Some CS3/4 Vista64 vs XP Bridge Timings

RP
Posted By
Russell_Proulx
Oct 23, 2008
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(results in minutes’seconds")

Test 1)
* ********************************** Compare the time it takes for Bridge CS3 and Bridge CS4 to process selected RAW images using Photoshop’s ‘Image Processor’ using CS3 and CS4 under XP and Vista64

Selected 200 NEFs (Nikon D3 files) that had various crops and adjustments done to them in ACR. Used Photoshop -> Image Processor to convert to sRGB, resize to fit into 1600x1600px and saved as JPGs (quality 9).

1) Vista 64 / CS4 (64bit) = 11’45"

2) Vista 64 / CS4 (32bit) = 12’56"

3) WinXP (no 3/g switch) / CS4 (32bit) = 12’41

4) WinXP (with 3/g switch) / CS4 (32bit) = 12’43"

Conclusion: Not much difference. I assume the margin of error is enough so any slight differences will disappear with repeated testing

Test 2)
* ********************************** Compare the time it takes Bridge CS3 and Bridge CS4 to render thumbnails and previews using XP vs Vista64

Cleared the cache of a folder of 992 NEFs (12mp D3), many of which had various crops and adjustments applied to them in ACR. Thumbnail rendering set to ‘high quality’ thumbnails.

1) Vista 64 / Bridge CS4 = 14 minutes

2) WinXP (no /3GB switch) / Bridge CS4 = 13 minutes

3) WinXP (no /3GB switch) / Bridge CS3 = 11’30"

4) WinXP (with /3GB switch) / Bridge CS4 = 14 minutes

5) WinXP (with /3GB switch) / Bridge CS3 = 15’50"

Conclusion: Slightly more interesting with CS4 offering a slight advantage. But still so close as to be negligible in day-to-day practice. Considering the margin for error they all look pretty well the same.

The extra RAM offered under XP using the /3GB switch does not offer any ‘huge’ performance gains with these tasks.

Note that I have run ‘speed tests’ on CS4 under Vista64 with large files (500mb+) and that is where I really saw a CS4 performance advantage, sometimes quite impressive (ie: 4 minutes vs 30 seconds). But for day to day processing of numerous images from a typical (for me) commercial photo shoot the processing times are quite similar. I do think my hard disks are offering a bigger advantage than either the OS or RAM.

System details:

Asus P5E-WS Pro motherboard
8GB DDR2 Crucial 677MHz RAM
Q9300 Intel Processor
Sapphire/ATI HD2400 Videocard
2x WD VelociRaptor 300 GB SATA Hard Drives (1/System + 1/Photoshop) XP-Pro(SP3) and Vista64(SP1)

Russell

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