compatable system for PS

It seems that your systen isn’t that bad. Once you boot up and windows is running, plus you start a mail program, maybe Internet Explorer, and then start PhotoShop, I wonder how much of that 512 megs RAM is available? PhotoShop files can get to be rather large when open and you are working on them. I’m not an expert but it seems you may be low on RAM so your system has to access the Hard Drive to process files (much slower). PhotoShop files can use up a few hundred megs when open. What drive do you use as a scratch disk? Which drive does Windows use for virtual memory and what is that set at? If the answer is drive C:, then how much room is left on it?

"r.winks" wrote in message

I am planning on building another computer to fill my needs for Photoshop. I do handle some rather large files and would like faster processing. Is there anyone out there that is up on what would be best to go with for mother board, cpu, graphics card, and etc. I would appreciate whatever feedback I can get on this and go from there. I am using ASUS p4pe board now with Pentium 4- 2.4 GHz with 512 meg of Ram. I figure increasing my ram won’t give me that much more speed. I am using ATI All-In-Wonder 8500DV graphics card.
Any information will be much appreciated.

Thank you

In article <fdhre.55803$>,
"r.winks" wrote:

I am using ASUS p4pe board
now with Pentium 4- 2.4 GHz with 512 meg of Ram. I figure increasing my ram won’t give me that much more speed.

You figure wrong; increasing RAM is the best and cheapest possible way to increase Photoshop speed, and for large images 512MB of RAM is just a tiny pittance.

The second most effective way to increase speed is to add a second, fast hard drive and use it as a Photoshop scratch drive.

Building a new system will cost you more but will not offer you better performance unless you add more RAM.

Photoshop is strictly a 2D image manipulation program. It can not use and does not benefit in any way from fast accelerated 3D graphics cards; you can, if you like, throw a $600 graphics card in there, and it won’t make even the tiniest bit of difference to Photoshop.

—
Art, photography, shareware, polyamory, literature, kink: all at http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html

In article ,
says…

In article <fdhre.55803$>,
"r.winks" wrote:

I am using ASUS p4pe board
now with Pentium 4- 2.4 GHz with 512 meg of Ram. I figure increasing my

ram

won’t give me that much more speed.

You figure wrong; increasing RAM is the best and cheapest possible way to increase Photoshop speed, and for large images 512MB of RAM is just a tiny pittance.

The second most effective way to increase speed is to add a second, fast hard drive and use it as a Photoshop scratch drive.

Building a new system will cost you more but will not offer you better performance unless you add more RAM.

Photoshop is strictly a 2D image manipulation program. It can not use and does not benefit in any way from fast accelerated 3D graphics cards; you can, if you like, throw a $600 graphics card in there, and it won’t make even the tiniest bit of difference to Photoshop.

—
Art, photography, shareware, polyamory, literature, kink: all at http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html

Exactly! If you want Mboard models, I can’t help with what is tops today, and it will change tomorrow, but:

1.) near top-of-line processor (either Intel or AMD if you run M$ Win OS). Don’t get hung up on multi-threading for PS, though it will help with several other apps open. Bus speed is more important than MT support, in MHO.
2.) as much RAM as you, and your OS, or pocketbook, can stand. More is better
– always with PS
3.) HDDs – physical, not just partitioned logical drives. I’d opt for about 4 fast biggies, in two RAID arrangements. Keep your OS, programs, and image files on one striped set, and leave the other one (2 HDDs) just for Scratch Disk. PSCS & CS2 can use ALL that you supply it with – no way to build with more than it can use. SCSI is still slightly faster but much more expensive. SATA is very, very close, and cost less. Make sure that you get either the best controller card, or that your Mboard has a really good one built-in. Even with one on the Mb, I’d opt for a separate controller.
4.) dual-monitors (or even 3, if you can fit them on your desktop). Any good
vid-card with dual-monitor support will be just fine, unless you also do 3-D and/or gaming. I still like Matrox for the 2-D performance and dual-head support.

Hunt

The folks who are suggesting more memory are right.
If I had a choice between going from a 2.5G CPU to a 3.5 G, or going from 512mb to 2G of memory, I’d go with memory every time. Applications these days are huge. Photshop is bigger than most, especially if you load of lots of images or use lots of layers; but many other programs are big as well.

Get the fastest memory you can get, with the fastest FSB.

Avoid boards with "Via" chipsets. They always seem to have problems.

As I write this I recall that when I started programing, the largest memory you get get for an IBM mainframe was 512K.

Good luck
Ira Solomon

On Mon, 13 Jun 2005 15:01:31 GMT, "r.winks"
wrote:

I am planning on building another computer to fill my needs for Photoshop. I do handle some rather large files and would like faster processing. Is there anyone out there that is up on what would be best to go with for mother board, cpu, graphics card, and etc. I would appreciate whatever feedback I can get on this and go from there. I am using ASUS p4pe board now with Pentium 4- 2.4 GHz with 512 meg of Ram. I figure increasing my ram won’t give me that much more speed. I am using ATI All-In-Wonder 8500DV graphics card.
Any information will be much appreciated.

Thank you

On Mon, 13 Jun 2005 14:20:42 -0400, Ira Solomon
wrote:

The folks who are suggesting more memory are right.
If I had a choice between going from a 2.5G CPU to a 3.5 G, or going from 512mb to 2G of memory, I’d go with memory every time. Applications these days are huge. Photshop is bigger than most, especially if you load of lots of images or use lots of layers; but many other programs are big as well.

Get the fastest memory you can get, with the fastest FSB.
Avoid boards with "Via" chipsets. They always seem to have problems.

Been using Via boards for a few year. Not had any problems. Like all problems that occur your comment is anecdotal as those who do have problems scream the loudest. Having said that, purchasing now I’d buy an NForce4 mobo.

—

Hecate – The Real One

Fashion: Buying things you don’t need, with money
you don’t have, to impress people you don’t like…

On Mon, 13 Jun 2005 15:01:31 GMT, "r.winks"
wrote:

I am planning on building another computer to fill my needs for Photoshop. I do handle some rather large files and would like faster processing. Is there anyone out there that is up on what would be best to go with for mother board, cpu, graphics card, and etc. I would appreciate whatever feedback I can get on this and go from there. I am using ASUS p4pe board now with Pentium 4- 2.4 GHz with 512 meg of Ram. I figure increasing my ram won’t give me that much more speed. I am using ATI All-In-Wonder 8500DV graphics card.

another vote for more RAM … i think u can find another 512M for under $50 these days. And make sure you have a fast HD.

Thanks everyone for the replies. From what I gathered here, I will stay with my machine and add more memory. I have a USB external hard drive that I use for my scratch disc already. So memory will be added. I checked my motherboard and it can take up to 2 Gb, I will start by adding another 512 and see if that will help.

Thanks again everyone.

Rwinks