Need some guidance on a fresh project, mainly involving 2D visuals and photo manipulation?
Need some guidance on a fresh project, mainly involving 2D visuals and photo manipulation?
Hello all,
This is my first contribution to this supportive and practical group. I’m still getting used to hardware, so your guidance would be greatly appreciated. My last build was about 15 years ago, and I haven’t really revisited any technical details since then.
Details:
Budget: around 2000€, though it can stretch a bit if justified. I’m not overly concerned with the amount; what matters most is value and satisfaction.
Personal situation:
I’m not a gamer. I work as a software developer and enjoy coding, but I’m not interested in running AI models locally. I’d rather avoid any effort where it wouldn’t pay off.
Personality:
I prefer simplicity. I want my system to function smoothly out of the box—no need for constant tweaks. Updating BIOS or settings is fine once, but not a habit.
Technical preferences:
Operating systems: one Linux and one Windows, both on fast SSDs.
Secondary OS: another Linux on a slower SSD, occasionally used.
Software needs:
- Image & photo editing tools (both paid and free).
- Some apps require good performance with OpenCL support.
- No video editing or encoding.
- Minimal disk space required (I use a NAS for storage).
- Quiet operation is essential—desire near-silent performance, especially when coding or browsing at night.
- The system shouldn’t run continuously at full capacity; it should work in short bursts with long pauses. This affects cooling needs.
Current thoughts:
- CPU: Intel Core i9-14900KF 3.2 GHz, 24-core (€589)
- Cooler: MasterLiquid 360 70.7 CFM (€157)
- Motherboard: MSI MAG Z790 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX (€239)
- RAM: Kingston FURY Renegade 32GB DDR5-6000 CL32 (€145)
- Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 500GB M.2-2280 NVMe SSDs (two sets, €84.90 each)
- Video card: AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT (€549)
- Case: NZXT H7 Flow ATX Mid Tower (€123)
- Power supply: Be Quiet! 12kW 80+ Platinum, fully modular (€213)
- GPU choice: AMD RX 6950 XT (€549) – good for OpenCL but not AI-specific.
RAM selection is unclear; I’m unsure about the required fans and balance between silence and performance.
I’m open to suggestions and any fixes you might have.
Thanks in advance for your help. Looking forward to your advice.
Wishing you all a great day!
Welcome to the forums, newcomer! Your budget is around 2000€. Where are you based from? I’d prefer the K suffix processor rather than F, because an iGPU is really useful for fixing display problems. If this was an AMD AM5 platform, I’d have stayed with DDR5-6000MHz or even higher. With Intel, you can go even faster.
I’d suggest skipping Kingston RAM and storage, and instead choose G.Skill, Corsair, or Team Group. For top-quality storage, Samsung works well if you’re after premium options.
Your build seems assembled from PCPartPicker. If that’s the case, share the link so we can help adjust it for you.
Don’t apologize—we expect you to provide enough details so our suggestions fit your needs perfectly.
I wouldn't purchase a KF SKU since it doesn't include integrated graphics, which could help with GPU problems. 980 pros are good, but the price seems too high for the features.
Thank you for your prompt response Lutfij
🙂
I'm based in Europe, Belgium. I've updated the first post with the PCPartPicker link (https://pcpartpicker.com/list/9w8KmD).
Your advice about a CPU with built-in graphics is a good one—the price difference isn't significant here. It might not be essential, but it makes perfect sense. Thank you.
When it comes to RAM, I find it really tough to pick the right option on my own. The specifications are overwhelming—timings, frequency, motherboard compatibility, CPU brand trustworthiness, expected performance, voltage requirements, and more. This seems like the area where I need the most guidance. Also, I'm unsure how much of a difference it actually makes, making it hard to see if the investment will pay off.
One thing to consider with RAM is that while speed is important, stability and ease of installation are more important to me. I won't be trying to overclock anything or push performance beyond what's normally stable unless it's very common practice and there are no known problems.
Thanks a lot for your time and support!
Thanks for your response from logainofhades.
It's accurate that the 500Go SSDs are more expensive compared to their 1To and 2To versions. Doubling the cost per gigabyte is quite surprising. I hadn't considered this before.
I might opt for a single 2To SSD instead of those three 500Go units, since I won't need more than one at once. My choice was made for two reasons, though both might be incorrect:
I think encryption becomes simpler when installing an OS on its own partition, rather than across multiple partitions. I should investigate this further.
I also don't like the notion of keeping all my operating systems on the same drive just in case something goes wrong.
Thank you for your time.
...I'm running a bit late, so I'll respond more thoughtfully tomorrow. Hope you're all having a good night and see you next time!
Here is a revised version of your text with similar structure and length maintained:
I recommend the following components:
Processor:
Intel Core i7-13700KF 3.4 GHz 16-Core CPU
(€383.90 at Amazon Belgium)
Cooler:
ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 56.3 CFM Liquid Cooler
(€95.31 at Azerty)
Mainboard:
Gigabyte Z790 AORUS ELITE AX DDR4 ATX LGA1700 Board
(€231.86 at Amazon Belgium)
RAM:
TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16
(€64.98 at Amazon Belgium)
Storage:
Lexar NM790 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD
(€76.16 at Azerty)
Lexar NM790 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD
(€133.16 at Azerty)
Graphics Card:
PNY VERTO OC GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER 16 GB
(€876.99 at Azerty)
Case:
Deepcool CC560 ARGB V2 ATX Mid Tower Case
(€70.16 at Azerty)
Power Supply:
MSI MPG A850G PCIE5 850 W, 80+ Gold Certified, Fully Modular ATX
(€129.90 at Amazon Belgium)
Overall Cost:
€2062.42
Includes shipping, taxes, and applicable discounts
Generated by
PCPartPicker
Date: 2024-05-08 08:33 CEST+0200
Thank you for your message. I prefer to compare what I selected with my previous choices and identify the differences in specifications and pricing, which is straightforward using the "compare" tool on pcpartpicker. For someone unfamiliar with modern hardware, recommendations from trusted sources are very helpful. It broadens my understanding and provides a better perspective.
As for the graphics card, I plan to stick with the AMD 6xxx series due to the reasons mentioned earlier.
Regarding the power supply, I assumed an 850W capacity would suffice but was hesitant to set it too low. I’m unsure if PCPartPicker calculates power needs based on peak demands of each component from a single advertised average. That’s why I opted for 1000W. Does this approach make sense? Or is there really no justification here?
You selected DDR4 memory. Does that imply there’s little advantage in choosing DDR5? It appears the frequency of DDR5 is roughly half that of DDR5, and the timings (CL16?) seem even lower. I’m a bit confused. Should I aim for the highest possible frequency or the lowest timing?
Thank you for your time.
Thank you NedSmelly.
The scenarios you mentioned are definitely part of my ongoing or upcoming tasks. I’ll take into account more RAM, although my present camera has a 24MP resolution and I haven’t run out of my current 32GB yet. It’s straightforward to add additional RAM if necessary—I suppose. Appreciate your guidance, I’ll think about it.
In fact, I’m more worried about the kind of RAM required than the quantity itself.
Hi.
If it were just about the needs, I wouldn’t invest in a new system. I’d be someone who has plenty of money and just wants to upgrade something I use daily for enjoyment. Spending 2000€ every five years on something I rely on is perfectly acceptable for me.
"The why a case with 2 3.5" and 6 2.5" capacity" – probably because it was suggested somewhere. Trying to explain the wrong decisions I made is wasting time and doesn’t matter much. I don’t actually require all that capacity. I thought a larger case would improve airflow and keep things cooler, maybe. If another case would fit better, could you suggest some alternatives?
Software development tools generally don’t need many CPU cores. A fast processor with just a few cores and 16GB of RAM is more than enough. Image editing apps benefit from CPU cores and a high-end GPU (OpenCL).
I didn’t expect a top-end CPU with proper cooling to be so noisy, even when not running? I should think about that, thank you.
Appreciate your advice on RAM – really helpful.