Hi Mike,

I built my home computer summer of 2021, so I am sure things have improved, but I have to say, it has no issues.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X (12 cores)
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4 3200 x 64 GB
Storage (items in current use/photos of this year/software): Crucial P2 NAND PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD (2 TB)
Long term storage (Previous years photos): WD 10 TB HD Gold
Motherboard: ASUS AM4 TUF X570-Plus
GPU: ASUS ROG GeForce RTX 3060 OC
Power Corsair RM850
CPU Fan: Noctua NH15
External back up: WD 12 TB hard drive.

As those are specifics from 2021, I was more thinking of that is a great baseline as that machine is not having an issue. I've processed videos and it renders quickly with even a moderate GPU from 2021. Files load quickly to SSD (thanks...motherboard and NVMe M.2 SSD), LR is fast (CPU, Motherboard, and SSD). Overall, very happy.

That said, if I was in the market for a new computer in 2023, good chance I would just buy a laptop. In 2021, I was impressed by the Dell XPS and the ASUS ROG Zephyrus lineups. I am sure others are good as well, but even checking again and those seem to be good.

If you want to tear into things, some online references that might help:
  • CPU benchmarks to compare different CPUs (Passmark). I remember finding a few of these benchmarks out there for CPUs.
  • SSDs. Perhaps there is even something better now, but make sure you get the NVMe M.2. Explanation here.
  • RAM. They have DDR5 now whereas it was DDR4 in 2021. DDR4 maxed out (not overclocked) at frequency ~3200 (as I recall), DDR5 is twice that (wiki talks about up to 51k Mb/s transfer speeds). A quick read, it makes some difference, but DDR4 still very fast.
  • GPU. As we have talked, when I've researched it, it was primarily used for video processing. So, if you do a lot of that, get a good GPU (granted, my mid-level RTX 3060 does just fine). LR tends to use the CPU.
  • For AMD, I recall there was benefit to the AM4-X570 motherboard. It was set up to transfer speeds to the NVMe M.2 SSD. And, yep, now they have AM5 motherboards. 2 yrs is a long time.
  • Another quick thing to look for is number and type of USB ports. Some are still USB A and different generations (3.1/3.2). Then, there is USB C, which is thinner and I believe also transmits more power.


I hope that helps and that you can recover the files in your HD.