Need help/recommendation on new PC configuration…

"John Arnold" wrote in message

OK…..my PC’s on the blink, so it’s time for a new one. – – 2 GB or 4 GB of RAM?

Will I actually use the 4 GB of RAM since Photoshop really maxes out at 2 GB?

Err, Windows imposes the 2GB limit. Photoshop is not in charge of running the computer.

Installting 4GB may help some because this much insures that Windows won’t use the pagefile much either. I wonder if one could tell the difference between 2GB and 4GB.

Jim

Thanks for your notes….

Answering your questions: the computer will be the main production unit using Photoshop CS and QuarkXpress 6.1 (and eventually later versions of course). Non-networked.

Other programs include Acrobat Pro, a slew of PSCS plug-ins, lots of fonts, and Internet Explorer. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Budget….well, the choices I’m trying to figure out is it some of what I’m mulling and some of what I’m reading would actually be used. Most of my dollar-balancing relates to how much speed I can pick up in the workflow. Watching my computer load QuarkXpress for 5 minutes is 5 minutes gone…If I can cut that down to 30-seconds it would really help my day (nope, I’m not exaggerating, I’m just very busy).

From my reading, I can’t figure if a dual-processor is worth it (it always seems configured in a server versus a solo workstation) (AMD versus Intel Xeon), if the computer will actually use anything above 2 gb RAM…things like that. Most of the high-end configurations I see (Alienware, Falcon, etc) seem to be configured for gaming, which doesn’t do anything (and maybe actually hinders) 2-D Photoshopping and Quarking.

Genesis of my thread…

Again, thanks for your help.

Cheers,
Jony
"Jim" wrote in message

"John Arnold" wrote in message

OK…..my PC’s on the blink, so it’s time for a new one. – – 2 GB or 4 GB of RAM?

Will I actually use the 4 GB of RAM since Photoshop really maxes out at

2

GB?

Err, Windows imposes the 2GB limit. Photoshop is not in charge of running the computer.

Installting 4GB may help some because this much insures that Windows won’t use the pagefile much either. I wonder if one could tell the difference between 2GB and 4GB.

Jim

"John Arnold" wrote in
news:cuKmc.51163$:

Thanks for your notes….

Answering your questions: the computer will be the main production unit using Photoshop CS and QuarkXpress 6.1

Gack.

(and eventually later
versions of course). Non-networked.

Other programs include Acrobat Pro, a slew of PSCS plug-ins, lots of fonts, and Internet Explorer. Nothing out of the ordinary.

To relate this to your RAM question, the more of the application memory Windows itself doesn’t use, the more the applications are going to get.

And, yes, in a heavy production environment, you most certainly can tell the difference between 2 and 4GB of RAM.

Budget….well, the choices I’m trying to figure out is it some of what I’m mulling and some of what I’m reading would actually be used. Most of my dollar-balancing relates to how much speed I can pick up in the workflow. Watching my computer load QuarkXpress for 5 minutes is 5 minutes gone…If I can cut that down to 30-seconds it would really help my day (nope, I’m not exaggerating, I’m just very busy).

I understand completely. I make a couple of hundred pages a month for magazines and similar work, and especially in that 11th hour, seconds count.

You should never have to quit out of your publishing package. It, PS, your email package and probably Illustrator should run *always*.

FWIW, ditching Quark and immersing myself in InDesignCS saved many, many *hours* in my last deadline. Saved me a fortune in upgrading my XTensions, too – the functionality was already built in.

From my reading, I can’t figure if a dual-processor is worth it

It is, though at the moment there are a lack of dual-processor motherboards with some of the bottlekneck-breaking goodies of recent times.

(it
always seems configured in a server versus a solo workstation)

Bigger premium on anything that says "Server" on it.

(AMD versus Intel Xeon),

Xeon cannot compete with Opteron outside Intel’s PR.

if the computer will actually use anything above 2
gb RAM…things like that. Most of the high-end configurations I see (Alienware, Falcon, etc) seem to be configured for gaming, which doesn’t do anything (and maybe actually hinders)

If you’re easily distracted by games, yeah.

2-D Photoshopping and Quarking.

The video cards, types of RAM, and motherboards they use are not optimal for publishing, no. But give them a call and see if they can integrate a system you want – just learn what to ask for.

Eric,

Thanks for all your notes. And the suggestion that I give the computer manufacturer a call….

Have a nice day.
Ciao
Jony

"Eric Gill" wrote in message

"John Arnold" wrote in
news:cuKmc.51163$:

Thanks for your notes….

Answering your questions: the computer will be the main production unit using Photoshop CS and QuarkXpress 6.1

Gack.

(and eventually later
versions of course). Non-networked.

Other programs include Acrobat Pro, a slew of PSCS plug-ins, lots of fonts, and Internet Explorer. Nothing out of the ordinary.

To relate this to your RAM question, the more of the application memory Windows itself doesn’t use, the more the applications are going to get.
And, yes, in a heavy production environment, you most certainly can tell the difference between 2 and 4GB of RAM.

Budget….well, the choices I’m trying to figure out is it some of what I’m mulling and some of what I’m reading would actually be used. Most of my dollar-balancing relates to how much speed I can pick up in the workflow. Watching my computer load QuarkXpress for 5 minutes is 5 minutes gone…If I can cut that down to 30-seconds it would really help my day (nope, I’m not exaggerating, I’m just very busy).

I understand completely. I make a couple of hundred pages a month for magazines and similar work, and especially in that 11th hour, seconds count.

You should never have to quit out of your publishing package. It, PS, your email package and probably Illustrator should run *always*.
FWIW, ditching Quark and immersing myself in InDesignCS saved many, many *hours* in my last deadline. Saved me a fortune in upgrading my XTensions, too – the functionality was already built in.

From my reading, I can’t figure if a dual-processor is worth it

It is, though at the moment there are a lack of dual-processor motherboards with some of the bottlekneck-breaking goodies of recent times.

(it
always seems configured in a server versus a solo workstation)

Bigger premium on anything that says "Server" on it.

(AMD versus Intel Xeon),

Xeon cannot compete with Opteron outside Intel’s PR.

if the computer will actually use anything above 2
gb RAM…things like that. Most of the high-end configurations I see (Alienware, Falcon, etc) seem to be configured for gaming, which doesn’t do anything (and maybe actually hinders)

If you’re easily distracted by games, yeah.

2-D Photoshopping and Quarking.

The video cards, types of RAM, and motherboards they use are not optimal for publishing, no. But give them a call and see if they can integrate a system you want – just learn what to ask for.

Like many of you, using Photoshop CS….and also Quark Xpress 6.1 (which takes forever to load).

Oh my, what choices there are in the market.

Thinking about a Dell XPS…..

Therefore need to configure with:

– – 3.4 ghz HT (800 MGhz FSB) or the 3.2 HT Extreme (2MB of on-die level 3 chip cache)?

– – 2 GB or 4 GB of RAM?

Will I actually use the 4 GB of RAM since Photoshop really maxes out at 2 GB?

That’s about it for difficult decisions.

John,

You can get more mileage out of the desktop by optimizing the operating system. By all means, get 2 hard drives. Having a lot of RAM requires a paging file. Dell doesn’t bother to partition big hard drive for you. That means that your paging file, at least 2 GB will stay on one hard drive. It helps speed up the machine if you split the pagign file onto 2 hard drives, maybe split it even more on different partitions. Having more than one partitions on a single hard drive will help you keep the paging file off the Photoshop scratch disk.

The new machine you will get from Dell is likely loaded with tons of software that you will never need. Some of them automatically start up when your system boots. Almost every PC maker gives you such a fast- food approach when it comes to operating system installation. It can really slows down the machine regardless how fast your hardware is. What I always do is to wipe everything out when a new machines arrives and start a fresh installation from scratch. I partition the hard drives the way I want and fine-tune the operating system to get the max performance.

Terry

www.PhotoRevamp.com