Thoughts on new laptop / desktop

[Kayaker72]

Hi Tony,

I built a new PC over the summer. Some of the discussion didn't survive the recent software conversion TDP forum website just went through, but maybe you might find something useful: http://community.the-digital-picture...light=computer

I ended up with the following (prices were as of Aug 2011):

• CPU: AMD Athlon II x4 3.0 Ghz ($100)
• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 (AM3+, expandable to 32 GB RAM; $140)
• HDD: 2 x 1.5 TB Western Digital Caviar Black, 7200rpm,SATA III (got on a shell shocker deal--$160 for both)
• SSD: 120 GB OCZ Agility 3 ($190)
• RAM: GSKILL Ripjaws 8 GB (2 x 4GB), 1600, ($60)
• Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ($50)
• Video Card: EVGA 01G-P3-1431, 1GB, 128 bit, 2x DVI ports ($55)
• Power Supply: Antec 500W Green, 80+ Bronze ($59)
• Optical Drive: ASUS DVD/CD Burner ($21)
• OS: Win 7-64 bit ($100)
• Monitor: Asus VS248H-P ($210)--I did look at the higher end monitors many of you mentioned. Someday maybe I'll get one, but not today. And this should be better than what I currently have.
• Webcam: Logitech C910 ($80)

The "Bulldozer" CPUs have come out. Those will be the fastest, but the Athlon II that I bought is plenty fast. It processes RAW to JPG through DPP in ~9-10 seconds per image. I am not pushing you toward a PC as I think either PC or Mac will work well and that mostly gets down to personal preferences. Just letting you know what I did and that it works well.

A few key tips that I did learn when building my PC:
1) Read/write rates from SSDs is much faster than HDs. For example, my SSD is rated at ~500 MB/s (never tested it) and I've read tests of HDs that transfer at 100-140 MB/s. The tangible benefit is that there is a noticable difference in editing speed, so I process my RAW images on my SSD and then transfer over to the HD for long term storage.
2) My entire system (monitor/computer/etc) uses less than 200 Watts. The average ranges from 75 to 125 W during normal operation. So while large power supply units are out there, at least for my system, they weren't necessary.
3) Power supply units have efficiency ratings (http://www.plugloadsolutions.com/80P...rSupplies.aspx). I went with the 80+ Bronze PSU, but it surprised me how inefficient some "regular/not rated" PSUs can be.

Good luck,
Brant

EDIT: Looks like qwRad and I had similar posts.