BEST MOTHERBOARD FOR PHOTOSHOP

You could believe that the most expensive and powerful components are required while constructing a computer for use in the picture editing process. Given that most photographers use intensive editing programs like Photoshop and Lightroom, a powerful computer is essential.

That’s true to some extent, however, there are many myths about the minimum specifications required to operate programs like Photoshop. A high-end gaming rig with a tonne of extras may cost several thousand dollars, but it’s usually not necessary.

In this essay, I’ll separate reality from fiction so you don’t have to choose between performance and saving hundreds of dollars. I’m focusing on the specs you need to run Adobe Photoshop properly while keeping the price tag around a grand.

Keep in mind that a computer built for Photoshop may not be up to the task of video editing or gaming. Lightroom, Capture One, and Luminar will all run well on it; the only features you won’t be able to use will be those that need a high-end graphics card with 4-6 GB of RAM.

 Gigabyte GA-A320M-S2H

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This Gigabyte MicroATX motherboard is your best chance for a low-cost option. It’s the most cost-effective option available. It’s cheap, yes, but it also has decent features and specifications, making it suitable for most picture editing jobs.

The AM4 socket is supported, and it is compatible with the vast majority of first- and second-generation AMD Ryzen CPUs. It also has 2 DIMM slots and can accommodate up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM. We’re aware that this is far less than what other motherboards provide, but it’s sufficient for most novice-level video editing work. To that end, it caters to those who have never edited a video before.

The motherboard only has one PCIe M.2 slot and four SATA connections, therefore you’ll need to use another device to attach an SSD. In most cases, 4 x SATA slots are well enough. This supports four storage devices, including three hard drives and an optical disc. Additionally, there is a PCI Express x16 port and two PCIe x1 slots for wireless LAN adapters.

This sort of motherboard is appropriate for a beginner’s system construction or a PC designed for basic picture editing operations. A motherboard with increased RAM capacity is necessary for serious picture editing. You should then go with one of the high-end boards shown below.

ASUS ProArt Z490

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The ASUS ProArt Z490 is an excellent choice for professionals that take their job seriously. The LGA1200 socket allows for use with 8th generation Intel Core i7, i5, and i3 CPUs. Up to 64GB of DDR4 memory at speeds up to 4266MHz are supported by the motherboard.

The new motherboard has AI technology that can prioritize the currently running program and provide it with greater processing resources. The system supports up to three additional GPUs and has AI-based overclocking.

In addition, it offers a “One-click Overclocking” function that makes PC overclocking easy enough for complete PC newbies. NVIDIA SLI and AMD Crossfire configurations are supported by the motherboard. As for expansion slots, it features four total: two for graphics cards (PCIe X16) and two for expansion (PCIe X).

The more VRMs a motherboard contains, the better it will be at managing voltage and stability. It is vital because high-speed CPUs like Core i7s require a good design for efficient power, Its allocation throughout all cores to overclock capabilities while keeping optimal system performance levels.

The requirement for power is accentuated when discussing VHPCs since almost every part of the machine will need some kind of energy supply to function. Unlike competing high-end boards in this price bracket, it doesn’t make use of any of your PCI-E slots for integration.

Don’t acquire one if you want to utilize SLI/XFire, which requires two graphics cards. If you want to take advantage of maintaining T3, I suggest utilizing my setup. It was enabled by filling PCIEx16 2 instead while operating 8xGPU speeds, thanks mostly owing to 3D rendering vs video editing.

Gigabyte B365M DS3H

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When compared to the Asus ProArt Z490 motherboard, this one is night and day. This motherboard is ideal for those on a budget who want to construct an Intel-based computer for editing photographs. It has a minimal feature set that allows you to focus on your picture editing work without distraction.

Because it has an Intel LGA 1151 socket, this tiny ATX motherboard is compatible with both Intel’s 8th and 9th generation CPUs. Newer LGA1200 CPUs are not supported. Particularly noteworthy about this motherboard is the fact that it has four DIMM slots rather than the two that are standard on most budget mATX boards.

There’s room for up to 64 GB of DDR4 RAM, which may be installed in four 16 GB sticks across the four available slots. It’s unlikely that you’ll need all 64 GB of the available memory, however, given that this motherboard is priced to appeal to those on a tighter budget.

Among its expansion options are a single PCIe X16 slot for your graphics card, a single PCIe X4 slot for HSIO devices like a RAID controller, and a single PCIe X1 slot for less powerful devices like network cards. In addition to the six SATA ports, one PCIe M.2 slot is available for a graphics card.

In conclusion, if you’re on a tighter budget and planning an Intel build, this is the greatest motherboard for picture editing you can obtain. This is useful if you want to buy a mainstream or entry-level CPU, such as a Core i3 or a Core i5.

ASROCK B460M

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A small and simple mini ITX motherboard, perfect for beginner and mid-level PCs. Compatible with LGA 1200 Intel CPU sockets. The ASROCK B460M is a motherboard designed for use with image editing software, and it is compatible with CPUs from the seventh and sixth generations of Intel’s Core series.

It’s the best board for casual gaming because of its twin DDR4 DIMM slots, which allow for 4K resolution, and its single PCIe 3.0 x16 slot. A computer’s motherboard is an essential component. All other parts are connected to it.

They may now express themselves to one another. You may plug up your central processing unit, random access memory, graphics processing unit, and anything else you desire into this motherboard.

Using the most recent Intel 10th Generation CPUs, you may construct a very powerful gaming PC or workstation for picture editing on this board. These cutting-edge CPUs are supported by the LGA 1200 socket on the motherboard.

It ensures that you may easily update your system in the future if necessary. With its newest entry-level B460 chipset, the ASRock B460M Pro4 is a microATX motherboard compatible with 7th and 6th-generation Intel CPUs. The M.2 connector supports a single M.2 SSD and there are four SATA 3 connections available.

The board has an 802.11ac 2T/2R + BT 4.1 module, allowing for wireless Internet access. Access your wireless network at rates of up to 867 Mbps with the help of the built-in antenna and WiFi connection (5Gbps effective).

For the price, it’s an excellent board. It’s packed with features and functions admirably. The fact that it cannot be overclocked was the biggest downside for me, but for $202, I can easily overlook that given how often such devices go on sale.

This motherboard has no issues running Windows 10 x64, and it comes with built-in wireless Internet access, which is useful for hooking up a wide variety of devices, such as printers and other PCs, through USB cables. This amazing piece of hardware from Asus will eliminate the need for any additional computer add-ons you could need.

 ASRock B450M PRO4

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If you’re a professional seeking the finest motherboard for Photoshop, go no further than AsRock. It offers a large enough RAM size for a business-grade machine and has a few cool extras. This motherboard is mATX and it has 2 x M slots. Two sockets, and 64 GB of memory.

The M.2 slots are suitable for SSD installation. One of the M.2 slots is a PCIe M.2 slot running at 64 GB/s, while the other is a SATA M.2 slot running at 6 Gb/s, so that’s something to keep in mind. However, even at 6 GB/s, it’s much quicker than an HDD.

Support for Error-Correcting code RAM (ECC RAM), which is inherently more stable than standard RAMs, stands out as a key differentiator between this board and others in its class. The bigger 42A chokes and improved VRMs on this motherboard are typical of server-grade designs.

Furthermore, a USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C connector is included, which is uncommon on motherboards. Remarkably, the motherboard can be that feature-rich while being in the reasonable price range. The ASROCK B450 is the ideal motherboard for Photoshop, in our opinion.

ASUS ROG Strix B550-F

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High-end gaming and content production are both supported by the ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming motherboard. It is compatible with AMD Ryzen 3 5000 Series processors and AMD Ryzen CPUs of the third generation.

The newest Aura Sync RGB lighting technology is included in this motherboard, giving your PC a spectacular appearance and feel as your game or other tasks. The ROG Strix B550-F is a motherboard designed for use with the latest AMD Ryzen CPUs and the latest AMD AM4 socket.

Both M.2 slots enable NVM Express RAID, which provides a significant performance gain, and both slots accept type 22110 M.2 drives, allowing users the most possible storage versatility and ultra-fast data transfer speed.

Using a 12+2 Dr. MOS power stages design, premium metal chokes, and long-lasting capacitors, this gaming motherboard ensures the best possible power delivery for the newest AMD Ryzen processors. The innovative cooling system prevents overheating even when components are being pushed to their limits, and the 5X Protection III hardware-level protections offer full protection and dependability.

There’s a 2.5G Ethernet LAN already installed on this motherboard. There is an increase in throughput of up to 2.5 times compared to regular Ethernet connections, so your wired connection will be much faster.

As a result, you’ll experience less delay while playing games online and speedier file transfers. That I was able to find a product that was perfect for me is a great feeling. By using a USB flash drive, updating the BIOS is a fast and painless process. Instead of going through a series of menus and prompts during start-up as in the past, you just use the touchscreen interface.

Shopping Tips

Let’s get a feel for what Photoshop needs to work properly before we get into building the real PC.

Processor

Photoshop 2022 is only compatible with 64-bit operating systems, thus 32-bit computers will be unable to use it. The most recent version of Photoshop additionally needs a computer with a socket that supports SSE4.2 or later.

Further, a CPU with clock rates of at least 2 GHz is required for Photoshop’s optimal performance. In other words, you won’t experience any hiccups on a computer with a sixth-generation Intel processor or an AMD Ryzen processor from the third generation forward.

In principle, Photoshop performs better on a single core with a higher clock speed than on numerous cores with lower clock rates. A minimum clock speed of 2 GHz is required for Photoshop to work on quad-core or 6-core processors, although I will recommend an eight-core processor in this tutorial.

The platform for Operating System

Photoshop requires Windows 10 1809 or later. In November 2018, the 1809 update became accessible to users. Most of you are probably already on 21H1 thus it shouldn’t be an issue for you. However, the newest version of Photoshop will not function on older versions of Windows.

Even the most recent version of Adobe’s creative cloud runs well on Windows Home, which is all I’ve ever used. Neither the Professional nor the Business versions are necessary.

RAM

Adobe recommends 8 GB of RAM as the very minimum, while 16 GB is ideal. The latter is what I’ll be utilizing for my PC build. However, I’ll go with 2 x 8 GB memory modules to take advantage of the now-standard dual-channel memory module. (Similar to how two lanes of traffic are quicker than one, a dual-channel memory bus is preferable to a single-channel memory bus.)

The Graphics Card

Naturally, a large quantity of top-tier graphics RAM is required… right? Wrong. A top-of-the-line graphics card, such as the NVIDIA GTX 3060, isn’t necessary for picture editing, so you may save money by going with a cheaper model.

However, Photoshop is sophisticated software, and there are times when it performs better with a specialized graphics card. The bare minimum for an adequate Adobe experience is a graphics card with 2 GB of RAM.

If you’re using a 4K monitor for editing, you may need extra memory, but a 1080p display will be enough with only 2 GB. In any event, I’ll go into further depth on this topic in the next paragraphs. So now that you know what you’ll need to run Adobe Photoshop 2023, let me walk you through the process of putting up your machine.

Interfaces for PCI Cards

Simply said, a PCI slot is a port that may be used to plug in add-on cards. How you want to use your computer, and what kinds of games, films, and graphics you anticipate using it for, are all crucial factors in your decision.

Hardcore gamers like me need at least one full-speed PCIe x16 slot on our motherboards. To ensure that I can connect several graphics cards without experiencing any performance issues, of course.

I realize it may not always be possible to get them when we’d want, but I appreciate your making an effort. As much as we may want to believe otherwise, perhaps the organizations we used to conduct business with have undergone a period of transition that has rendered our previously-used slots obsolete.

Factors of Form

A bigger motherboard means more USB ports, more expansion slots, and more PCIe expansion slots. Contrarily, motherboards that are less bulky allow for more mobility and adaptability.

As such, it is useful if you want to construct a portable computer. Standard ATX (for desktops), mATX or microATX, and Mini ITX are the three major form factors for current CPUs. Due to its modest size range of 14′′ inches up to 17′′ inches, it is employed in laptops with limited space on their panels.

Closing Remarks

In this article, we took a look at some of the top motherboards in this space for editing photographs. You may have noticed, and I did mention it before, that the majority of the motherboards here are mid-range or entry-level models.

We made this decision since a motherboard is less crucial than a processor and memory while editing photos. But there must be a balance between the parts at all times. That is, although the socket may be there, you should not purchase a high-priced CPU and install it on a cheap motherboard.

Nonetheless, a basic motherboard that can handle a decent quantity of RAM and the newest CPUs would be more than enough for the vast majority of professional picture editors.