[Leica] OT: New computer, price vs. performance

[pklein at threshinc.com (Peter Klein)]

LUG:  I'm going to get a new desktop computer soon. Things have changed a
lot since I last bought a computer (uhmm, 7 years ago!!).  So I find
myself drowning in specs without really knowing how much practical effect
they will have on my two principal activities: Photo editing and music
composition. Any advice would be appreciated.

Whatever I get, I will have Windows 7 64-bit, at least 4 gigs RAM and a
current SATA hard drive. Sorry, no Macs--I work in a Windows company, so I
want to stay with what I'm good at.

The good news:  I don't use Photoshop, I use Picture Window Pro, which has
a much lower resource footprint.
The bad news: I use Capture One Pro, and Sibelius (music writing and
playback). These do benefit from faster processors and more cores--up to a
point.

I'm trying to find the "sweet spot" in processor power.  I'm happy to pay
for something that will give me a true, real world benefit, but I don't
want to pay nearly twice as much for a 5-10% bump in performance. I'm more
interested in reliability than bleeding-edge gamer-class performance. At
the same time, I don't want to have to wait 2 minutes to run unsharp mask
on a 16-bit TIFF.

Would I gain any real, practical increase in photo editing performance if
I spent the extra money for a quad core processor as opposed to a dual
core?

I looked at two Intel-based machines at the local clone shop, which I know
uses good parts:

* i3-550 Dual Core CPU, 3.2GHz 4MB L2 Cache / 733MHz, INTEL BOXDQ57TM
motherboard, Intel Q57 chipset.
<http://shop.hdnw.com/product.aspx?n=SY-SU012>
* i5 760 Quad Core CPU. 2.8GHz / 8MB L3 Cache, ASUS P7P55D-E PRO
motherboard, Intel P55 Express Chipset
<http://shop.hdnw.com/product.aspx?n=SY-PE012>

Then there's that tempting deal from Costco for a screamer "ZT Affinity"
with an Intel i7-950. But I wonder how they can sell that much horsepower
so cheaply...
<http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11629566&whse=BC&Ne=5000001+4000000&eCat=BC|84|56671&N=4047237
4294908621&Mo=9&No=1&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&topnav=>

A relative who owns an IT business says he never trusts "clones," and I
should buy a new or recent refurb Dell Optiplex (we've had very good
reliability with Optiplexes at my workplace). Another colleague says that
the clones and the name brands are all made in the same factory, so if
Costco offers a great deal, go for it.

Decisions, decisions.

--Peter