Anyone who's built a photo-editing rig lately, feel fee to list your components.
Well, I don't do a tremendous amount of photo editing (or gaming), so I can't identify components that are optimized specifically for that task. But, ever since I purchased my 1st off-shelf pc in the mid 80's, I've built my own. My last rig lasted 10 years and I expect my current rig to follow suit. Of course, it's difficult these days to build a rig cheaper than an equivellent machine off the shelf (from a performance perspective); but, it's the only way to go if you want longevity, quality components through and through and the ability to expand beyond the limitations of most off the shelf pc's.
My current rig exceeds my needs, but then again, my philosphy is that if you're going to roll your own, then roll a Big-Whoopass doobie, or just buy something decent from one of the on-line shops or local retailers. Here's a quick snapshot of my build list:
$379.99 - MSI Big Bang II Mobo
$484.99 - Intell Core i7 3930k LGA 2011 processor
$172.99 - Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 850W Power Supply
$124.99 - G. Skill 32Gb 1600Mhz Quad Channel RAM
$174.00 - Kingston Hyper X Solid State Drive 240Gb (boot drive)
$106.97 - Seagate Enterprise SATA HDD 1Tb (data drive)
$309.99 - Asus/Nvidia PCIe Graphics Card 660 Ti 2Gb
$129.99 - Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme CPU Cooler
$ 63.00 - LG SATA Blu-Ray DVD Burner
$136.98 - Microsoft Windows 7 Pro 64bit, System Builder Pack
$2083.89 TOTAL (not including Case & other Peripherals) (all purchased off amazon, no tax, free shipping)
As I mentioned, this is overkill for me, but just gives you an idea of some components that work very well together and is within your price range, especially if you drop down a notch or two on just the Mobo and Prorcessor; because lightspeed performance can still be achieved while saving hundreds with a less potent Core i7 processor alone. As others have mentioned, Core i7's kick-ass, but it all starts with a good Mobo, followed by a good Processor and an extremely good Graphics Card; everything else can pretty much be budget minded.
I also added an Asus 27" LED/LCD Monitor for $279.99. Even the less expensive LED/LCD monitors are fantastic. But, don't kid yourself, they don't compare to high-end quality monitors optimized for photo editing. The Asus is fine, as was my older Sony Pro LCD, but the truth is that photo editing will indeed expose their weaknesses, especially with color saturation throughout every square inch of the monitor. But, if you're not photo editing at a professional level, then you'd probably be most pleased with a $280.00 LED/LCD monitor. I am, but then again, I only photo edit on occassion and that's at a very basic enthusiast level.
Mr. Gollnick brings up a very good point ~ Don't skimp on your back-up strategy. I use a 500Gb 7200 rpm portable (should have got a 1Tb) and the biggest speed advantage was ditching the worthless USB 2.0 cable and upgrading to 3.0. While read/write transfers may not be astonishingly improved, the 3.0 interface communicates significantly better. Could be a combination of the i7 Processor & Mobo build quality combined with a better 3.0 USB interface, but what ever accounts for the communications improvement is indeed significant. My back-up verification used to take anywhere from 60 to 120 minutes depending upon how much data was changed. With the 3.0 interface, it never takes longer than 8 minutes to scan, identify and write all verification changes.
Anyhoot, I put this rig on-line in late DEC 2012. Clean install, no errors, no halts, just blazin speed. My only complaint is that after 6 months, I can hear the 2.0 Extreme pump making a constant grinding/rattling sound. But, no biggie, it's still cooling like a pro; when it no longer keeps my temps in check, I'll either replace it with another Thermaltake or try a different CPU cooler.
Good luck Bob - Have Fun!
. I literally spent 3 weeks studying socket/mobo compatibility, RAM/Graphics and various ports interoperability, OS, etc...before I even felt comfortable enough to order the first component.
