Skip to content

Main Navigation

Puget Systems Logo
  • Solutions
    • Recommended Systems For:
    • Content Creation
      • Photo Editing
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Adobe Lightroom Classic
        • Adobe Photoshop
      • Video Editing
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Adobe After Effects
        • Adobe Premiere Pro
        • DaVinci Resolve
        • Foundry Nuke
      • 3D Design and Animation
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Autodesk 3ds Max
        • Autodesk Maya
        • Blender
        • Cinema 4D
        • Houdini
        • ZBrush
      • Real-Time Engines
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Game Development
        • Unity
        • Unreal Engine
        • Virtual Production
      • Rendering
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • OctaneRender
        • Redshift
        • V-Ray
      • Digital Audio
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Ableton Live
        • FL Studio
        • Pro Tools
    • Engineering
      • CAD
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Autodesk AutoCAD
        • Autodesk Inventor
        • Autodesk Revit
        • SOLIDWORKS
      • Photogrammetry
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • ArcGIS Pro
        • Agisoft Metashape
        • Pix4D
        • RealityCapture
    • Scientific Computing
      • Recommended Systems For:
      • Data Science
      • Machine Learning / AI
      • Scientific Computing
    • More
      • Recommended Systems For:
      • Compact Size
      • Live Streaming
      • NVIDIA RTX Studio
      • Quiet Operation
      • Virtual Reality
  • Products
    • Intel Core i7 & i9
      Workstations with 13th Gen Intel Core i7 & i9 processors on Z690 and Z790 chipsets
    • AMD Ryzen 7 & 9
      Workstations with AMD Ryzen 7000 Series processors on B650 and X670 chipsets
    • AMD Threadripper PRO
      Workstations with AMD Threadripper PRO 5000 WX processors on the WRX80 chipset
    • Intel Xeon W
      Workstations with Intel Xeon W 3300 processors on the C621E chipset
    • Rackmount & Server
      Servers and workstations in rackmount chassis
    • Custom Computers
      Customize a desktop workstation from scratch
    • Custom Servers
      Customize a rackmount server from scratch
    • QNAP Network Attached Storage
      Check out our external storage options as an authorized reseller for QNAP
    • Recommended Third Party Peripherals
      View our list of recommended peripherals to use with your new PC
  • Publications
    • Articles
    • HPC Blog
    • Blog Posts
    • Case Studies
    • Podcasts
    • Press
  • Support
    • Contact Support
    • Support Articles
    • Warranty Details
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Press Kit
    • Testimonials
    • Careers
  • Talk to an Expert
  • My Account
  1. Home
  2. /
  3. Hardware Articles
  4. /
  5. Best Workstation PC for Adobe Lightroom Classic (Winter 2020)

Best Workstation PC for Adobe Lightroom Classic (Winter 2020)

Posted on December 8, 2020 by Matt Bach
Always look at the date when you read an article. Some of the content in this article is most likely out of date, as it was written on December 8, 2020. For newer information, see our more recent articles.

Table of Contents

  • Introduction
  • Good PC Configuration for Lightroom Classic
  • Better PC Configuration for Lightroom Classic
  • Best PC Configuration for Lightroom Classic
  • Additional Resources

Introduction

Choosing the right PC for your needs can be a daunting task, but here at Puget Systems, we do our best to help you understand how different applications (like Lightroom Classic) utilize the various hardware found in workstations. Not only do we have a number of on-going series of hardware articles for those that want to get deep into the details, but we also have our solutions pages that are intended to distill all our research and testing down to what matters most. Not to mention various other resources like our Youtube channel and podcast.

However, a number of our readers and customers are either not interested in or do not have the time to become fully versed in computer hardware and just want an answer to the "simple" question: what is the best computer for my needs?

Today we will be tackling that question in regards to Adobe Lightroom Classic. In many ways, Lightroom Classic is relatively simple from a hardware standpoint, wanting a (preferably AMD) CPU with moderate number of cores and a decent amount of RAM. But other hardware choices like the GPU and storage are also incredibly important.

Best PC for Lightroom Classic (Winter 2020)
Image
Best PC for Lightroom Classic (Winter 2020)

Something to note is that we are going to primarily focus on the hardware that is going to directly affect performance. Things like 10Gb networking, accurate displays, and peripherals are all incredibly important, but outside the scope of this post.

CTA Image
Lightroom Classic Workstations

Puget Systems offers a range of powerful and reliable systems that are tailor-made for your unique workflow.

Configure a System!
CTA Image
Labs Consultation Service

Our Labs team is available to provide in-depth hardware recommendations based on your workflow.

Find Out More!

Good PC Configuration for Lightroom Classic

We'll start off with a solid workstation for Lightroom Classic that will give you terrific performance without breaking the bank. The core of this configuration is the AMD Ryzen 5800X which is well worth the price over the Intel Core i9 10900K – especially in passive tasks like exporting. However, if you are primarily concerned about active tasks like culling, switching modules, brush lag, etc, the Intel Core i9 10900K is only a percent or two slower for those tasks, making it a great alternative if you cannot get your hands on a Ryzen 5800X due to the current supply shortages.

On the GPU side, while Lightroom Classic has been getting increased GPU acceleration support, you are almost always going to be limited by the performance of your CPU. We have found in our testing that at least for the tasks we currently look at, NVIDIA GPUs are a better option over AMD, but other than that, there is little difference between the various models.. Because of this, we will be using the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 6GB on this configuration.

For the system memory, we will be using 32GB of RAM since Lightroom Classic can need a lot of RAM – especially if you often send photos to Photoshop for additional editing. Rounding things out, we have a 500GB Samsung 970 EVO NVMe primary drive (for the OS and applications), and a 1TB Samsung 860 EVO SSD for your photos and catalogs.

All told, this system should run you around $2,900, and according to our PugetBench database, should score around 1,100 points in our Lightroom Classic benchmark. This makes it an excellent value for the amount of performance you will get.

CPU AMD Ryzen 5800X 10 Core
(Alternate: Intel Core i9 10900K)
Video Cards NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 6GB
RAM 32GB DDR4
Drives 500GB Samsung 980 Pro NVMe (primary)
1TB Samsung 860 EVO SSD (projects)

Configure a “Good” Lightroom Classic Workstation

Better PC Configuration for Lightroom Classic

Stepping up a bit in terms of performance, the AMD Ryzen 5900X 12 core is a bit faster than the Ryzen 5800X and is currently the fastest consumer CPU for Lightroom Classic from both Intel and AMD. In addition, due to the lack of (in our experience) stable Thunderbolt support on any AMD Threadripper platform, the 5900X is also the best CPU you can get while still having solid Thunderbolt support (we recommend using the Gigabyte B550 Vision D motherboard if this is important for you)

For the GPU, we will be keeping the same NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 6GB since a higher-end GPU isn't going to give a big increase in performance in Lightroom Classic. Instead, we are going to put more of the budget towards doubling the RAM (64GB) as well as adding a dedicated Samsung 980 Pro 512GB drive for the scratch and cache files. If you are using Samsung drives (which we highly recommend as we have found them to be extremely reliable), it is important to use a "Pro" drive for these cache/scratch files since this line of drives have higher endurance than the "EVO" line. This is important since cache files tend to perform a higher than typical number of writes to the drive which can affect the lifespan of an SSD.

We will also bump up the main storage drive to a 2TB Samsung 860 EVO SSD for your project files. You could also substitute this for up to a 14TB platter drive if you need a large amount of storage.

Depending on current pricing, this configuration should cost right around $3,600 and score around 1,220 points (about 10% faster than the "Good" configuration) in our Lightroom Classic benchmark. Keep in mind that raw performance isn't the only thing you are getting with this configuration – you are also getting the higher RAM capacity and dedicated cache/scratch drive which can make a huge impact on your workflow even if it doesn't actually make any filters or effects apply faster. At the moment, this – or one with a slightly upgraded GPU – is one of the most common configurations we sell for Lightroom Classic.

CPU AMD Ryzen 5900X 12 Core
Video Cards NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 6GB
RAM 64GB DDR4
Drives 500GB Samsung 980 Pro NVMe (primary)
2TB Samsung 860 EVO SSD (projects)
512GB Samsung 980 Pro NVMe (cache & scratch)

Configure a “Better” Lightroom Classic Workstation

Best PC Configuration for Lightroom Classic

For most users, the "Better" configuration is going to be the best choice as it gives great performance across Lightroom Classic – especially for active tasks like culling. However, if you find yourself exporting huge amounts of photos and want the best possible performance for these kinds of passive tasks (even at the expense of performance in active tasks), we can get a good amount more performance by moving up to the AMD Threadripper 3960X 24 Core processor. It is worth noting that the higher-end Threadripper CPUs are actually worse in Lightroom Classic, so there is no reason to spend more money on the 3970X or 3990X.

We will continue to stick with NVIDIA for the GPU, although in order to squeeze out the most performance possible we will upgrade to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 10GB. The performance over the RTX 2060 may not be much, but the additional VRAM is useful for some workflows, and it can make a bigger difference in other applications you may use like After Effects or Premiere Pro.

Another area we can upgrade is the RAM – going up to 128GB. This again shouldn't be all that necessary for most Lightroom Classic users, but it can be important if you are doing a lot of HDR, panorama, or focus stacking.

For storage, we are going to use the same setup as the previous system, only bumping up the project drive to a 4TB SSD as well as a 14TB platter drive for additional long-term storage. How much storage is enough varies greatly depending on each person's workflow, so depending on the number and size of assets you need on your local system, you may consider adding even more storage. Alternatively, if you will be using network storage then including a 10 Gigabit PCI-E networking card is a good idea.

All told, this configuration should come in a bit under $7,000 and score around the same 1,350 points in our Lightroom Classic benchmark. This is a significant jump in price over the "Better" configuration, in large part due to moving to the more expensive AMD Threadripper platform. It is worth mentioning again that this configuration will not be faster for all Lightroom Classic tasks, and is really only necessary if you want to minimize export times as much as possible, regardless of cost. Active tasks (which in our experience is where most Lightroom Classic users want the best performance) will actually be better with the "Best" configuration.

CPU AMD Threadripper 3960X 24 Core
Video Cards NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 10GB
RAM 128GB DDR4
Drives 500GB Samsung 980 Pro NVMe (primary)
2TB Samsung 860 EVO SSD (projects)
1TB Samsung 970 Pro NVMe (disk cache)
14TB Western Digital Red (storage)

Configure a “Best” Lightroom Classic Workstation

Additional Resources

If you want to know more about how Lightroom Classic performs with various hardware as well as our justifications for these recommendations, we have a number of resources available. For those that want just a bit more information, we recommend visiting the "Hardware Recommendations" section of our Lightroom Classic Solutions page. If you really want to dig into the numbers behind the data, we also have an on-going series of hardware articles that are regularly updated, as well as our public database of PugetBench for Lightroom Classic benchmark results.

And, as always, if you aren't sure what you need or just want to verify that you are spending your budget in the most effective way possible, our technology consultants are always available to assist you in getting the exact right workstation for your workflow.

CTA Image
Lightroom Classic Workstations

Puget Systems offers a range of powerful and reliable systems that are tailor-made for your unique workflow.

Configure a System!
CTA Image
Labs Consultation Service

Our Labs team is available to provide in-depth hardware recommendations based on your workflow.

Find Out More!

Related Content

  • Intel NUC 13 Extreme Content Creation Review
  • Intel Core i9 13900KS Content Creation Review
  • Adobe Creative Cloud Performance: Intel 6th Gen to 13th Gen
  • Intel Core i9 13900K: Impact of MultiCore Enhancement (MCE) and Long Power Duration Limits on Thermals and Content Creation Performance
View All Related Content

Latest Content

  • Guide To Removing Instapak Foam
  • Basic Guide to Identify and Remove Malware
  • Should I Upgrade My Gpu
  • Case Study with Lost Boys Interactive
View All
Tags: Lightroom CLassic, PC, PC Workstation, Photography, Workstation

Who is Puget Systems?

Puget Systems builds custom PCs tailored for your workflow

Extensive in-house testing
making you more productive and giving you more performance for your dollar

Reliable workstations
with fewer crashes and blue screens means more time working, less time waiting on your computer

Support that understands
your complex workflows and can get you back up and running ASAP

Proven track record
check out our customer testimonials and Reseller Ratings

Get Started

Browse Our Workstations

Fractal Design Define 7 Chassis with Puget Systems Logo

Select your workflow:

Content Creation
Engineering
Scientific Computing
More

Latest Articles

  • Guide To Removing Instapak Foam
  • Basic Guide to Identify and Remove Malware
  • Should I Upgrade My Gpu
  • Case Study with Lost Boys Interactive
  • Samsung 990 Pro Critical Firmware Update
View All

Post navigation

 Best Workstation PC for Adobe Photoshop (Winter 2020)Best Workstation PC for OctaneRender (Winter 2020) 
Puget Systems Logo
Build Your Own PC Site Map FAQ
facebook instagram linkedin rss twitter youtube

Optimized Solutions

  • Adobe Premiere
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Solidworks
  • Autodesk AutoCAD
  • Machine Learning

Workstations

  • Content Creation
  • Engineering
  • Scientific PCs
  • More

Support

  • Online Guides
  • Request Support
  • Remote Help

Publications

  • All News
  • Puget Blog
  • HPC Blog
  • Hardware Articles
  • Case Studies

Policies

  • Warranty & Return
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Delivery Times
  • Accessibility

About Us

  • Testimonials
  • Careers
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

© Copyright 2023 - Puget Systems, All Rights Reserved.