building yourself (which is quite easy) then my suggestions:
  • Don't get a cheap power supply.  They can result in hard-to-trace blue screens.  No need to gold plate, just get a major brand (Corsair or similar).
  • Biggest variable in power consumption is usually the graphics card.  With a standard graphics card (100W or less) then 400-500W is plenty for the PSU.  But top-end graphics cards can use more than 200W, and if you've got two of them... 
  • Cheap cases are all sharp edges inside and fall to bits, expensive ones are all flashing lights.  Somewhere in the middle...  If you buy fancy cooling (big air or water cooler) then make sure the case is deep enough for the cooler.

IMHO, best things for LR performance are fast processor, fast memory and fast SSD (for catalog, previews and raw cache - no need for images themselves, so 256G SSD for the C drive is generally plenty). 
« Last Edit: November 04, 2016, 01:09:12 pm by Simon Garrett »
Logged

MarcRochkind

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 36
Re: Window LR computer
« Reply #16 on: December 23, 2016, 08:44:41 pm »

Unless your budget is essentially infinite, you have to make tradeoffs, and if LR performance is your primary concern, it's easy to get sidetracked and spend money in the wrong place.

The two most important things are enough RAM and an SSD, both very cheap. I have 16GB of RAM and a 500GB SSD. CPU speed and number of cores would come next, but if you try for the state-of-the-art you'll waste tons of money.

You'll want a hard drive for actual photos (SSD is for apps and LR catalog, including previews). If you have an SSD, I doubt that the speed of the hard drive matters, but a fast one is very little more than a slow one, so get a fast one.

I don't think the GPU matters at all.

Don't forget your backup scheme. I use a USB3 drive permanently connected, drives that I connect only for backup, which I rotate, and CrashPlan cloud storage. It takes a long time to get the images uploaded to CrashPlan, but it's always running, and the images eventually get there. I also archive images to Amazon S3 Glacier from time-to-time, so I have 4 levels of backup.
Logged

Phil Indeblanc

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2017
Re: Window LR computer
« Reply #17 on: January 16, 2017, 03:02:51 pm »

If you have large megapixel files, LR is just too slow. I use a desktop and cannot even work with it. SO I have switched to other options. On a Laptop, MAYBE if your files are all on SSD. But for studio work with multiple files of 5 to 20 TB, or let alone multiple shooters SSD is just not possible for so much data.
Logged
If you buy a camera, you're a photographer...

Adam L

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 220
    • http://adamlozo.com
Re: Window LR computer
« Reply #18 on: January 16, 2017, 03:41:04 pm »

These guys make good laptops and desktops:

http://www.pcsforeveryone.com/
Logged
"That's a lot of money to move a few pix
Pages: [1]   Go Up