Help review my PC workstation build list, please and thanks.

[Hammerskjold]

That is an insane amount of ram!

Unfortunately, not for this purpose. 2D high res graphics , video, and music editing rigs can be ginormous RAM devourers. They're basically Galactus.

Eg: It's not uncommon for artists to work at 'double resolution', then scale it down once it's approved\finished. So for a 1080p hi-def image, it's double res during the actual creation.

Personally I think an image can be good (subjectively speaking) even at 720p, or even -gasp- standard def, but what I think doesn't matter in the context of where the industry is and going. Even smartphones are going higher def.

I'm not doing any heavy video or any music editing, but reading up on various photographer\digital graphic artist forum about their rigs. Most of the point's I've read seems to list RAM is what pleases the current Photoshop God the most.

Want to know what -is- insane, 64 gig is not even considered 'super large' in this area.

At this point in time, 8 gig is considered bare minimum (for this type of usage), 16 better but save up for 32. 64 is the current sweet spot before going off the deep end into building expensive 'Big Iron' rigs that for me at least, is not worth the cost due to severe diminishing return. (If someone else is footing the bill, well then all bets are off. I'd be doing it up like this guy.)

but that video card, do you think it will be powerful enough?

Thankfully, from what I've read so far, even a mid range gaming card is good enough.

http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/article...ation-161/

What about the 7870 crossfire?

Reading up on the crossfire stuff, so far my understanding of it is dual GPU setup is either not supported\not a big enough boost to warrant it. At least not for my usage with this machine.

It is a good point you bring up, since if I were to upgrade anything on this rig it would be dual monitor setup. The card that I have on the spec list seems to be 'passable-ok' for non gaming dual display, and honestly I'm still fine with single monitor right now.

Though if the current trend of laptop price to power ratio keeps improving, I maybe seriously tempted to just get a laptop as the second display\satellite system. Just not right now of course.

Hell I still gotta pay for software. That's where they -really- get ya.