The ideal hardware to run Lightroom Classic smooth editing high resolution images

[David Kkozi]

Hello,

I would like to know what pieces of HW should I look for if I finally want smooth running Lr Classic.

I edit thousands of 45 mpx images every week and I would like to build or buy a computer which will be powerful enough to run LR fast and smooth. I've never experienced smooth and fast running Lr Classic during editing/browsing higher megapixel images. 

So what should I look for, what should I buy if I want to use Windows?

1. desktop PC
2. laptop

Could someone recommend how specs or models of computers which can run LR Classic smooth?

Thank you so much.

[dj_paige]

High end CPU, high end GPU (like NVidia 40xx), 16GB of RAM (or more if other programs would benefit from more RAM), internal SSD for the catalog file, any type and speed of hard disk for the photos.

[David Kkozi]

Thank you. I would like to know some certain models if you know.  What system do you use? Do you experience smooth run of LR?

[dj_paige]

I would like to know some certain models if you know.  What system do you use? Do you experience smooth run of LR? I assume you mean LrC here, not LR.

I don't know any particular models to recommend. Each vendor lists their models on their web site, you can see which models have the hardware I stated above. Many vendors will custom assemble a PC or laptop to your requirements. My Lightroom Classic runs smoothly on my 2 year old custom built PC, but I only have 24 MP originals.

[DClark064]

You can take a look at PugetSystems.com and look at the workstations they configure for Photo Editing and Lightroom. 

https://www.pugetsystems.com/solutions/photo-editing-workstations/adobe-lightroom-classic/buy-158/ 

They have some benchmarks and other discussions about system performance you can browse.  You can configure a system with them or take what you learn elsewhere or to build your own.

[dj_paige]

I am always skeptical of Puget Systems trying to sell you stuff you don't need. They say:

"Technically, you could keep your photos on an external drive and edit directly from that drive. However, this is one of the most common causes of performance and stability issues we hear about from our customers. We highly recommend having a large enough internal drive so that you can copy all your files to a local drive before working on them. External drives are terrific for backup and archiving, but not ideal to work off of."

Which is 100% wrong. Speed of the disk where the photos are stored has almost no impact on LrC, the impact is so small and trivial that you will never notice it. I work off with photos stored on external drives, and there is no slowness because of the speed of the disk/speed of the connection, other than a trivial amount that you will never notice. Reports of "performance problems and stability issues" are due to other causes, its hard for me to remember such a report which is due to the disk drive (whatever type of drive it is) unless the drive is malfunctioning (which they all do from time to time) or the drive is nearly full (which again happens to all disks).

[DClark064]

I agree with the Puget Systems statement.  That is the way I operate.  There is no need for a very fast SSD drive for the image files, like there is for the catalog and previews, but I do keep work-in-progress files on a quick internal drive, not slow external drives.  Most of the time there is no noticeable difference but I process large blocks of files and some operations are noticeably faster if the image file is more quickly accessible. For example, I often process large blocks of files (a few hundred to maybe a thousand or more) and then create 1:1 previews so I can quickly inspect them at 100%.  The difference in the time to make the previews can be a fraction of a sec each.  That is several minutes for large blocks.   If doing just a few it's hardly noticeable. 

One does need to keep in mind that Puget's customers are mostly professionals and many amatuers, like the people who come here for advice, are not nearly as demanding. So maybe the investment in a quicker internal drive to store work-in-progress is not worth it.  I'm retired, so no longer a pro, but I still find it to be well worth the investment. 

[dj_paige]

I guess we'll have to disagree on this. Disk speed is almost never the limiting factor in preview generation, editing, exporting.

[DClark064]

It's easy to measure.  I just did 804 1:1 previews of 50MP files, first using an SSD, second using an external USB drive.  The first took 10:20, the second 17:20, that's 7min difference.  That's approximately half a second per file, which is the time required to read a ~60MB file from the USB drive.  Doing a few files, it's not an issue.  Doing a larger blocks it's aggravating.

[dj_paige]

Same 804 photos? Or different 804 photos?

What doesn't make sense is that generating previews is heavily dependent on the CPU, not on the speed of the disk.

[GoldingD]

Desktop or Laptop? I would go for a desktop as you can change the GPU at a later date, you can increase the RAM at a later date. You probably can add internal hard drives at a later date. A laptop, not so much. GPu, cannot upgrade, RAM, most units, you cannot upgrade, Internal hard drives, nope. (internal hard drives can be quicker than external,  consideration) And for a laptop to have a very high end GPU in an attempt to make that laptop, and that will cost $$$$

As for RAM, I do not agree that 16 GB is good enough, perhaps today, but not later. This is more important in a laptop as you cannot increase that later in a laptop.

As for the GPU, a new model likely NVIDIA 4xxx series, perhaps 3xxx series BUT with at least 8 GB of VRAM. Remember you cannot increase the VRAM later. Either in a desktop or a Laptop. And if a Laptop, make sure that GPU is in fact a dedicated GPU with it's own VRAM (MACOS a different story)

As for Hard drives, Lightroom classic can take advantage of being on fast hard drives for the catalog and the Camera RAW CACHE (but not the photos) and that typically means an internal SSD or a NVME. And multiple internal hard drives can be helpful. Oh, yes you can and probably should use external hard drives as well, and that is a Laptop workaround.

As for CPU, hmm tricky subject.

As for PSU. Those GPU's in desktops keep getting bigger and bigger in terms of power requirements. Oh their are some lower powered units to be had. But pay attention to PSU requirements. Many websites have PSU calculators. Some members buy those low profile desktop computers only to find out they cannot upgrade the GPU to something better due to lack of available power. Avoid any desktop that you have to use the manufacturers specialized PSU.

Some model types to avoid:

• All In Ones (basically glorified laptops) no way to upgrade
• Low Powered CPU's, Energy Efficient CPU's, Cannot push the CPU for better performance (power settings), not talking about overlooking (and do not do that)
• Compact desktops that cannot handle larger Power Supply Units. Micro Form, Small Form, Compact,
• Tablets
• SnapDragon/ ARM for now (Windows) stil a lack of Adobe support.

Some sources to consider

• A prebuilt PC by a respectable manufacturer, but with quality components. Especially the Motherboard. Consider words like Creative user, or perhaps in a pinch Gamer.
• A prebuilt PC by a supplier of high end units
• A store built PC with selected components, Motherboard, CPU, GPU, PSU, RAM, Cooling, case, fans, etc. built to be a power unit. This allows for higher quality parts.

If you are considering a laptop, look at models marketed as for creative work. Be ready for big $$$ showing up. Be ready for large power bricks, and be ready for not so light weight.