Rig for Photoediting & Gaming

genecor — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 19:32:00 +0800

Hi guys, wanted to get some suggestions on a build for a Desktop as I'm more or less gonna shelve my idea of getting a laptop replacement for my old HP DV4.

Usage is for regular surfing, movies, writing, some Lightroom 4.2 + Photoshop CS6 work & gaming (mostly RPG like Skyrim, MMOs like WoW, SW TOR, maybe the latest Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect 3, possible Crysis 3, No FPS stuff). Also, as it is my main computer, it should be able to tahan daily usage of at least 12+ hours a day at work/play.

I made some enquiries at local PC shops in J.B. and most of them seem to be pushing for ASUS Mobo and GPU and its my understanding from reading around here that ASUS tends to be overpriced, not so bang for buck.

My preference is possibly an i5 Processor (3570/3570k?) and an AMD GPU (maybe Radeon 7850?) as I feel Nvidia chipsets usually don't offer a superior price/performance (is this notion accurate?)

Thinking of getting a 120+Gb SSD for boot drive and a larger 1TB HDD (maybe 7,200rpm) for Storage/programs. 8GB RAM as baseline suggestions on brands and such is welcome.

As for Casing/Chasis (Silverstone? Coolermaster? Lian Li or generic?) PSU (what is good wattage to go with, Silverstone is better? Or.. ) etc.. would appreciate guidance here. I prefer to have some upgrade/expansion capability if possible. I'm undecided if I want to OC or not. I'm leaning towards slight OC, as I'm unsure on the performance increase is worth it to really go for major OC.

Hoping to have it last for the next 2-3 years, with possibility of upgrading RAM and GPU if needed in future.

Monitor would ideally like to get the Dell U2410 for editing and stuff.. but I fear might be out of my budget (RM600-700) separate from the CPU budget. Alternatively what good IPS alternatives are out there to the U2410 that is more to my budget?

Thanks!

Yet another Laptop recommendation post.

genecor — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 05:58:00 +0800

Hi,

Would appreciate some advice from users here.

Looking to get a replacement laptop to my aged current lappie.

Laptop will mostly be at home attached to ext monitor, keyboard & mouse with CM laptop cooler.

Usage is for regular surfing, movies, writing, some Lightroom 4.2 + Photoshop CS6 work & gaming (mostly RPG like Skyrim, MMOs like WoW, SW TOR, maybe the latest Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect 3, possible Crysis 3, No FPS stuff). Also, as it is my main computer, it should be able to tahan daily usage of at least 12+ hours a day at work/play.

I do some travelling sometimes and might be relocating in the next few months so a desktop is not ideal as it would just sit unused if I do relocate.

Currently narrowed down to the Lenovo Y580, Y400 & Y500. Open to suggestions of other makes/models. Preferred size is 14-15.6" laptops

Seeing as how I'm using the laptop hooked up to ext monitor and peripherals, would it make sense to get the 15.6" FHD units? Budget is around RM3.5k.

I understand that the Y580 is EOL and stocks, especially for the RM2999 spec is nearly OOS or all sold out. (Is this true?) Left with getting the fully spec'd Y580 with the 3630QM i7, 1TB 5.4k HDD+32GB SSD and the BR drive(ODD might not be used much so fine with reg DVD or none). Is this true?

From what I can tell, the main difference between the Y400 & Y500 is the size and screen and the Y500 has the 170w adapter and 2nd unit GT650m included in the package.

Is the second GPU used in SLI worth the extra RM1k for my usage? Would it make a significant difference in Lightroom, Photoshop, and some of the Games since not all applications are supporting SLi and it seems that the Y400/500 has some Wifi issues on some units.

Would the Y400 can play most of those games mentioned in Medium-high settings and able to keep frame rates up >30/s with single GT 650M?

Whatever I can save from the base unit, I can put towards getting an SSD and adding extra RAM and maybe a newer ext Monitor.

Suggestions on stock availability (in JB) and what kind of prices/packages those 3 models go for would be great too (PM if can't post in reply to sensitivity.)

Thanks!

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Rig for Photoediting & Gaming

Yet another Laptop recommendation post.