Looking for recommendations on a high performance digital imaging system

DaleC

Here is my build so far: https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder-amd.aspx?load=ec0a300f-ff55-455b-be84-6ca3ccdfffb6

I will be adding 2 5.25" HDs in the case

 Where I am stuck right now is choosing a case. Ideally, it would also support 4 5.25" external optical drives; video card to support 4K with at least 1 DisplayPort and 1 HDMI; Cooling fo the CPU, motherboard and case (looking for a recommendation); and Windows 11 or Windows 10 upgradable to Win 11 Pro.

 Thanks for your help!

 Dale

Ian

Greetings,

What is your intended budget?

DaleC

About $3500 - $4000

Ian

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/10500/looking-for-recommendations-on-a-high-performance-digital-imaging-system

Thank you for the budget information.

To clarify some questions, do you mean 3.5" HDDs, as hard drives would either be 3.5", 2.5" drives or m.2 drives.

As for the optical drives, are you referring to using 4 optical/DVD drives at once? That will be extremely difficult to find case wise for anything more than just 1 DVD spot as most cases don't include any spots for optical drives at this time.

DaleC

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/39471#Comment_39471

Sorry yet I meant 3.5" HDDs. Yes, I have 4 BD optical drives that I would like to keep in my configuration. Or at lease find a way to run them externally with eSATA perhaps.

magarity

MC doesnt seem to carry any cases with 4 external facing bays for BD drives. Searching newegg shows they only have 2 choices there. So really putting them in USB C external case is probably best. The problem with 4 bays in the main case is that it cuts off most of the front from being able to take in air for cooling CPU and GPU which are getting hotter and hotter every year.

mc carries this interesting case with 2 bays, then you just need 2 externals: Cooler Master HAF XB EVO ATX LAN Box Computer Case - Black - Micro Center

DaleC

Thank you all for the case feedback. I will try to rethink my approach to optical drives. Maybe I will keep them on my older computer which has 4 bays in the case.

I'd like to get some recommendations on the graphics card and cooling systems that will work best with this configuration.

Ian

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/39479#Comment_39479

What software would you be using on this PC?

DaleC

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/39519#Comment_39519

PixInsight (for astrophotography; very CPU intensive), Photoshop CS 2022, Topaz (AI Suite), Adobe Premiere, and occasionally video Blu-Ray and 4K.

No gaming or crypto

Ian

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/39535#Comment_39535

For the video card, any NVIDIA 2000 or 3000 series card with at least 6GB of VRAM should be fine. Just depends what you can find.

As for cooling, that would vary a bit by case, depending whether or not the case can support up to a 240mm radiator or a 360mm radiator. I'd recommend either a 240mm or 360mm water cooler for the processor in your case since the CPU will be under a lot of load I'd expect, most cases can do a 240mm radiator without issue, 360mm won't be supported by some cases.