New computer specs. Have I got it right? Advice please.

[Goldminer]

I have a tired computer that I bought from PCSpecialist 12 years ago. It has served me very well, but is now old and tired. It can not handle recently purchased Adobe Lightroom Clasic, and Photoshop online.

Adobe say that Photoshop is CPU intensive and and needs up to 6/8 cores, is memory intensive, and 14th gen OK. The demand from GPU is said to be low.

This will be my main area of use in photo editing. I listen to a lot of music and mostly the rest of my use is browsing or news. I win not be using the computer for gaming. My budget is £500 to 1000.



I would appreciate any advice on the purchase proposal below.



Do I need the Graphics card. Would the on board GPU be adequate.

Case
CORSAIR 3000D AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Promotional Item
Get Star Wars Outlaws™ with purchase of qualifying Intel® Core™ 14th Gen Processors
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 10-Core Processor i5-14400F (Up to 4.7GHz) 20MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B760M-K D4 (mATX, LGA1700, DDR4, PCIe 4.0)
Memory (RAM)
32GB PCS PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 - HDMI
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (3500 MB/R, 3100 MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
6TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CX SERIES™ CX-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD CPU COOLER LGA1700
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX210 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
Norton 360 inc. Game Optimizer - Free 90 Day License
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (6 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Price: £1,002.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-home-office-pc-V/wTSzTgKSqY/

 

[SpyderTracks]

You may be looking at minimum requirements of the software, that's never what you'd design a system to as it's just enough to get you entry without factoring in that you're buying this system to last 7 to 10 years! Software is always developing and system requirements just increase release after release, you need to factor in longevity on any build and design it with it's retirement in 10 years in mind rather than your requirements at the time of purchase. Minimum specs are more for people with old systems seeing if they can still run the software.

The i5 you've selected is a big/little design, this means it's only ACTUALLY a 6 core processor with 4 E Cores which are low powered atom cores designed to offload background tasks to.

But it's quite a weak processor.

Similarly with the GPU, that GPU is now 5 years old and was the last generation made on the old GTX architecture, even when it was brand new, it was underpowered for 1080p. Plus, VRAM is very important for rendering, and that card just doesn't have enough to even make a dent. It's an extremely weak GPU. Todays rendering tasks really require RTX cards as a lowest level as they have newer dedicated RT cores which HUGELY increase performance over the old GTX design.

Both Photoshop and Lightroom benefit from Hardware Acceleration for processing effects and Lightroom benefits from both image generation and output.

Really though, I would say the budget just isn't there for something worthwhile related to Photoshop and Lightroom, you really need to be looking at a higher budget, around £1500 for something entry level.

While there is a very slight performance bump with Intel processors, I still wouldn't recommend them with the plague of issues they have.

I'd be suggesting a minimum of an 8 Core Ryzen 7700 paired with a 12Gb RTX3060, or if you wanted to find a cheaper GPU, an RTX 2060 12Gb from elsewhere which you could buy separately and fit yourself (as PCS don't stock it anymore as it stopped production a while ago), but you'd have to buy second hand as ironically remaining new models are now substantially more expensive than the newer 3060 12Gb (due to being short stocks left)

There's a review from Puget on the newer AMD CPU's vs Intel in Lightroom Classic. Also be aware 14th Gen Intel are literally exactly the same processors as 13th Gen, they should have simply been a refresh, it's very misleading to name them as a whole new generation as they just aren't. You'll find most reviews don't comparison benchmarks only include 13th gen for this reason as the results from 14th gen are exactly the same.

Adobe Lightroom Classic: AMD Ryzen 7000 Series vs Intel Core 12th Gen

AMD's new Ryzen 7000 Series of processors have arrived, promising faster performance along with new features like support for DDR5 memory. Compared to the Intel Core 12th Gen processors, the previous generation Ryzen 5000 Series fell slightly behind Intel in Lightroom Classic. Will the new Ryzen...

www.pugetsystems.com

Some comparison benchmarks: https://www.notebookcheck.net/R7-7700-vs-i5-13400F_14944_14966.247596.0.html

 

[SpyderTracks]

This is where I'd be looking at the lowest level, this is with the understanding you can carry across your existing windows license, and factors in best practice drive setup, although you may already have an HDD you can carry across:

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-5.3GHz/40MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 - HDMI, DP, LHR
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CORSAIR CORE XT MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 5000 MB/R, 3500 MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR H100x RGB ELITE HIGH PERFORMANCE CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Price: £1,404.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/9Zt4mnr!nW/

 

[SpyderTracks]

I know it's quite a bump up with another £400 but I guarantee, you don't want to go as low as you initially suggested, it would lead to a throwaway system that would become end of life far shorter than is needed by spending not that much more. So in the long run you'd pay substantially more than £1000 and for poor performance.

 

[sck451]

The other option is to go for an iGPU build. It will not have the GPU heft of even the 3050 (though it's closer than you might think), but it will do a job and be a platform you can easily upgrade.

This is the "solid foundations, easy to upgrade" PC.

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE Good though unadventurous case
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 8700G Eight Core CPU (4.2GHz-5.1GHz/24MB CACHE/AM5) Strong CPU with excellent integrated graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB) Good high-speed memory
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU) iGPU for now, but easy to upgrade and a solid platform to upgrade from
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW) Really you want more storage than this, ideally two SSDs and a good backup solution. I would strongly encourage you to spend more to achieve that, or plan on an upgrade at an early opportunity
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET Overkill for this system, but with upgradability in mind
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
DeepCool AG400 Performance ARGB CPU Cooler Good solid cooler for the 8700G
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED Presuming you can migrate Windows from the old PC
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (6 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Price: £947.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/cGakdW!phN/

 

[Goldminer]

Thank you both very much. I have gone back to scratch and am completely rethinking what to do. Something relevant, I am 85 and probably got 1 to 5 years of working mind left. There seems to be a consensus that AMD is better than intel, and I must definitely go that way. Intel has served me well for the last 12 years. I also have 3.2 TB data to store.

 

[Goldminer]

About 90% of my work is on Lightroom. The last few days I have been reading round and round Adobe, AMD, Intel CPU, GPU, and have finally come up with the following. I have always used intel. I want to stay. I really do not have enough money. The AMD Ryzen 7 8700G Eight Core CPU (4.2GHz-5.1GHz/24MB CACHE/AM5) suggested seemed a good idea, except that Lightroom is CPU intensive ,and it did not score too well here. The 12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 - HDMI, DP, LHR seemed too much GPU for the same reason.

This is pretty much what I have decided to go for. I hope this is the best deal for my money.
Does the 6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3050 GPU have Direct X 12 support like Adobe says is required? https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/lightroom-classic/system-requirements.html

Case
CORSAIR 3000D AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 10-Core Processor i5-14400F (Up to 4.7GHz) 20MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B760M-K D4 (mATX, LGA1700, DDR4, PCIe 4.0)
Memory (RAM)
32GB PCS PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3050 - HDMI, DP, LHR
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
6TB SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD CPU COOLER LGA1700
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
Norton 360 inc. Game Optimizer - Free 90 Day License
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (6 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Price: £1,169.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-home-office-pc-V/uahuv4p8f9/

 

[RedOnTheRun]

About 90% of my work is on Lightroom. The last few days I have been reading round and round Adobe, AMD, Intel CPU, GPU, and have finally come up with the following. I have always used intel. I want to stay. I really do not have enough money. The AMD Ryzen 7 8700G Eight Core CPU (4.2GHz-5.1GHz/24MB CACHE/AM5) suggested seemed a good idea, except that Lightroom is CPU intensive ,and it did not score too well here. The 12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 - HDMI, DP, LHR seemed too much GPU for the same reason.

This is pretty much what I have decided to go for. I hope this is the best deal for my money.
Does the 6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3050 GPU have Direct X 12 support like Adobe says is required? https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/lightroom-classic/system-requirements.html

Case
CORSAIR 3000D AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 10-Core Processor i5-14400F (Up to 4.7GHz) 20MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B760M-K D4 (mATX, LGA1700, DDR4, PCIe 4.0)
Memory (RAM)
32GB PCS PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3050 - HDMI, DP, LHR
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
6TB SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD CPU COOLER LGA1700
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
Norton 360 inc. Game Optimizer - Free 90 Day License
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (6 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Price: £1,169.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-home-office-pc-V/uahuv4p8f9/

Just put together a DDR5 System for you, much better to spend the extra on the GPU than an IRONwolf HDD. You're better off buying STD HDD and more of them when you need them as they are so cheap and easy to install...

Have a look at this one... its better, faster, better GPU and is cheaper than the previous quote>

Case
CORSAIR 3000D AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 10-Core Processor i5-14400F (Up to 4.7GHz) 20MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B760M-A WIFI (mATX, LGA1700, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM)
32GB PCS PRO DDR5 4800MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4060 - HDMI, DP, LHR
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (3500 MB/R, 3100 MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CX SERIES™ CX-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 V3 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
Norton 360 inc. Game Optimizer - Free 90 Day License
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days

Price: £1,161.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z790-ddr5-pc/DaZg3F!fWk/

 

[sck451]

About 90% of my work is on Lightroom. The last few days I have been reading round and round Adobe, AMD, Intel CPU, GPU, and have finally come up with the following. I have always used intel. I want to stay. I really do not have enough money. The AMD Ryzen 7 8700G Eight Core CPU (4.2GHz-5.1GHz/24MB CACHE/AM5) suggested seemed a good idea, except that Lightroom is CPU intensive ,and it did not score too well here. The 12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 - HDMI, DP, LHR seemed too much GPU for the same reason.

This is pretty much what I have decided to go for. I hope this is the best deal for my money.
Does the 6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3050 GPU have Direct X 12 support like Adobe says is required? https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/lightroom-classic/system-requirements.html

Case
CORSAIR 3000D AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 10-Core Processor i5-14400F (Up to 4.7GHz) 20MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B760M-K D4 (mATX, LGA1700, DDR4, PCIe 4.0)
Memory (RAM)
32GB PCS PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3050 - HDMI, DP, LHR
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
6TB SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD CPU COOLER LGA1700
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
Norton 360 inc. Game Optimizer - Free 90 Day License
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (6 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Price: £1,169.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-home-office-pc-V/uahuv4p8f9/

To put it mildly, I'll be astonished if a 14400F with a stock cooler and DDR4 memory outperformed a 8700G. Your system there is really not a strong one, though if your budget is now £1170, you can get a lot more for it than if you limit yourself to £1000.

 

[Goldminer]

How does this look? The memory setup specially for working with my Lightroom

Case
CORSAIR 3000D AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 14-Core Processor i5-14500 (Up to 5.0GHz) 24MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B760-PLUS D4 (LGA1700, DDR4, PCIe 5.0)
Memory (RAM)
32GB PCS PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3050 - HDMI, DP, LHR
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CX SERIES™ CX-650 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
DeepCool AG400 Performance ARGB CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
Norton 360 inc. Game Optimizer - Free 90 Day License
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (6 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Price: £1,160.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-home-office-pc-V/g4Ucjtf207/

 

[Scott]

It's not good compared to what we would recommend. Given your needs and uses, it'll do the job though. It's better to try and avoid nit-picking metrics as the margins will never be noticed in real life.

DDR5 will have a very high impact in Lightroom IMO. Depending on the Photoshop uses it'll have an impact there as well. You want 6000Mhz DDR Ram though.

The advice given previously, both options, are sound and solid. It's hard to recommend something that we wouldn't recommend just because you want us to say it's good, it doesn't work that way unfortunately.

8700G with 32GB DDR5 RAM is going to knock the 14500 with DDR4 out of the park.
7700 with 32GB DDR5 RAM and a 3060 (or even 2060) isn't even a contest for performance vs the Intel suggested. It's a cake walk.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I have always used intel. I want to stay. I really do not have enough money. The AMD Ryzen 7 8700G Eight Core CPU (4.2GHz-5.1GHz/24MB CACHE/AM5) suggested seemed a good idea, except that Lightroom is CPU intensive ,and it did not score too well here.

There are a few things here, I never understand when people say that they've always used a certain CPU, it's as if they think somehow being on a different CPU changes anything actually within the operation, which it doesn't at all. By sticking with intel you pay a premium for poor performance and general stability. It's just doesn't make any sense.

I also wonder where you're seeing that the 11400 is better than the 8700G because they're not even close, I'm guessing you're looking on CPUBenchmark or UserBenchmark perhaps or some other comparison site? What's your source for that? The 8700G is STREETS better than the Intel!

 

[TonyCarter]

(thought I'd changed this last night as I found more comparable benchmarks, and noticed I'd put in an 11400 instead of a 14400, so they now both use the same GPU and generation of CPU)

PugetBench for Lightroom Classic (methodology here if you’re interested):

• 8700G (32gb 4800mhz DDR5) + RTX4090 = 1395 points
• 14400 (32gb 3600mhz DDR4) + RTX4090 = 1257 points

Where 1000 is the baseline, based on:

• Intel Core i9 9900K 8 Core
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 8GB
• 64GB of RAM

---

PugetBench for Photoshop (methodology here), both using non-optimum memory speeds though:

• 8700G (32gb 5200mhz DDR5) + 780M iGPU = 7599 points
• 14400 (16gb 4400mhz DDR5) + iGPU = 6104 points

---

Yes, they used different GPUs, but other Lightroom benchmarks show there’s no benefit from that…and so is purely to show the PugetBench result is not skewed due by the GPU.

The NVIDIA RTX 4090 is Amazing, and Photographers Should NOT Buy It

The verdict is in.

petapixel.com

 

[SpyderTracks]

This is the reason I was questioning your sources, because they don't align with real world evidence.
You need to be aware that comparison sites are complete garbage, they don't actually benchmark anything, they just assign a value to a metric ie core count or frequency which has absolutely no meaning to performance.

Userbenchmark has been banned on most of the internet and will be closing soon. The only reason they ever got attention is because they paid exorbitant money to always come top in google searches

AMD Vs Intel

So some of you aren't aware of the reasons why so many people are heading away from Intel to AMD, so thought it would be important to lay that out for people to refer back to. A lot of you will go to cpubenchmark or userbenchmark to find performance metrics for CPU's. These sites are complete...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

 

[Goldminer]

Perhaps some info about me might explain how I am thinking and what I can afford. I am 85 possibly beginning the dementia path, and on pension credit. I have £1000.00 but can squeeze some more, wife permitting. I have at the most 5 active mind years ahead. 90% of my computer time is spent on Adobe Lightroom. My hobby is photography. Computer games do not interest me. This memory setup I will get, whatever CPU.

I am so scared of making a mistake, perhaps I am inviting one. This will be my last computer that I ever buy. I have 3.5 TB of data on an existing 4TB internal disc. I plan to move this disc to the new computer.



Could you again comment on this proposal.



I have no idea how the AMD Ryzen 7 8700G Eight Core CPU (4.2GHz-5.1GHz/24MB CACHE/AM5)/integrated graphics only will handle Lightroom.



Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 8700G Eight Core CPU (4.2GHz-5.1GHz/24MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 5200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x Slim USB 2.0 External DVD-RW
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 200 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Price: £1,214.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/!!5wq7072e/

 

[Scott]

Some minor tweaks below.

I note that you're moving the 4TB drive across, with that in mind did you need the extra 4TB drive? It would be very much worthwhile having a backup drive but I would have this in a USB form, rather than in the PC itself. Regularly backing up anything important is a great habit to have, but having everything contained within the one system is asking for trouble IMO. A USB drive for backup would be ideal.

With that in mind the below has a fast drive for Windows & Adobe, a fast secondary drive for cache and current project files. The 4TB drive that you have will slot straight in and you could purchase an external drive for backing up etc.

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 8700G Eight Core CPU (4.2GHz-5.1GHz/24MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x Slim USB 2.0 External DVD-RW
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
DeepCool AK620 ZERO DARK High-Performance Dual Tower CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Price: £1,198.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/GQRFNsvKhW/